West County water TDS

Anyone have a TDS meter out West? I am STL County Water.

I have a four stage RODI unit. I am suspicious of the TDS in it. I have had the normal diatoms and algae. Now I have cyano that keeps popping up. It goes away during the night and comes back during the day. I am running GFO but still have high phosphates. There is either something in the water or more rock is still leaching phosphates. Can't get it under 1 maybe as high as 2 ppm.
 
I have a TDS meter you could borrow. I think they are only $5 online. Not sure that Phosphate has a big of an impact on Cyano as you are giving it credit for.

http://166.78.194.236/forums/showthread.php?t=2279039

I would investigate the lighting in you tank first. If you use T-5 check that the bulbs are not old and changing the spectrum of light they are putting out. A three day black out will probably get rid of it... Sometimes I also use hydrogen peroxide on cyano (do this with the lights dimmed for better results). Your tank is pretty new if I remember so this was going to happen sooner or latter anyway...
 
Yes my tank is about 3 months old. I am using 3 Chinese black box LEDs. Running them at 30% white and 50% blue. A 3 day blackout did the trick before on the algae outbreak I had. I turned all the lights out last night at 7 for the 3 day blackout... but I suspect the cyano will be back... We will see.
 
Saint Louis county water is not to bad but it has one major draw back. It uses chloramine for water treatment. Chloramine is chlorine bonded to ammonia. This keeps the chlorine from gasing out of the water supply to fast. The draw back is that it is difficult to remove. You have to make sure that you have a carbon block designed for chloramine otherwise it will very quickly render your carbon block useless. My TDS is not real high it is usually in the mid 200's maybe a little higher. I would use a tds meter to check the output side of your RODI unit. I am in creve Coeur and I have a tds pen that you could use if you like. Also if you are coming out to pizza night just bring your water sample in a clean container and I can check it.
 
Ive noticed cyano is kind of a seasonal thing for some reason,at least it is for me. I'm actually 2 days into a 3 day blackout. I also dropped a half dose of chemiclean into the system as well. It'll go away but it comes back every year about this time.
 
On the subject, what is everyone's incoming tds? At my house it is between 680 and 700. Probably why I burn through sediment filters and resin.

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I have noticed a ton of water evaporating with the change in weather. While my 180 is covered, my 40 gallon sump is not. I am losing about a gallon of water a day. Coincidentally I have a cyano outbreak...
 
Mine says 21 here in St. Chuck.

Curt - I have a little bit bigger tank than you. 210g with a 75g sump. I'll evaporate 2-3 gallons a day in the winter. I have a fancy 5g Home Depot bucket as my top off water container and it seems like I fill it three or four times a week.

I've also noticed that cyano seems to show up in my tank in the fall and in the spring. When I switch from A/C to heat and then back again. I've asked Steve at Corals N More (formerly at Marine Solutions) about it and he said he sees it as a seasonal issue also. They'll sell a ton of stuff to battle cyano for a few weeks in the spring and fall, but then nothing for months.
 
On the subject, what is everyone's incoming tds? At my house it is between 680 and 700. Probably why I burn through sediment filters and resin.

Remember that sediment filters don't catch TDS - because it is DISSOLVED solids - goes right through the sediment filter.

Russ
 
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