# TDS in your tank



## DigityDog70 (Jan 20, 2017)

Hi All,

What's the reading of TDS in your planted tanks? 

What would you like it to be?

What do you do to adjust the TDS levels in your planted tanks? 

The TDS wand that I have is currently reading 607 right now with the lights off and the Co2 off.


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## geisterwald (Jul 18, 2016)

Lights and CO2 won't affect TDS. To lower TDS, you do water changes and slowly replace the high TDS water with lower TDS water, often achieved with a blend of RO (0 TDS by definition) and tap or RO remineralized to a more desirable TDS level. To raise TDS, you dissolve solids into the water, but doing so will generally change your other tank parameters and you should evaluate your GH and KH before deciding how you want to do that.


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## DigityDog70 (Jan 20, 2017)

geisterwald said:


> Lights and CO2 won't affect TDS. To lower TDS, you do water changes and slowly replace the high TDS water with lower TDS water, often achieved with a blend of RO (0 TDS by definition) and tap or RO remineralized to a more desirable TDS level. To raise TDS, you dissolve solids into the water, but doing so will generally change your other tank parameters and you should evaluate your GH and KH before deciding how you want to do that.


Is there such a thing as an optimal level of TDS in a planted tank? For instance, in "your" tank, what do you aim for and why or... do you not have a TDS level that you target? Straight out of my tap, my TDS is 397.


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## lksdrinker (Feb 12, 2014)

607 sounds rather high; but it also begs the question.....607 (presumably parts per million) but of what? Do you dose fertilizers? If so that will raise your TDS which isn't as "bad" as say getting high TDS due to lack of maintenance, high nitrates and lots of stuff in the water column that should have been removed via water changes. Or, maybe you live in a part of the world where you have hard water and see high TDS out of the tap to begin with. If that high TDS is caused by an old plumbing system and your pipes are rotting away from the inside out, that could be worse than something like high calcium content wherever the water supply is sourced. People on well water might see high TDS due to fertilizer run off. Household water softening systems can show increased TDS due to the "salts" used, etc.

The biggest thing to remember is that all this is telling you is how much something/everything is dissolved in the water column; but cant begin to diagnose what those somethings might be.


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## DigityDog70 (Jan 20, 2017)

I see, I live in an agricultural community, right in the middle of where the world gets most of the fruits, vegetables, nuts, grapes etc. and we have a water softening system (in my home) that is using Potassium Chloride in both my hot and cold water, so after I fill up my PlantedTank with tap water, my tank is a dirt tank (using Miracle grow with a sand cap of Caribsea gold sand). The water does tend to get dirty if I don't change it frequently and rinse out the filter pad and use purigen. I'm using a filter that currently is rated at 70Gallons but am considering using one that can handle 110 Gallon tanks. I am still trimming and replanting so that Planted Tank has weekly activity and the soil gets stirred about (I make a conscious effort though not to stir it up).

I am technical in most respects, and have the patients to read and write technical papers (just a little about myself) I have read a few papers on TDS online e.g. The Importance of Total Dissolved Solids in the Freshwater Aquarium - plecoplanet Forums (from another forum that just came up via a simple search engine query) but as you can see I require a little /well perhaps a lot of coaching here to grasp what sort of goal I need to set for myself. Admittedly I am a little overwhelmed by TDS with regard to my tank respectively. I mean, maybe 597 isn't so bad?

In another one of my tanks, with just water, a few pieces of PVC in the water, I use some API pH down and some Tetra Brand, AquaSafe plus and the TDS is 732 and I have had fish in the tank for years, all very happy and healthy. 

In my Low Tech tank where I have "NO' dirt and use chemical ferts, the TDS is 980ppm. 

I appeciate any feedback good or back in my quests to understand TDS here and how much effort and or attention I should pay to it in my tanks.


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## lksdrinker (Feb 12, 2014)

DigityDog70 said:


> In another one of my tanks, with just water, a few pieces of PVC in the water, I use some API pH down and some Tetra Brand, AquaSafe plus and the TDS is 732 and I have had fish in the tank for years, all very happy and healthy.



If it aint broke dont fix it! All the numbers honestly mean nothing without something to compare to. If I told you my farts have a smell factor of 432,986 would you have any idea how bad they really smell? Sounds like a big scary number so it must be pretty bad right? Now if I also told you that the smelliest fart on record had a smell factor of 432,986,000,000 then you actual have something to compare against and might be able to understand whats worse without actually being there to smell it.

Its like asking whats the ideal temperature for a human to live in. Someone in Alaska might say 35-40 while someone in Florida might say 75-80.

But in all seriousness, you need a baseline number. Whats the TDS out of the tap? Use that to compare to the TDS of your tanks. If you're seeing a tds of ~600 out of the tap then that simply implies you're not seeing much more of anything that gets dissolved in your fish tanks. If you see a TDS of 100 or so out of the tap that means your tanks have a whole lot of dissolved something (which isn't necessary "good" nor "bad" when you dont know what that something is).


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

DigityDog70 said:


> What's the reading of TDS in your planted tanks?
> 
> What would you like it to be?
> 
> ...





DigityDog70 said:


> Is there such a thing as an optimal level of TDS in a planted tank? For instance, in "your" tank, what do you aim for and why or... do you not have a TDS level that you target? Straight out of my tap, my TDS is 397.


Your TDS ratio is 397(tap):607(tank)
Tank with all ingredients have raised TDS by say 200.

My tap is around 100 and I call my limit 350.
In the beginning I monitored everything a lot.
Finding that fert dosing raises my 100 to over 300.
Also discovered that Purigen helps by reducing dissolved organics.
Dissolved organics in my case added an easy 50-75 to the total.
I used to check daily and TDS would start to drop to say 250 and that was my cue to dose.
I don't follow EI and just dump it all in, I use a Nitrate free solution(enough fish are present) and dose to 1.5ppm of PO4 every 2 or 3 days.
When an increase in TDS starts, I change 15-20% water, a little vacuum, clean filter media, and recharge/swap Purigen.
Rest of the time I am just topping off and enjoying.

My observation and dosing, stocking, and fert schedule determined my number.
350 it is and it's time for some maintenance.

Everyone's water is different, dosing is different, etc.
But you have the pen and it's easy to check for sure.
You will need to pick a number for your tank.


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## DigityDog70 (Jan 20, 2017)

lksdrinker said:


> If it aint broke dont fix it! All the numbers honestly mean nothing without something to compare to. If I told you my farts have a smell factor of 432,986 would you have any idea how bad they really smell? Sounds like a big scary number so it must be pretty bad right? Now if I also told you that the smelliest fart on record had a smell factor of 432,986,000,000 then you actual have something to compare against and might be able to understand whats worse without actually being there to smell it.
> 
> Its like asking whats the ideal temperature for a human to live in. Someone in Alaska might say 35-40 while someone in Florida might say 75-80.
> 
> But in all seriousness, you need a baseline number. Whats the TDS out of the tap? Use that to compare to the TDS of your tanks. If you're seeing a tds of ~600 out of the tap then that simply implies you're not seeing much more of anything that gets dissolved in your fish tanks. If you see a TDS of 100 or so out of the tap that means your tanks have a whole lot of dissolved something (which isn't necessary "good" nor "bad" when you dont know what that something is).


Thank you lksdrinker, appreciate the coaching here. 

Cheers all,

DD

Bump:


Maryland Guppy said:


> Your TDS ratio is 397(tap):607(tank)
> Tank with all ingredients have raised TDS by say 200.
> 
> My tap is around 100 and I call my limit 350.
> ...


As always Maryland Guppy, you have some helpful information to add and I thank you.


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

I never tested TDS or felt like I needed to test it. It's just a number in your head. I think it's better to look with your eyes at the tank, put together what you understand of how it works and let yourself know what you have to do to get that balanced tank.


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## DigityDog70 (Jan 20, 2017)

IntotheWRX said:


> I never tested TDS or felt like I needed to test it. It's just a number in your head. I think it's better to look with your eyes at the tank, put together what you understand of how it works and let yourself know what you have to do to get that balanced tank.


OK, I'm beginning to see the light here amongst the trees (plants in my tank, pun intended). 

Appreciate your hlep IntotheWRX. Cheers!

DD


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

TDS is 75 in my blackwater biotope.


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## DigityDog70 (Jan 20, 2017)

Craigthor said:


> TDS is 75 in my blackwater biotope.


Hello Craigthor,

Without looking at your profile too much, and not professing to be well versed with blackwater biotope tanks, I'm surmising your type of tank has everything to do with your TDS and you don't add a whole lot of, or need a whole lot of ferts or chems? Do you keep Discus?

By the way, I'm a fan of blackwater biotopes. I've seen some incredible tanks where people have got their lighting down just right and it looks very natural. 

Cheers,
DD


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

DigityDog70 said:


> Hello Craigthor,
> 
> Without looking at your profile too much, and not professing to be well versed with blackwater biotope tanks, I'm surmising your type of tank has everything to do with your TDS and you don't add a whole lot of, or need a whole lot of ferts or chems? Do you keep Discus?
> 
> ...


Lots of West African Tetras in my tank. Only Anubias sp. so I'm not adding any ferts to the tank. I just put up my tank journal.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

I think my shrimp tank had a TDS of 190ish. TDS is a semi-worthless measurement. It tells you nothing alone. It's a measure of what you have in the water which could be good or bad. Even prime raises the TDS.


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