What is your city water TDS level?

Varies between 30 and 45 here in Ft. Collins, Colorado. I use tapwater for my stony reef, and most of the time I don't even add dechlor, too much work :)
 
As a General Rule of Thumb of the PPM

0 - 50 - RO Water (Acceptable range)
50 - 170 - Spring Water (Acceptable range)
170 - 200 - Hard Water
200 - 300 - Marginal at best
300 - 500 - Unplesent water
 
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TDS is strictly astetic per the EPA and most municipalities. There are no enforcable contaminant levels. Even though Phoenix water is in the 700 to 1000 range it is by no means offensive, unpleasant or unhealthful.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9661020#post9661020 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AZDesertRat
TDS is strictly astetic per the EPA and most municipalities. There are no enforcable contaminant levels. Even though Phoenix water is in the 700 to 1000 range it is by no means offensive, unpleasant or unhealthful.

Totally correct thats why its consider a TDS testing general rule of thumb and does not mean unhealthy, but you can taste the difference from State/City to State/City :) and I have tasted some nasty water in other States :)
 
Re: What is your city water TDS level?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9654881#post9654881 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by the other tang
I read mine for the first time last week and it was 635ppm, whats yours?
Wow, that's a lot! Mine's about 4ppm at the most.
 
Tap water TDS at 4???? Holy cow! I find that pretty hard to believe unless your utility uses membranes for treatment. A tap TDS of 4 would be highly problematic as it would be extremely agressive to plumbing fixtures, piping and appliances. It would suck the lead and copper out or brass and bronze, eat stainless steel and have a really wacky pH and Langlier Index. No utility in the USA could provide water to the public like that as it would not meet the EPAs lead and copper rules.
I am not doubting you or suggesting you are fudging but as a water treatment professional I cannot fathom that.
 
i i just tested mine from my kitchen sink with an electronic pen meter, came up with 199 ppm with about 5 secs of cold only water flowing (to make sure i wasn't measuring anything from my known-to-be-dying hot water heater). i let the cold water run for 2 minutes, measured again and got 140 ppm.

i'm curious how many of the measurements reported were before flushing out their own water lines, and if they were remeasured, what the difference would be. especially the 635ppm measurement.
 
I wait several minutes before taking mine with the meter in the water the whole time to stabilize the temperature. The meters probe and water need to be the same temp. Thats why the inline meters are not so accurate, their probes are exposed to the air temperature and not the water temperature which are rarely the same.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9669346#post9669346 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AZDesertRat
I wait several minutes before taking mine with the meter in the water the whole time to stabilize the temperature. The meters probe and water need to be the same temp. Thats why the inline meters are not so accurate, their probes are exposed to the air temperature and not the water temperature which are rarely the same.

how long does it take for the measurement to stabilize?

every time i fire up the RO/DI unit, the meter after the RO stage starts out at 200 ppm and drops down to a more reasonable 4-8 ppm after a couple of minutes. the post DI meter starts out at maybe 1 ppm and drops down to the expected 0 ppm very quickly. am i seeing the effects of temperature compensation, or am i seeing dissolved solids built up in my water lines and in the water filter being flushed out?
 
With inlines they are never 100% accurate since the temp probe is on the outside of the probe in the little rectangular hole you can see in the affter part. But you are seeing TDS creep in the beginning and after a quart or less in most cases it will settle down to as a ccurate as it is going to be. My handheld (HM Digital COM-100) is temperature compensated plus has built in thermometer so you can see when the temperature has stabilized the TDS readings quit wandering.
 
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