monty703 Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 I bought one of those TDS EZ pen meters and check my tank water. I have been slowly adding RO in my last couple of water changes (10%) but the meter reads 485 I checked the reading off the RO and it was 007 What could be causing my TDS to be so high? My PH says its 6.5 in this tank. I have only Fluval shrimp soil, driftwood, java moss and some floating plants with 2 double sponge filters. Help! MableBile and JosephKex 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaykidding Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 Read reviews of those who bought? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swivel Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 Have you used Amquel or Prime? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trotwood Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 What was the original source of the tank water? Were you using RO water all along or did you start with tap? If RO, what did you use to remineralize and how did you determine how much to use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekonexperiment Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 have you been using tap water? also do you use prime with your RO water? prime will cause your TDS to go up a bit. also, what do you feed the tank with? are they pellets, sticks, or powder? i use powder, so my TDS fluctuate a bit. i would say give or take 50TDS. But 485 on the TDS scale is pretty high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judyok Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 Clean the sponge filters as well to help bring the number down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 I bought one of those TDS EZ pen meters and check my tank water. I have been slowly adding RO in my last couple of water changes (10%) but the meter reads 485 I checked the reading off the RO and it was 007 What could be causing my TDS to be so high? My PH says its 6.5 in this tank. I have only Fluval shrimp soil, driftwood, java moss and some floating plants with 2 double sponge filters. Help! Don't panic. High TDS is fine. My shrimp still breed well at TDS 800 (high light planted tank). Don't try to adjust the TDS with shrimp inside. That will kill them. First of all, you need to analyse where the TDS come from. Are you able to tell us the following: How long have you started this tank? What is your dosing regime? What is your feeding regime? What is your maintenance regime? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted August 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 Tank is 10 gallon, just over 1 year old. Fluval Shrimp soil. I originally used tap water with just regular water conditioner. Only topped up the water when the levels went down, then I started doing a weekly 10% water change with RO water. To the RO I added 5ml of SMW Bio Culture for the minerals. I have done 3 water changes since changing to RO, so there is probably still some tap water mixed with the RO. I feed either a piece of snowflake or Bio Max every other day (make sure its all cleaned up before adding more food). Ive started adding a little Genchem Polytase to help any babies or pregnant females. I have them in the Marina Box attached to this tank. Temp is 72F during the day, going down to 69 at night. No heater in this tank. 2 x double sponge filters (that I have already cleaned once this month) one on each end of the tank. regular light bulb on approx. 6 hours a day. I don't vaccum the tank as I don't have anything to use on it. Could it be the SMW Bio Culture or maybe the Genchem Polytase (I have read on a German forum that it sometimes affects water parameters) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 What is the TDS after you mix SMW with RO? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted August 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 don't know will try that now. just checked GH is 9, KH is 0 and PH is 6-6.2 two different ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted August 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 I added 1/2 tsp to 1 ltre of RO water just now and the TDS is 107 here is the link to SMW Bio Culture. https://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.bio-culture.net/bio_smw.html&prev=search Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 don't know will try that now. just checked GH is 9, KH is 0 and PH is 6-6.2 two different ways. Which test kit are you using? The GH 9 maybe is the culprit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted August 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 API its the only one we get here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 API test kit is not really accurate. But I think the GH is on the high side that contribute a portion of the high TDS. Your tank is already 1 year old. It is a high time to do a water restart and siphon your substrate. I usually do this once every 6 months to a years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted August 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 how do I do that? Are the instructions on your website. I bought your products but haven't had the time to use them yet, was going to wait till I move, then start a new tank with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 If you are moving soon, I will suggest you don't try to adjust the TDS now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted August 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 OK I will get instructions once Ive moved the tanks over. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 You will be moving with the tank full of water or emptied? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trotwood Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 Have you tested the TDS of your tap water? I'm sure there's still a lot of the original water in the tank since you've just done a few small water changes. And since you were just doing top ups when using the tap water your TDS would have risen each time. My guess is that the tap water is the source of the high TDS. As others have said you won't want to alter it drastically with shrimp in the tank. If I were you I'd stick to what you're doing, small water changes and top ups with pure RO, until you're able to reset the tank. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Desert Shrimp Depot 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted August 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 No I didn't test my tap water yet with the meter....will do that now. I will continue with the RO topups but not use anything else for minerals just in case its overdosing the tank. I lost my pinto female today, so somethings off in this tank. I will be lowering the water to just above the substrate when I move....probably take out all the shrimps just in case. I can put them into a container with the sponges off the filters to keep the bacteria alive. I will have the water in a large container ready to put back into the tank once its moved. Shouldn't be more than 2 hours from start to finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted August 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 OK this is weird my tap water reads 143 the tank water now reads 508 MableBile and JosephKex 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trotwood Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 That is weird. I could be wrong but I wouldn't bother to save the water. I would think you'd want to start with fresh remineralized water and drip acclimate the shrimp before putting them back in the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted August 22, 2015 Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 OK this is weird my tap water reads 143 the tank water now reads 508 That's not weird. The SMW, substrate, layout material, shrimp food and waste material will increase TDS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trotwood Posted August 22, 2015 Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 Oh okay, my mistake, I just haven't seen anything like that in my tanks before but I haven't been at this very long. So far my TDS has never risen more than 3-4 ppms between water changes. I'll stay out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted August 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 I will continue to monitor the water each time I do a water change. Won't add anything in right now as I don't want to start messing it up any more. Its probably the soil and waste in it that's doing it as Shrimpy Daddy mentioned, so until I move I will just be very careful of what I put in it. The funny thing is with my tap water measuring only 143 on the meter, I could have kept them on inert substrate instead of the fancy soil (which I have always used before until this time around) I wouldn't have known without the meter, so it does help to have one. Shrimpy Daddy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.