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Re: tds



Ron Jagger wrote:
> 
> 
>               hi all
>              With all the talk about the meter I have
> one not much good if you can,t or don,t know how to
> read it   

Very true, Ron. Here's the skinny. Meters read in microSeimens (inverse
megOhms) or mg/L (roughed as parts per million). My old meter had a LCD
display that read out from 01 to 199. You were expected to know enough to
add another zero, so it reads from 10 to 1990 ppm. To get tds in ppm from a
uS conductivity meter, just divide by about 2. That's close enough.

Truly soft water is under 100-150 ppm.

Medium to hard runs from 150-350 or 400ppm

Much over 400 ppm gets you to the liquid rock that is typical of a lot of US
tap water.

My Santa Clara water used to run between 450 and 500 ppm. All killies could
live in it, but the Aphyos and other rainforest fishes had trouble breeding
in it. The folks that have it best for *all* killies have water in the
120-150 ppm range, IMHO.

Use the meter to check the water your fish are in, and the water they will
be moved to. If those differ by more than a factor of 2 (e.g., 100 to 200),
consider making the change gradually.

Also use the meter to keep track of your tap water. If any unexpected big
change happens, call the water service and see what happened, before doing
any water changes. They often buy water from elsewhere that has chloramine
you weren't treating for, etc. You may need to add Amquel o/e that you
didn't before.

Turn the switch on, remove the end cap, dunk the probe end to just below the
marked limit line, and read the meter while it is in the water. It's
actually pretty simple.

Wright

-- 
Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679  huntleyone at home dot com

"People constantly speak of 'the government' doing this or that, as they
might speak of God doing it. But the government is really nothing but a 
group of men, and usually they are very inferior men." --H. L. Mencken

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