How vigilant are you when it comes to the TDS of your RODI water?

[Nhjmc]

I don’t have a meter so I don’t test. However it’s on my wish list.

Prob. aware of this but in case not you can pick up a cheap hand held one from Amazon for under $20.

 

[Reefs anonymous]

I used to get all hung up on 0TDS but after many years of reef keeping I now look at my tank and make judgements from there.

If you’re doing 10 gallon water changes every 2 weeks, so 26 times a year or 260 gallons and you can approximate you’re evap usage (Prob 5 g/week or another 260G/year so your total yearly usage is Approx 500 gallons. If that’s the case, and you’re changing the carbon ore filter as required, that membrane will last a very long time in the tune of 5 years at the very least. So basically I look at my DI resin and change that probably once’s a year When it changes color. Even at that I have to ADD phosphate and nitrate to my tank because it’s too “clean”. So basically, I don’t worry too much about my water quality too much.

 

[greg 45]

I dib not read all of this . If zero is the magic number can anyone please tell me what is wrong with the water coming out when it hit's 1 tds . I have a 1000 gpd unit from Aqua Fx . I have high nitrates and po4 in the water coming into the house . The unit has been up and running over a year with the same carbon and di resin that I purchased with the unit. Tested water today zero nitrates and zero po4 . Also ati test passed with flying colors . I am thinking you are wasting your money. I run the carbon a di that Aqua fx recommends .

 

[Thunderrap]

I run an Aqualife RO buddy with DI but I don't have a TDS meter, I'm sure there might still be some TDS in my water but it hasn't affected my tank negatively yet. I do however change the filters every 3 months and the membrane once yearly and then the DI unit when it discolors but other than that I don't check anything else. I'm sure it would probably be better to get a TDS meter or a RO/DI unit that has one built-in but for now I'm not going to change what seems to be working pretty well for me.

 

[Bugeater281]

this is true- TDS increase when stored. However I think there’s a very big difference from the TDS we filter out from tap water to what is dissolved from the mixing barrels/air the latter being a lot less damaging to marine corals

After seeing how easy it is to add tds to water, that’s when I changed my mind on chasing 0 tds. A funny example, I was testing my rodi water, it was at 1tds. Then changed to 4tds. I realized I accidentally dipped my finger in the water. Did it again, jumped to 8tds.

now granted this was a small container, it made me realize how pointless it is to chase 0tds rodi. It’s amazing how small 1ppm actually is. Between all the foods we eat and get on our hand, the oils we pick up from objects around the house, the dead skin and wood dusts that get in our hair and on our clothes. It’s almost pointless getting to 0 ppm. Even you put 1ppm water in your tank. Chances are very small it’s 100% Chlorine or chloramine. Our tanks are going to get contaminated whether we like it or not. Your more likely to cause more contamination from dipping your hand in the tank vs adding agallon of 1ppm water.

 

[GrapevineReefs]

I’ve had noticeable issues with TDS when it reaches 3 ppm. Now a days is so dang easy to have 0 TDS I don’t think it should be an issue for many Reef keepers. Most all stores that sell coral will also sell RO/DI Water as well and if they are worth a dang they will have the membrane and resin refills for your home unit as well!

 

[JimFuller]

I change my media when the TDS gets about 2 or 3. I have a four Stage 150 Gallon Per hour RO/DI unit. My Media normally lasts about 3 months.

 

[725196]

How vigilant are you when it comes to RODI TDS and keeping your numbers around zero?

I have a 7 stage RO/DI system. I make sure my RO/DI tds meter reads 0 on out put. Then I use 2 different hand held tds meters. If it reads anything other than 0 I water the grass with it. If it reads 0 rhe next thing I do is an icp test. I never mix my salt until I am happy with it.

2. What is the maximum TDS number you are comfortable with?

ZERO!

 

[FunnierThanUThink]

I have a rodi unit that is 4 stage with dual di color changing resin. I’ve noticed flushing and draining the system seems to keep my filters lasting longer. I have about 450-500 tds coming in from the tap with city water. My tds reads 0 but I Still feel like there may be some contaminants coming through, I just need to pick up some freshwater teat kits or send my water out.

 

[mindme]

0 TDS. I go through filters fast, especially the DI cart. I replaced my DI on Friday, it needs to be replaced again already after filling up a 180g system(about 200ish gallons I would guess in total).

Normally it lasts a lot longer as I'm not doing so many gallons at once.

 

[Aussieboy reef]

I’ve almost completely stopped using the top-off reservoir as a living-room toilet

Yeah I stopped doing it in the reservoir once I found that the Fish in the display tank actually do tricks and go upside down.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Being on well water I don't have to worry about chloromines but I do fight against high CO2 and other contaminates. I went the pro method with brs and it's helped considerably. I still go through insane amounts of anion resin but I'm just not ready to create a degassing system at this time. Either way, my tds output is zero from my rodi, I use their TDS meter as well as a pocket reader to verify. It's all about water quality and eliminating variables to reduce sources of problems in my opinion. Granted I'm just getting started again but this isn't my first rodeo so I've seen the results of out of control water input quality before .

 

[DaddyFish]

I run a 3-stage whole house system ahead of my RO/DI systems. Plus, I run two carbon blocks and a 1-micron sediment ahead of the RO membranes, then the DI final stage. Final water output darn well better be zero(0).

But I'm okay with anything in the low single-digits. After all, I am starting out with community well water that (some days) reads 200+ TDS with 10X the recommended Federal guideline levels of chloramines.

 

[vanreefer]

Depends on what is in the water... TDS is about 9-11 out of my taps... it has a lot of chloromines... nothing but 0 water in my water.

 

[longtimereefer]

TDS = Total Dissolved Solids

Happy Monday and let's talk TDS! For me if feels like I am always chasing zero when it comes to the TDS of my RODI water for water changes and especially top off water. But how concerned should I be and if zero isn't critical what is an acceptable number? Let's talk about it today!

"Sometimes tap water contains potential contaminants (such as phosphates or trace metals) which might be safe for human consumption, but could have detrimental effects on your aquarium life. For this reason many hobbyists use reverse osmosis deionized (RODI) filters on their source water. RODI filters can be a very effective way of removing contaminants from your aquarium. Although using a RODI system is simple, many factors can limit their effectiveness. Range and accuracy are critical aspects for instruments used for measurements in pure water applications. In order to measure the effectiveness of your RODI filter, many units have built in total dissolved solids or TDS meters." Excerpt via an awesome article by Marine Depot.

1. How vigilant are you when it comes to RODI TDS and keeping your numbers around zero?

2. What is the maximum TDS number you are comfortable with?


image via @mfinn

I try never to go over 2-3. I live in the middle of Nebraska, so have to mail order everything, just ordered new resin from BRS and went from 3-35... So... Fail. Now im stuck using distilled water until I figure out something else...

 

[Buckster]

I have the 7 stage RO/DI system that I purchased from BRS. I just received and email from them indicating that it has been 6 months since I purchased the system and recommended filter changes are from 6-12 months. Ironically the system is running and I have the following readings; stage 1-2 ppm, stage 2-0 ppm and stage 3-0 ppm. I process approximately 100 gallons per month for 3 tanks, 180 DT, 32 biocube and 30 QT.

 

[KWT]

I just started mine up about an hour ago. It is a 6 stage spectrapure, I added a pre sediment filter so I could run 2 carbon filters along with the 2 D/I filters. Added an extra R/O membrane piggyback. It is rated at 200 gpd, we shall see. In TDS is around 750, water here is terrible. Out put TFS is zero. Time will tell how happy I am going to be but so far it’s all good.

 

[Scott's reef]

When it comes to water, I make a lot of it and it's time consuming and cost me more but if it's not 0 tds it doesn't go into my systems. There's already to many challenges to deal with let alone skimping on high quality water. My system is 6 stages and I change my filters every 6 months and my 3 separate di resins as needed.

 

[markfmvl]

my rodi unit is fed by my well water , which usually hovers around 5 or 6. right now my tds is 1 for my rodi water. it is about time to change the media as it is color changed.

 

[scabbedwings616]

I use an icecap 100gpd and it reads out three tds. Going in(70-80), afterthe ro(4-9) and finish product(0). When I start to see the first chamber turning brown I change them both out. I’ve also added a second ro to it to produce water quicker and boy does it help. Resin is changed when it goes to 1, if I cant get it to come down. I don’t mess around with it. I have tow water and the summer time has higher readings than the winter.