I think TDS meter is great if you are re-mineralizing RO water. If starting from zero, all the TDS imparted on the water is from whatever supplements you are adding.
Great comment, I agree with everything in the video but I'm still going to buy a TDS metre 'cause of your advice. I use RO water for a planted tank and it will tell me quickly if I'm re-mineralising properly :)
Exactly I have a way high tds I have a lot of calcium and magnesium very little iron and copper no nitrates. Plants grow great and shrimp are booming . I’m well water spring is 200 yard away from my house. No softener
This is a fantastic thing to know about in depth like this. It’s like learning a way of reading a different language that the aquarium,inhabitants, plants and water speak. These videos are important!
Your wife's jungle tank is always doing a number on me. I keep trying to not like it, but then, I see the altums, the roselines etc., and I go, man, that is a purely eclectic tank. The overgrown forest is slowly but surely growing on me. Every time I think I "know" what a gorgeous tank is; I get slammed with one that doesn't fit into my narrow-minded aesthetic values. Thank You Corey, for making me grow and not stay stuck in my comfort zone.
heh and remember to use the TDS meter to help set your mineralizations when you do a water change on your comfort zone because they are a fast, easy way to get your known TDS tap water to your target... because tap water is nothing like a permanent TDS... wait til the city back flushes the pipes!
I wanna call out to Sashimi Whiskey - I think working on the best fish channel/40k+ subs/2k+ views on vids within a couple of hours/having the King Of Fish Nerds as your boss probably comes with a lot of pressure particularly when every single fan can give instant feedback which I think you're handling well, and im enjoying the new content. No doubt there will be kinks to iron out as is always the case with challenging the normal process and I think this is just gonna get better and better for you and Cory. Mad respect for you both. Keep it up Cory & Sashimi!!
Cory Cory Cory, you just saved a very interested but disgruntled fish keeper. I have been struggling to keep fish for some time. I got a tds meter and test kit both. I couldn't for the life of me get my tds up to where Lucas said I needed for shrimp! I even added crushed coral. I now have renewed hope! Thanks so much !!
+Russell Beach glad I could help. At least now you have a little bit more info and can work towards what it will take to get your specific water ready for shrimp
I went down a rabbit hole looking into possibly getting fresh water shrimp, then saw all these comments about TDS which I later learned was Total Dissolved Solids. Which as a logical and mechanical inclined individual told me nothing! Entertaining and informational video, I'm not currently an aquarium owner but I've subscribed!
Thank you for this video. I am new to the hobby, and hear people talking about TDS. Even when you know what the abbreviation stands for, it means nothing without education. I just learned so much!
TL;DR: Many factors influence TDS. Nitrates, dechlorinator, fertiliser, tap water and so on. TDS is inaccurate in isolation because the factors influencing the score may not highlight that factor you need to address; your water may have low nitrogen but high salt, or too much fertiliser. You should focus on the factors that influence TDS rather that the TDS score itself. TDS meters can pick up factors that test kits won't, like softners in your water supply and so on. TDS is more useful if you own multiple tanks because you can compare across aquariums and use controls. Great video, thanks, super useful :)
Thanks for clarifying the TDS meter for us Cory! I personally only test pH weekly due to my poor water source and test with 5 in 1 tetra strips when I think there may be an issue (I know I'm bad I should test more but...yeah).
Yes my biggest problem is that my city tap water reads 540 ppm out of the tap along with a high PH any day I check it, so it helps me reduce the ppm for my fresh water fish tank. I also use a test kit to know what else is going on.
The fresh water world is sooooo different from salt. I am starting my first fresh tank in almost 10 years and I was so confused why everyone was using a tds meter. Thanks for the video it helped clear a lot up for me.
I use TDS when remineralizing RO/DI water for my shrimp tanks and African Cichlid tank. My shrimp seem to do really good around 140 tds using salty shrimp GH/KH+ however I also monitor ph, GH, KH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and temp with shrimp, they love the water around 72 F.
I love your videos, it was actually my boyfriend joe who got me to watch you, he absolutely adores you too! You've helped him so much with his tanks :)
Excellent explanation as always! TDS is indeed meaningless without knowing dH, kH and also nitrogen wastes! The gradual increase in inorganic salts in my shrimp tank pushed my TDS to 760 but I knew it was from salts and not waste. :)
I realize this is a very old video but still the most informative I have found regarding TDS. I have a fairly new shrimp tank and all of my tests are where they should be, except the TDS. Arizona tap sits at around 500 ppm without anything in it at all. Even with water conditioners, the slow TDS creep has been a killer on my shrimp. If anyone reads this, please help!
Idk if you've gotten advice from else where yet, but if your trying to keep caradina shrimp, 500tds is too high. They require levels around 120-150 range. That might be why they are dying. Best of luck!
You are correct that TDS measures every ionic compounds in the water. The amount of fertilizer and dechlorinator added to the tape water is not typical portion for the volume. The jump of your demonstration in the 2 tap water beaker was due to that. When you added fertilizer to your tank, the TDS increased by about 10% (180-198). I think if you add the correct portion of fertilizer or dechlorinator to the beakers of tap water they would only change about 10% or less. The measurements and biologic systems will tolerate that small changes.
About 2 weeks ago, I was reading about TDS meters for snails, and i had one back when I was growing sundews. Took several readings and came to the same conclusion. "This number means nothing but how much of something is dissolved." Then went out and bought some tetra test strips. Sometimes more data is better.
Just a little feedback Cory! I like the contents of the video a lot. I think that this kind of issue has to be addressed, and I'm glad you're bringing it up. I've thought about this multiple times especially when I was shopping for meters. I just wanted to mention that some charts or visual assistance with your explanation would have been really helpful in keeping track of what you are saying and making connections. I really enjoy the numbers and the labeling that Sashimi Whiskey has been adding to the videos. However, I do think some of the sound effects at some points were just a little much. Keep up the good work Cory! You are really moving up and keeping the fish keeping community on RUclips thriving. I have learned a lot from watching your videos. I appreciate how active you constantly are I am always looking forward your new videos.
Great video Cory ,what also doesnt help is the amount of fake TDS pens going around . I asked HM Digital in an email about this and they said every pen they make has a calibration screw.
Thanks for the education Corey.. very informative.. I've been watching your channel for quite a few months now and have even watched most of the older stuff. I like the new way your editing. I note some people haven't. Can't please everyone ha? Anyways I hope to see more short informational vids from you especially on water chemistry! Tips on keeping acidic tanks would be awesome! Thanks again Corey keep up the goodwork! - Carissa from New Zealand.
I've been thinking a lot about this subject. It's just like your saying... You have to know what's in your water to be able to take full advantage of the tds meter. I know the parameters in all my tanks so for me it's used to tell when to do water changes and also to know how much ca, mg and other nutrients I should add. Really great video Cory.
Great content. TDS meter is great but you must have a baseline, a good number to go by is 50.....meaning when your water TDS has changed from baseline (after water change) lets say 170 tds to 220 tds, you should perform another water change. Assuming you're not adding anything else but fish food. They work for me, but once you start adding fertilizer and other things your baseline goes to crap. All my tanks have fake decorations and the only chemical i use is dechlorinator when i perform water changes so my parameters are easier to watch with a TDS meter.
My TDS reads a little higher the day of my actual water change than the following day, because of the dechlorinator. 171 day of and 167 12 hours later. All my tanks read different, you didn't mention temps, my tap TDS at 75-78 degrees reads 130 and at 84 degrees its 145. This matters if you're keeping fish at higher temps obviously.
Great video! I've known this stuff just from a logical perspective, but never bothered to test things like adding ferts to RO water to see the effect etc, so that was nice to see. If you ever get a chance to interview a fish biology expert (maybe the fellow you took the ornamental fish course from?) it would be interesting to know what effect just raw TDS would have on fish. I would think that regardless of what is comprising the TDS measurement, it would impact kidneys etc just by making them overcome greater osmotic gradients. Super nerdy fun stuff at any rate.
It's like smog or smoke is to air, and from 1000ppm up, it can make breathing hard enough to kill fish, just like 1000ppm of smoke in air is unpleasant and can make you cough.
I know this is an older video but for the sake of an alternative perspective backed by some logic: If my RO water is 20-35 ppm (the tap here is over 350) and I use salty shrimp remineralizer to bring that TDS back up to 220-235 what I've done is added 200ppm of the essential salts/minerals that my shrimpies need. I started with almost pure water, and added only the essentials. It would be a waste of my time to use anything other than a TDS meter for this method, but keep in mind this is for an established tank that's fully cycled... It's just for maintenance. If something started to go wrong I'm going to start testing other things immediately (starting with you Ammonia) TDS meters are great, when used with a sound methodology. If you're testing fresh tap with a TDS meter to determine how safe your tap water is... you're not doing it right, and you're not thinking clearly.
I think the best use of a TDS meter is for measuring a water source or the efficiency of an RO filter or carbon filter. TDS meters only detect ions (positively or negatively charged molecules), and there are many organic substances that are uncharged and undetectable. The ammonia molecule NH3 is uncharged. But ammonium NH4+ is positively charged.
I think it's another tool in the toolbox. It has definitely helped me detect differences between my own aquariums, and in customer's water. No one method is perfect for sure, but for how cheap and easy they are to use. I find I use em a lot to "just take a peak".
They're definitely a good tool. I'm a science nerd -- I have a small collection of TDS and conductivity meters. The older ones have a classic sci-fi appearance.
Thanks Cory this was a very informative video. I had just recently heard about TDS meters and didn't really understand them a lot but when you shared the information on this video with the test strips I have a better understanding now. thank you so much for sharing
Yess you are right but i got few pufferfish,malsian trumpet snails(invasive),two assasin snails,with a ball off java moss and litteraly 3 stems of Ceratophillum Emersum and even if i'm putting in my water the dechlorinator,additional salt to increase water tds up to 260ppm and a lean fertilizer, i'm still getting my water tds readings as low as 210ppm and i have to do water changes to remineralize the water, i don't know what i would do it if i hadn't a tdsmeter, thanks to that my plants are doing great.
Yeah I have a planted 20g tank w 3 pea puffers, 3 amano shrimps, and maybe 10 small snails and the TDS is going up to 500! The ph is low 6.4 cause i use RO water (adding shrimp mineral) as my tap water is extremely hard, so i was recommended to try raising the PH at least to 8, to help grow bacteria, my tank is kind of new maybe 4 weeks but i used a bacteria tank started and had minnos fish before the puffer.. we never check the TDS before so i was freaking out when i see the Tds that high.
Awesome video Cory! Guess gh and kh are more important than tds. I noticed meds raised my tds by 100 ppm. Must not be too stressful if gh stays stable. Thanks for the info!
Cory, can you tell me why my TDS keeps rising? I have a 20 gallon I'm starting over. No fish at the moment because I'm cycling. I use RO water and treat with Seachem Acid and Alkaline Buffers. I do a weekly 20% water change with that water, but add pure RO to top off evaporation. I maintain close to 7.0 PH, KH around 4, and GH around 4-5. My TDS is about 250 ppm and it raises about 20 ppm every day!
TDS in aquarium hobby is meant to be used in a distilled/deionized/RO water sample to check if it really completely pure H20 (mostly for those of us that have reef tanks or even discus tanks). In a mixed solution like aquarium water it's obviously useless, it's just a number. For the tap water, it can be used to make you know how "dirty" your water is, but you can't be sure which kind of dirt it is - organics, plain pollution, heavy metals, chlorine, chloramine... TDS also helps when you actually know precisely what is in your water, like a solution you've made of say table salt and distilled water, then you can know how many ppms of that compound you have in your solution are in the said solution. Plus, a TDS can NOT tell how hard your water is.
I’m struggling with the TDS meter too. My tank reads 311. My tap is 86. Nitrate is at 5 ppm. I’m trying to figure out why TDS is high. No live plants, no fertilizer. Gravel gets siphoned when big water changes are done every ten days. Good video. Makes me feel a little better. My clown loaches, however, are getting the black spots and I wonder if it has to do with TDS.
Well your dechlorinator will add some tds. I would wager food would have some factor with not all of it getting converted into nitrates. You could have anaerobic bacteria somewhere in the system digestion nitrates and they would have by product. This is why for the average person a tds meter isn’t that helpful
I found this because my reading from TDS is 375 in my discus paludarium. But all the fish including the discus seem fine and I do regular water changes. I believe it has to be the land part of the paludarium. They have slow release ferts in it, only a little, but I believe that is what it is. Ph is 6 and all the N's and Ammonia are at 0. I use rain water with a TDS of 6. I believe it could be phosphate, but do not have a tester for that, but I do use phosgard. But everything in my mind is okay, but still curious to know what it actually is. My cory's in that tank are breeding like flys. My guppy tank is about 700 and I know it's calcium from the seashells in it. Started with 8 guppies and now have hundreds. The only thing that was at 10 was nitrates Ph 8. I use tap water in that one with a Ph of 7.6 and TDS of 100, but it rises back up within 24 hours because of the shells. Planing to add some more pothos to combat the nitrates some more. But not going to change a thing with the water. I have watched some other video's of yours and I found I disagreed on a lot of things you said, so stopped watching. But you are spot on with this one. So I'm back.
Thanks for the video. Now I am not sure if I need one or not lol! I have a 50 gallon tank with Cherry Shrimp, Mystery Snails, Otos and some Neon Tetras. I just order all your fertilizers and test strips and also had previously bought Fluval liquid test kits (by the way your test strips are almost identical to the liquid test kits, very happy about that, makes life easier not having to do liquid testing all the time). So if I know all the parameters and use your test strips, is a TDS meter really necessary? Another question is: when using your Aquarium Co-Op pump fertilizer in a 50 gallon tank, I see you said you had to add 23 pumps to a 230 gallon tank. My 50 gallon tank has only 28 gallons of water after all the substrate went in, so I only put in 3 pumps of your fertilizer. Is that incorrect, should I actually be doing 5 pumps instead?
Woooowwwww! This video caused me to test my tap water in different rooms. My kitchen water for some reason had half as much TDS as the bathroom sink and shower. After some additional testing, I realized that it's because I was turning on hot water in the bathroom and cold water in my kitchen. For whatever reason, the hot water line is adding a bunch of "something" to my water. And the temperature isn't the difference, because the "hot" water in my bathroom takes a long time to get hot, so I what I was testing was cold water from the hot water line. Does this make any sense? Anyway, thanks so much for the video, Cory. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get the TDS in my tanks under 250, but if my tap water is 225 and Prime brings it up to 240, it makes perfect sense. I guess I'll use cold water when I do changes and put a spare heater in the bucket for bit before adding to the tank. Thank you!
Theres no way to lower TDS in already existing water I know of unless it can settle at the bottom. My TDS of tap water out of the tap is 800 - 850 out of any tap (1000 is unsafe to drink according to EPA and EU standards) which means I can't really use it. The last thing im trying is letting it sit out in the sun for a while and hoping something will change. Collecting rain water, distilling or buying distilled are really my only options. Ive had water as high as 1400 TDS in my aquarium and 2000 TDS in water I was testing if I should add or not. Don't let your water get that high of TDS, its bad. Reverse Osmosis is something im still looking into - forgot to mention it as well.
Great video Cory! Great informative video again! The tank looks so good! I want to setup 4 totes (20g) this summer outside to breed fish, do you have any tips?! _Keep up the good work!_ *Thumbs up!*
Hi Corey, I've been binge watching your channel, and I'm loving it! It has motivated me to get back into the hobby after an eight year hiatus. I plan on ordering some plants and dry goods from you in the near future. Question: I've tested my tap water several times and I keep getting a pH that is near the upper range of the test kit chart. It appears to be in the 8.6 to 8.8 range. The strange part of the equation is that the same water has a very low hardness. Is this even possible? I'm planning on starting out with some mollies and swordtails in a 55 gallon tank. What should I do about the pH? Most of what I've read has advised to not adjust the pH and go for consistency, but mine seems to be TOO high. I can't seem to find many resources on how to deal with high pH and low hardness together. Any advice would be highly appreciated! Thank you in advance! Jeff
Thanks for this. I love your videos! Just got my tds meter. My tap water is around 220 which is supposed to be ideal for neo C. Can I use it or do I have to use RO water + salts? Setting up my first shrimp tank and researching. Ty.
Please do a video on test strips! I use primary test strips day to day and have tested against liquid test and have seen no difference, however that is not a popular opinion.
I have made the video already Tabitha, just needs to be edited. I found slight differences myself, but no where near what the internet states of test strips being useless.
I'll share that one to all corners of the web, for sure. Seems like it comes up literally any time someone has sick fish (must be because they only use test strips and thus have bad water etc)
I got 2 blood parrot and they are still lil babies. Like around 1 inch or so. Our regular tap water TDS is around 118. My goal is to keep the TDS level between 200 to 300. In order to achieve this I have to do the water change daily or sometime every second day. No real or artificial plants in the tank just few hiding spots with power filter and air pump. After doing water change TDS will drop around 215 or so however in 24 hours sometimes TDS reading will be 364. Is there any reason that you can imagine why TDS is increasing so frequently. I do vacuum the gravel for any waste every time I change the water. Also my tank is like 8 days old or so.
yeah i bought that too, but it dont tell me anything. using it only out of interest, but i dont act after a tds meter. as a 1 year noob with a 30l aquarium with only snails and shrimps i got into trouble after my duckweed (and some other grasslike stuff) were dying at high rates. so i started with fertilizer NPK and other stuff, then my shrimps started dying. so i made waterchanges everyday to reduce it. TDS was over 999. first problem was, that i had not enough poop in the water :D with the snails it changed and the shrimp are going up in numbers. now iam only fertilzing when the duckweed is going back, as long as the shrimp are well, the plants will hold with rare drops of fertilzer. TDS is some myth^^
What test strips do you recommend to cover all bases thoroughly for freshwater? I have a Freshwater API Master Kit, but I feel I’m not getting a full reading on certain things!!
i could use some help cause im in a bit of a predicament, i recently just got into keeping shrimp and im taking on some Opae Ula. my currently PPM is around 8000 and this is mainly due to the added salt, i used de chlorinated water, in which it is recommended that i keep salinity to 1.015 ish and since opae ula live in brackish water ive also added some coral to adjust the PH. using a test kit ive only found that the hardness is well over 180 whilst all other parameters are to be expected. thus im not sure what to do right now and who to trust. any advise ?
Listening I went with the tds meter through all my tanks. One is 250 ( basically my tap water). This one is finishing cycling. Another one is 210. A cycled one which needs water change. And my quarantine is 380. For a moment I feel shocked. Then I remember that I added general cure yesterday. 😅
Great content, I have never used a TDS meter, it is good to know what it is and how to use it. I will pick one up pretty soon! On another note...Please reign Sashimi Whiskey in on the sound effects...they were a bit too much and just felt jarring. One of the reasons I watch virtually every one of your videos is the lack of that type of editing. I did like most of his graphical editing, on the other hand. The digital display for the tds meter he threw up was a nice touch! As always, thanks for the content, it is greatly appreciated!
I just bought a RO buddy 3stage, and my water is from the well, The water is going to be straight from the ground, No softener etc, I bought a extra filter to remove metals and etc, so it's a 4stage, Should be here by the weekend and I'm going to start pumping it, My water is normally good and doesn't smell like most wells do, Do you think I'll be alright? And second question, You say you haven't did a water change in 2months with a fully planted tank, Having tons of plants help that much?, So plants is more like a filter system?, Thanks!,
Plants can help yes, balance is important, watching the fish is also important. As for if your water will be good after the R/O system. It's hard to say as I'm not sure what you're trying to do. But in general for some people on wells an R/O system is easier to handle than well water.
Aquarium Co-Op I got 2 freshwater tanks and maybe adding more soon, and going to the pet store everyweek is not vary fun when I'm only going for water and wasting gas driving there etc, Hoping this RO system works out and it isn't a waste of time and money, maybe I can start saving money. thanks for the reply!,
I’m here because my shrimp tank is at 1700 tds and been doing fine but I’m going to start topping off the water with distilled so it goes down and calm down on all the fertilizer I’ve been using
these trolls have a right to their opinion, but they are wrong i enjoyed the added editing. they are your videos have fun with them. its not like the video was overwhelmed. thanks! "guppie king" lol just kidding!
![NLE Choppa - Or What ft. 41 (Orchestra Mix) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/biOFASEgSOM/mqdefault.jpg)
Here is the amazon link to the TDS meter I use. amzn.to/2l4qz6w
i use this one too but still dont know how to tell how much salt is in the water
Vv.
What is your go to test strips?
I think TDS meter is great if you are re-mineralizing RO water. If starting from zero, all the TDS imparted on the water is from whatever supplements you are adding.
Exactly.. that's the proper way of using it. He should explain that
Great comment, I agree with everything in the video but I'm still going to buy a TDS metre 'cause of your advice. I use RO water for a planted tank and it will tell me quickly if I'm re-mineralising properly :)
....also I didn't spell 'metre' wrong, I'm an Ozzie not a Yank! LOL.
woops, my GF just enlightened me that I AM just a bad spella! LOL
Exactly I have a way high tds I have a lot of calcium and magnesium very little iron and copper no nitrates. Plants grow great and shrimp are booming . I’m well water spring is 200 yard away from my house. No softener
This is a fantastic thing to know about in depth like this. It’s like learning a way of reading a different language that the aquarium,inhabitants, plants and water speak. These videos are important!
Loving Whiskey's editing, the graphics and sound effects are EPIC.. I was already enjoying the info but this is just too much fun!
+Crystal Lewis I'm glad you enjoy. It definitely helps spice up a dry subject.
Aquarium Co-Op did you stock your daughters aquarium yet?
DrFunTimeZ his niece's not daughter's.
imo I dont think it is a dry topic at all very helpful info!
Such a GREAT and useful video! I'm watching this 4 years later and it's still very useful.
I'm setting up a new fish tank and I can't stop watching all your fish vids, THANK YOU for all the help A+++!!!
+Erick Frick might be a good problem to have :p
Your wife's jungle tank is always doing a number on me. I keep trying to not like it, but then, I see the altums, the roselines etc., and I go, man, that is a purely eclectic tank. The overgrown forest is slowly but surely growing on me. Every time I think I "know" what a gorgeous tank is; I get slammed with one that doesn't fit into my narrow-minded aesthetic values. Thank You Corey, for making me grow and not stay stuck in my comfort zone.
heh and remember to use the TDS meter to help set your mineralizations when you do a water change on your comfort zone because they are a fast, easy way to get your known TDS tap water to your target... because tap water is nothing like a permanent TDS... wait til the city back flushes the pipes!
I wanna call out to Sashimi Whiskey - I think working on the best fish channel/40k+ subs/2k+ views on vids within a couple of hours/having the King Of Fish Nerds as your boss probably comes with a lot of pressure particularly when every single fan can give instant feedback which I think you're handling well, and im enjoying the new content. No doubt there will be kinks to iron out as is always the case with challenging the normal process and I think this is just gonna get better and better for you and Cory. Mad respect for you both. Keep it up Cory & Sashimi!!
yes!
Cory Cory Cory, you just saved a very interested but disgruntled fish keeper. I have been struggling to keep fish for some time. I got a tds meter and test kit both. I couldn't for the life of me get my tds up to where Lucas said I needed for shrimp! I even added crushed coral. I now have renewed hope! Thanks so much !!
+Russell Beach glad I could help. At least now you have a little bit more info and can work towards what it will take to get your specific water ready for shrimp
I went down a rabbit hole looking into possibly getting fresh water shrimp, then saw all these comments about TDS which I later learned was Total Dissolved Solids. Which as a logical and mechanical inclined individual told me nothing!
Entertaining and informational video, I'm not currently an aquarium owner but I've subscribed!
Thank you for this video. I am new to the hobby, and hear people talking about TDS. Even when you know what the abbreviation stands for, it means nothing without education. I just learned so much!
TL;DR: Many factors influence TDS. Nitrates, dechlorinator, fertiliser, tap water and so on. TDS is inaccurate in isolation because the factors influencing the score may not highlight that factor you need to address; your water may have low nitrogen but high salt, or too much fertiliser. You should focus on the factors that influence TDS rather that the TDS score itself. TDS meters can pick up factors that test kits won't, like softners in your water supply and so on. TDS is more useful if you own multiple tanks because you can compare across aquariums and use controls.
Great video, thanks, super useful :)
Hello fish lover who is looking through the comments whilst this video playing😄
Hello😊 🐠💕
It's 4:38AM and I just got back from church and am reading on fish-goodies lol Hello, to you, too, Olly.
😠
😭
thank you so much for this video Cory! I have been wanting to learn more about tds and what it means. now I'm going to order a meter.
your the man. nice that you did this because your on spot and others may disagree. I use my TDS meter to aid in my mineralization of the tank.
+Ron Griese I wish I had used that verbiage. Aid in the testing process.
Thanks for clarifying the TDS meter for us Cory! I personally only test pH weekly due to my poor water source and test with 5 in 1 tetra strips when I think there may be an issue (I know I'm bad I should test more but...yeah).
+Kala C if it works for ya, then I'd say you are doing it right.
I find myself watching your videos over and over, thanks very much.
I love these testing vids. Puts things in perspective!
I liked how this video talked a lot about shrimp keeping and was uploaded after your livestream with LR Bretz. Thanks!
Yes my biggest problem is that my city tap water reads 540 ppm out of the tap along with a high PH any day I check it, so it helps me reduce the ppm for my fresh water fish tank. I also use a test kit to know what else is going on.
Thank you Cory, that cleared up a lot for me. Much appreciated!
This video is super informational and I like the series of test you did to explain everything.
The fresh water world is sooooo different from salt. I am starting my first fresh tank in almost 10 years and I was so confused why everyone was using a tds meter. Thanks for the video it helped clear a lot up for me.
I use TDS when remineralizing RO/DI water for my shrimp tanks and African Cichlid tank. My shrimp seem to do really good around 140 tds using salty shrimp GH/KH+ however I also monitor ph, GH, KH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and temp with shrimp, they love the water around 72 F.
This is a great video Cory, and you are explaining (very well) one of the hobbies biggest topics that needs to be understood to be successful.
I LOVE your editing!!
that just put so much into perspective for me in so many ways,, thankyou Cory!!
I love your videos, it was actually my boyfriend joe who got me to watch you, he absolutely adores you too! You've helped him so much with his tanks :)
Thanks for the kind words Lucy.
Excellent explanation as always! TDS is indeed meaningless without knowing dH, kH and also nitrogen wastes! The gradual increase in inorganic salts in my shrimp tank pushed my TDS to 760 but I knew it was from salts and not waste. :)
@@dadigitechman check dH, kH and nitrates.
great video. i just bought the meter and some strips from coop. thanks!
I realize this is a very old video but still the most informative I have found regarding TDS. I have a fairly new shrimp tank and all of my tests are where they should be, except the TDS. Arizona tap sits at around 500 ppm without anything in it at all. Even with water conditioners, the slow TDS creep has been a killer on my shrimp. If anyone reads this, please help!
Idk if you've gotten advice from else where yet, but if your trying to keep caradina shrimp, 500tds is too high. They require levels around 120-150 range. That might be why they are dying. Best of luck!
You are correct that TDS measures every ionic compounds in the water. The amount of fertilizer and dechlorinator added to the tape water is not typical portion for the volume. The jump of your demonstration in the 2 tap water beaker was due to that. When you added fertilizer to your tank, the TDS increased by about 10% (180-198). I think if you add the correct portion of fertilizer or dechlorinator to the beakers of tap water they would only change about 10% or less. The measurements and biologic systems will tolerate that small changes.
About 2 weeks ago, I was reading about TDS meters for snails, and i had one back when I was growing sundews. Took several readings and came to the same conclusion. "This number means nothing but how much of something is dissolved." Then went out and bought some tetra test strips. Sometimes more data is better.
I've been a tds chaser with my taibee shrimp for so long and never had success with them. This has changed everything!
Possibly, there could be a list of reasons why one isn't successful at something. If this is the reason, it's an easy fix which is great.
So, I’m doing research for a purchase of shrimp and ran across this video. The TDS of my tap water is 234. Thanks for this information!
Just a little feedback Cory!
I like the contents of the video a lot. I think that this kind of issue has to be addressed, and I'm glad you're bringing it up. I've thought about this multiple times especially when I was shopping for meters.
I just wanted to mention that some charts or visual assistance with your explanation would have been really helpful in keeping track of what you are saying and making connections.
I really enjoy the numbers and the labeling that Sashimi Whiskey has been adding to the videos. However, I do think some of the sound effects at some points were just a little much.
Keep up the good work Cory! You are really moving up and keeping the fish keeping community on RUclips thriving. I have learned a lot from watching your videos. I appreciate how active you constantly are I am always looking forward your new videos.
Great video Cory ,what also doesnt help is the amount of fake TDS pens going around .
I asked HM Digital in an email about this and they said every pen they make has a calibration screw.
Hmm interesting. I have an HM pen, but I didn't know fake ones were being made.
Yeah yours is legit ,I checked the link to Amazon:)
Much needed video for the hobby!
Thanks for the education Corey.. very informative.. I've been watching your channel for quite a few months now and have even watched most of the older stuff. I like the new way your editing. I note some people haven't. Can't please everyone ha? Anyways I hope to see more short informational vids from you especially on water chemistry! Tips on keeping acidic tanks would be awesome! Thanks again Corey keep up the goodwork! - Carissa from New Zealand.
Only way to advance is to try new things :)
I've been thinking a lot about this subject. It's just like your saying... You have to know what's in your water to be able to take full advantage of the tds meter. I know the parameters in all my tanks so for me it's used to tell when to do water changes and also to know how much ca, mg and other nutrients I should add.
Really great video Cory.
I'm usually way over on TDS and my shrimp have been blowing up for years.
Thank you for clearing things up with understanding TDS!
Great content. TDS meter is great but you must have a baseline, a good number to go by is 50.....meaning when your water TDS has changed from baseline (after water change) lets say 170 tds to 220 tds, you should perform another water change. Assuming you're not adding anything else but fish food. They work for me, but once you start adding fertilizer and other things your baseline goes to crap. All my tanks have fake decorations and the only chemical i use is dechlorinator when i perform water changes so my parameters are easier to watch with a TDS meter.
My TDS reads a little higher the day of my actual water change than the following day, because of the dechlorinator. 171 day of and 167 12 hours later. All my tanks read different, you didn't mention temps, my tap TDS at 75-78 degrees reads 130 and at 84 degrees its 145. This matters if you're keeping fish at higher temps obviously.
Great video and I liked the change up of editing, didn't bug me because I personally don't have OCD lol
KG cichlids ocd jokes arent funny anymore
fancy goldfish really? I didn't know that was a thing..
Great video! I've known this stuff just from a logical perspective, but never bothered to test things like adding ferts to RO water to see the effect etc, so that was nice to see.
If you ever get a chance to interview a fish biology expert (maybe the fellow you took the ornamental fish course from?) it would be interesting to know what effect just raw TDS would have on fish. I would think that regardless of what is comprising the TDS measurement, it would impact kidneys etc just by making them overcome greater osmotic gradients.
Super nerdy fun stuff at any rate.
It's like smog or smoke is to air, and from 1000ppm up, it can make breathing hard enough to kill fish, just like 1000ppm of smoke in air is unpleasant and can make you cough.
Great and informative. Was wondering what they did. Great editing too. Made me giggle.
Thanks for the explanation! I would like to see a video on your preference for test strips/kits.
Great video Cory! It's very interesting and informative! Great job!
I know this is an older video but for the sake of an alternative perspective backed by some logic:
If my RO water is 20-35 ppm (the tap here is over 350) and I use salty shrimp remineralizer to bring that TDS back up to 220-235 what I've done is added 200ppm of the essential salts/minerals that my shrimpies need.
I started with almost pure water, and added only the essentials.
It would be a waste of my time to use anything other than a TDS meter for this method, but keep in mind this is for an established tank that's fully cycled... It's just for maintenance. If something started to go wrong I'm going to start testing other things immediately (starting with you Ammonia)
TDS meters are great, when used with a sound methodology.
If you're testing fresh tap with a TDS meter to determine how safe your tap water is... you're not doing it right, and you're not thinking clearly.
thanks for the videos Cory there aways helpful and got me back in to the hobby of taking care of fish 😀 keep up the good work!! 👍
+David Coronado glad to hear it.
great video cory! such good information!
I think the best use of a TDS meter is for measuring a water source or the efficiency of an RO filter or carbon filter. TDS meters only detect ions (positively or negatively charged molecules), and there are many organic substances that are uncharged and undetectable. The ammonia molecule NH3 is uncharged. But ammonium NH4+ is positively charged.
I think it's another tool in the toolbox. It has definitely helped me detect differences between my own aquariums, and in customer's water. No one method is perfect for sure, but for how cheap and easy they are to use. I find I use em a lot to "just take a peak".
They're definitely a good tool. I'm a science nerd -- I have a small collection of TDS and conductivity meters. The older ones have a classic sci-fi appearance.
Very informative Cory
Thanks Cory this was a very informative video. I had just recently heard about TDS meters and didn't really understand them a lot but when you shared the information on this video with the test strips I have a better understanding now. thank you so much for sharing
They are a useful cheap tool to own for sure. Helps figure out things when you can establish baselines etc.
Yess you are right but i got few pufferfish,malsian trumpet snails(invasive),two assasin snails,with a ball off java moss and litteraly 3 stems of Ceratophillum Emersum and even if i'm putting in my water the dechlorinator,additional salt to increase water tds up to 260ppm and a lean fertilizer, i'm still getting my water tds readings as low as 210ppm and i have to do water changes to remineralize the water, i don't know what i would do it if i hadn't a tdsmeter, thanks to that my plants are doing great.
Thanks for the great video Cory, I would love to learn more about doc.
Thank you so much for your videos mate. Legend!!
Yeah I have a planted 20g tank w 3 pea puffers, 3 amano shrimps, and maybe 10 small snails and the TDS is going up to 500! The ph is low 6.4 cause i use RO water (adding shrimp mineral) as my tap water is extremely hard, so i was recommended to try raising the PH at least to 8, to help grow bacteria, my tank is kind of new maybe 4 weeks but i used a bacteria tank started and had minnos fish before the puffer.. we never check the TDS before so i was freaking out when i see the Tds that high.
i really enjoy you videos Cory! i have been learning so much in the last few months! thanks :0)
Thanks for the Lazer Gun Sounds now I need to go and watch Star Wars highlights.
Awesome video Cory! Guess gh and kh are more important than tds. I noticed meds raised my tds by 100 ppm. Must not be too stressful if gh stays stable. Thanks for the info!
Thats my point, TDS is useful when you know the ppm is hardness. But if you don't know what is making up the ppm, it can be risky.
right..you need to know a baseline reading before other things are added.
Cory, can you tell me why my TDS keeps rising?
I have a 20 gallon I'm starting over. No fish at the moment because I'm cycling.
I use RO water and treat with Seachem Acid and Alkaline Buffers. I do a weekly 20% water change with that water, but add pure RO to top off evaporation. I maintain close to 7.0 PH, KH around 4, and GH around 4-5.
My TDS is about 250 ppm and it raises about 20 ppm every day!
U r 100%100%100% right at tds meeter 👍👍👍
That was good info! Thanks again Cory!
Hello. What is the color stick you used to check parameter details? Thanks a lot.
TDS in aquarium hobby is meant to be used in a distilled/deionized/RO water sample to check if it really completely pure H20 (mostly for those of us that have reef tanks or even discus tanks). In a mixed solution like aquarium water it's obviously useless, it's just a number. For the tap water, it can be used to make you know how "dirty" your water is, but you can't be sure which kind of dirt it is - organics, plain pollution, heavy metals, chlorine, chloramine... TDS also helps when you actually know precisely what is in your water, like a solution you've made of say table salt and distilled water, then you can know how many ppms of that compound you have in your solution are in the said solution. Plus, a TDS can NOT tell how hard your water is.
I’m struggling with the TDS meter too. My tank reads 311. My tap is 86. Nitrate is at 5 ppm. I’m trying to figure out why TDS is high. No live plants, no fertilizer. Gravel gets siphoned when big water changes are done every ten days. Good video. Makes me feel a little better. My clown loaches, however, are getting the black spots and I wonder if it has to do with TDS.
Well your dechlorinator will add some tds. I would wager food would have some factor with not all of it getting converted into nitrates. You could have anaerobic bacteria somewhere in the system digestion nitrates and they would have by product. This is why for the average person a tds meter isn’t that helpful
Aquarium Co-Op Thank you for your input. Ever see clown loaches with black specks?
Thank you for your time. Beautiful fish and tanks you have.
Thank you for this video you make things easy for fish keeper
Love this video. Very informative.
Beautiful tank very informative video
I found this because my reading from TDS is 375 in my discus paludarium. But all the fish including the discus seem fine and I do regular water changes. I believe it has to be the land part of the paludarium. They have slow release ferts in it, only a little, but I believe that is what it is. Ph is 6 and all the N's and Ammonia are at 0. I use rain water with a TDS of 6. I believe it could be phosphate, but do not have a tester for that, but I do use phosgard. But everything in my mind is okay, but still curious to know what it actually is. My cory's in that tank are breeding like flys. My guppy tank is about 700 and I know it's calcium from the seashells in it. Started with 8 guppies and now have hundreds. The only thing that was at 10 was nitrates Ph 8. I use tap water in that one with a Ph of 7.6 and TDS of 100, but it rises back up within 24 hours because of the shells. Planing to add some more pothos to combat the nitrates some more. But not going to change a thing with the water. I have watched some other video's of yours and I found I disagreed on a lot of things you said, so stopped watching. But you are spot on with this one. So I'm back.
Super helpful. Thank you.
Thanks for the video. Now I am not sure if I need one or not lol! I have a 50 gallon tank with Cherry Shrimp, Mystery Snails, Otos and some Neon Tetras. I just order all your fertilizers and test strips and also had previously bought Fluval liquid test kits (by the way your test strips are almost identical to the liquid test kits, very happy about that, makes life easier not having to do liquid testing all the time). So if I know all the parameters and use your test strips, is a TDS meter really necessary?
Another question is: when using your Aquarium Co-Op pump fertilizer in a 50 gallon tank, I see you said you had to add 23 pumps to a 230 gallon tank. My 50 gallon tank has only 28 gallons of water after all the substrate went in, so I only put in 3 pumps of your fertilizer. Is that incorrect, should I actually be doing 5 pumps instead?
Wow! Never new there were so many things to look for when testing TDS! Great information from Cory+Awesome editing from Jim=BEST VIDEO EVER
Woooowwwww! This video caused me to test my tap water in different rooms. My kitchen water for some reason had half as much TDS as the bathroom sink and shower. After some additional testing, I realized that it's because I was turning on hot water in the bathroom and cold water in my kitchen. For whatever reason, the hot water line is adding a bunch of "something" to my water. And the temperature isn't the difference, because the "hot" water in my bathroom takes a long time to get hot, so I what I was testing was cold water from the hot water line. Does this make any sense? Anyway, thanks so much for the video, Cory. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get the TDS in my tanks under 250, but if my tap water is 225 and Prime brings it up to 240, it makes perfect sense. I guess I'll use cold water when I do changes and put a spare heater in the bucket for bit before adding to the tank. Thank you!
Theres no way to lower TDS in already existing water I know of unless it can settle at the bottom. My TDS of tap water out of the tap is 800 - 850 out of any tap (1000 is unsafe to drink according to EPA and EU standards) which means I can't really use it. The last thing im trying is letting it sit out in the sun for a while and hoping something will change. Collecting rain water, distilling or buying distilled are really my only options. Ive had water as high as 1400 TDS in my aquarium and 2000 TDS in water I was testing if I should add or not. Don't let your water get that high of TDS, its bad. Reverse Osmosis is something im still looking into - forgot to mention it as well.
Thanks, very informative
Good share. Very intuitive. What do you think of the seachem suction cupped tab you stick in the aquarium for nitrates and ph
I love the editing
Great video Cory!
Great informative video again!
The tank looks so good!
I want to setup 4 totes (20g) this summer outside to breed fish, do you have any tips?!
_Keep up the good work!_
*Thumbs up!*
So do you recommend strip tests or liquid tests? Cheers
Liquid test kits are more accurate than test strips and I think a bit easier to read the results of, but test strips are cheaper and easier to use
Hi Corey, I've been binge watching your channel, and I'm loving it! It has motivated me to get back into the hobby after an eight year hiatus. I plan on ordering some plants and dry goods from you in the near future.
Question: I've tested my tap water several times and I keep getting a pH that is near the upper range of the test kit chart. It appears to be in the 8.6 to 8.8 range. The strange part of the equation is that the same water has a very low hardness. Is this even possible? I'm planning on starting out with some mollies and swordtails in a 55 gallon tank. What should I do about the pH? Most of what I've read has advised to not adjust the pH and go for consistency, but mine seems to be TOO high. I can't seem to find many resources on how to deal with high pH and low hardness together. Any advice would be highly appreciated!
Thank you in advance!
Jeff
+Jeff Driver I would leave the ph and add some hardness and keep livebearers like you plan.
Thanks for this. I love your videos! Just got my tds meter. My tap water is around 220 which is supposed to be ideal for neo C. Can I use it or do I have to use RO water + salts? Setting up my first shrimp tank and researching. Ty.
like your sound effects!
Great information, thanks.
Please do a video on test strips! I use primary test strips day to day and have tested against liquid test and have seen no difference, however that is not a popular opinion.
I have made the video already Tabitha, just needs to be edited. I found slight differences myself, but no where near what the internet states of test strips being useless.
I'll share that one to all corners of the web, for sure. Seems like it comes up literally any time someone has sick fish (must be because they only use test strips and thus have bad water etc)
Thanks for the video. What kind of test strips you use? Thanks
woah your store is 15 mins from me, had no idea
I got 2 blood parrot and they are still lil babies. Like around 1 inch or so. Our regular tap water TDS is around 118. My goal is to keep the TDS level between 200 to 300. In order to achieve this I have to do the water change daily or sometime every second day. No real or artificial plants in the tank just few hiding spots with power filter and air pump. After doing water change TDS will drop around 215 or so however in 24 hours sometimes TDS reading will be 364. Is there any reason that you can imagine why TDS is increasing so frequently. I do vacuum the gravel for any waste every time I change the water. Also my tank is like 8 days old or so.
What brand of test strips do you use?
Tetra
yeah i bought that too, but it dont tell me anything. using it only out of interest, but i dont act after a tds meter. as a 1 year noob with a 30l aquarium with only snails and shrimps i got into trouble after my duckweed (and some other grasslike stuff) were dying at high rates. so i started with fertilizer NPK and other stuff, then my shrimps started dying.
so i made waterchanges everyday to reduce it. TDS was over 999. first problem was, that i had not enough poop in the water :D with the snails it changed and the shrimp are going up in numbers. now iam only fertilzing when the duckweed is going back, as long as the shrimp are well, the plants will hold with rare drops of fertilzer.
TDS is some myth^^
What test strips do you recommend to cover all bases thoroughly for freshwater? I have a Freshwater API Master Kit, but I feel I’m not getting a full reading on certain things!!
Hi, How do you put guppy and shrimp together that guppies not eating all the baby shrimps?
i could use some help cause im in a bit of a predicament, i recently just got into keeping shrimp and im taking on some Opae Ula. my currently PPM is around 8000 and this is mainly due to the added salt, i used de chlorinated water, in which it is recommended that i keep salinity to 1.015 ish and since opae ula live in brackish water ive also added some coral to adjust the PH. using a test kit ive only found that the hardness is well over 180 whilst all other parameters are to be expected. thus im not sure what to do right now and who to trust. any advise ?
Listening I went with the tds meter through all my tanks. One is 250 ( basically my tap water). This one is finishing cycling. Another one is 210. A cycled one which needs water change. And my quarantine is 380. For a moment I feel shocked. Then I remember that I added general cure yesterday. 😅
Thanks so much very helpful video!
Great content, I have never used a TDS meter, it is good to know what it is and how to use it. I will pick one up pretty soon!
On another note...Please reign Sashimi Whiskey in on the sound effects...they were a bit too much and just felt jarring. One of the reasons I watch virtually every one of your videos is the lack of that type of editing.
I did like most of his graphical editing, on the other hand. The digital display for the tds meter he threw up was a nice touch!
As always, thanks for the content, it is greatly appreciated!
Thanks for the feedback. We are still working on our work flow processes for the videos.
I just bought a RO buddy 3stage, and my water is from the well, The water is going to be straight from the ground, No softener etc, I bought a extra filter to remove metals and etc, so it's a 4stage, Should be here by the weekend and I'm going to start pumping it, My water is normally good and doesn't smell like most wells do, Do you think I'll be alright?
And second question, You say you haven't did a water change in 2months with a fully planted tank, Having tons of plants help that much?, So plants is more like a filter system?, Thanks!,
Plants can help yes, balance is important, watching the fish is also important. As for if your water will be good after the R/O system. It's hard to say as I'm not sure what you're trying to do. But in general for some people on wells an R/O system is easier to handle than well water.
Aquarium Co-Op I got 2 freshwater tanks and maybe adding more soon, and going to the pet store everyweek is not vary fun when I'm only going for water and wasting gas driving there etc, Hoping this RO system works out and it isn't a waste of time and money, maybe I can start saving money. thanks for the reply!,
My tap water is 0.13ms and aquarium is 0.23ms not a clue if that's good or bad ?
I’m here because my shrimp tank is at 1700 tds and been doing fine but I’m going to start topping off the water with distilled so it goes down and calm down on all the fertilizer I’ve been using
these trolls have a right to their opinion, but they are wrong i enjoyed the added editing. they are your videos have fun with them. its not like the video was overwhelmed. thanks! "guppie king" lol just kidding!