# Very High TDS levels...



## ravensgate (May 24, 2012)

Water changes are your friend. I change mine when my tanks get over 200, others do it differently. Our tap is 330 tds and hot water tap is 400. So I have to do tap/ro mixes to lower it. If you aren't having issues I wouldn't worry too terribly but I'd still try to get those numbers down were it me. And yes for my meter the reading is the tds.


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## jncme (May 29, 2012)

you may need to do some water changes to lower your TDS


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

ThatGuyWithTheFish said:


> Seems normal, right?
> 
> Everything I can test for is low, or at zero. What is going on?
> 
> ...


yes, normal

it means whatever you are testing is clean.

yes turn it off after use and store it dry

nope. the value should read on the meter itself.

yes. all numbers should be in ppm.


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## ThatGuyWithTheFish (Apr 29, 2012)

But what on earth could cause such high values?


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, ferts, all raise TDS. Do you have any rocks in the tank?


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## ravensgate (May 24, 2012)

Rocks, shrimp poop, snail poop, minerals, etc. Lots of stuff cause it to go up. Are you using tap, ro, distilled, remineralized, what?


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## ThatGuyWithTheFish (Apr 29, 2012)

I do have rocks in one tank but not in the others. Nitrates are low, and ammonia and nitrites are zero (or negligible) in all.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

Do you use aquarium salt? Do yoy ever add anything to the water besides food?

Basically anything that dissolves in water will raise the tds.

Phosphates, iron, etc are all possible in a tank as well.

What substrate do you have?


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## Mr. Leg (Feb 2, 2011)

If you are topping off the tank with your tap that will also increase the TDS since the minerals do not evaporate. Start doing water changes and the TDS will drop. 
How are youe shrimp doing?


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## ThatGuyWithTheFish (Apr 29, 2012)

mordalphus said:


> Do you use aquarium salt?
> 
> Do yoy ever add anything to the water besides food?
> 
> What substrate do you have?


Nope.

BW Vital, Shield, Crimson; Potassium Sulfate, Seachem Phosphate (though that's still around 0 ppm...), Seachem Trace.

Fluval Strata. I DO Have Sieryu stone, but I've never seen/heard of it raising TDS that much (It's the one that's 500). Either way, in one tank I add almost nothing, and yet my TDS is 340! 



Mr. Leg said:


> If you are topping off the tank with your tap that will also increase the TDS since the minerals do not evaporate. Start doing water changes and the TDS will drop.
> How are youe shrimp doing?


I measured my tap, and it was 77 ppm. It shouldn't raise it, if the tank water is already higher, right? The shrimp are fine, though my females have all dropped their eggs (3 first timers).


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

> BW Vital, Shield,Crimson;Potassium Sulfate,Seachem Phosphate(though that's stillaround 0 ppm...), Seachem Trace


All of these raise tds, along with your seiryu.

There's your answer


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

Yeah these "Potassium Sulfate, Seachem Phosphate (though that's still around 0 ppm...), Seachem Trace" will raise it a good amount the shrimp supplimnets will too but now where near those fertz


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## ThatGuyWithTheFish (Apr 29, 2012)

sbarbee54 said:


> Yeah these "Potassium Sulfate, Seachem Phosphate (though that's still around 0 ppm...), Seachem Trace" will raise it a good amount the shrimp supplimnets will too but now where near those fertz


Yes, but how come in one tank, in which I'm adding almost nothing, I have a TDS of 340? Higher than the tank in which I'm EI dosing...


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

How often do you water change, and how much water? Sounds like dirty water to me.

Bw shield raise tds very quickly, so do any powdered foods. If you feed powdered foods you need to change water often.


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## ThatGuyWithTheFish (Apr 29, 2012)

I change 25% once a week.


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

probably the TDS meter is not calibrated correctly.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

Well the answer is the TDS is from all of the products you are using, in combination with seiryu stones. After a water change, take a tds reading, and that will be your "clean water" tds.

You can only test a few of the chemicals thar alter tds, so it will be impossible to know for sure what your tds is comprised of.


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Yes, that will raise your TDS over time. If you're using water that contains dissolved solids to top off, then as water evaporates? Those solids get left behind.

You should only use RO or distilled water for topping off if you don't want TDS to increase.



ThatGuyWithTheFish said:


> I measured my tap, and it was 77 ppm. It shouldn't raise it, if the tank water is already higher, right? The shrimp are fine, though my females have all dropped their eggs (3 first timers).


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## ravensgate (May 24, 2012)

If you are adding tap water (not changes) it's adding 77 TDS every time. If you are doing WCs and adding 77 TDS back in then there is no telling what your TDS is before you WC. Start using RO or distilled to bring that TDS back down...shouldn't even have to remineralize for a while. Just my suggestions...I'm by no means an expert.


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## ThatGuyWithTheFish (Apr 29, 2012)

ravensgate said:


> If you are adding tap water (not changes) it's adding 77 TDS every time. If you are doing WCs and adding 77 TDS back in then there is no telling what your TDS is before you WC. Start using RO or distilled to bring that TDS back down...shouldn't even have to remineralize for a while. Just my suggestions...I'm by no means an expert.


OK, sounds good.


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## kuro (May 21, 2010)

ravensgate said:


> If you are adding tap water (not changes) it's adding 77 TDS every time. If you are doing WCs and adding 77 TDS back in then there is no telling what your TDS is before you WC. Start using RO or distilled to bring that TDS back down...shouldn't even have to remineralize for a while. Just my suggestions...I'm by no means an expert.


You should always remineralize your RO/Distill water during water change unless your gH in your tank is already high just because your tank have >300 ppm in your tank it worthless to the shrimp if your gH is very low. I was feeding heavily last week with powder food to my baby shrimp and the TDS jump to 210ppm from 170ppm so i change my water every few days with ro/di water that been reminierlize to 160ppm, now my crs tank is back to 160ish.


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## ravensgate (May 24, 2012)

kuro said:


> You should always remineralize your RO/Distill water during water change unless your gH in your tank is already high just because your tank have >300 ppm in your tank it worthless to the shrimp if your gH is very low. I was feeding heavily last week with powder food to my baby shrimp and the TDS jump to 210ppm from 170ppm so i change my water every few days with ro/di water that been reminierlize to 160ppm, now my crs tank is back to 160ish.


 I don't ever remineralize the RO portion because I don't have to. By mixing tap/RO my TDS, GH, KH, pH remain stable. You have to figure out your own system based on what you are using. Not everyone's tap is the same so you have to do some basic math. Obviously if the OP's tap is 77 and mine is 330, well, yeah, there's a huge difference there. But using 10-20% straight RO to top off I doubt is going to do much to the GH and KH. The words 'always and never' don't seem to apply much when there are so many other contributing factors It's real simple to do water changes, figure in straight RO/DI, test, figure out how far off you are and if you need to remineralize. But no, I'm not going to remineralize off the bat because it's straight RO water. I'll do the changes, THEN test. Otherwise you're just adding yet MORE TDS in. Just a few days ago I got in new shrimp and used Fluval Shrimp Minerals to raise my TDS (when it's just a GH booster). It barely moved my GH (less than 1), but moved my TDS up by 40ppm.


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