T.D.S. - Everything You Need to Know about Total Dissolved Solids in Your Aquarium & Much More!

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Күн бұрын

To support more wacky fish nerdery please consider looking at my patreon page. Any like, subscribe or share is more than enough, but if you want great rewards and access to my personal advice and livestock consider joining the / somainkdesigns community. Much love to you all!
This is a very hands on demonstration discussing total disolved solids, what they are, how they work and of course, how we can change them. Tips, tricks and why hot water heaters effect your TDS.
This is crucial for many fish in the tropical and ornamental aquarium fish trade as well as with keeping shrimp. Freshwater Shrimp and snails need a specific range of kh and gh as well as TDS to promote healthy exoskeleton development.
In this video we look at some experiments im doing , so that you dont have to. How does crushed coral effect TDS? what about limestone or iron rich decore? We talk about all this and more to make sure you and your fish are both getting the salts, minersls, anions and metals needed to survive
Thanks guys!

Пікірлер: 96

@yourtap 3 жыл бұрын

Well here's my answer. Lol Glad I followed your page. Everyday I learn something new about this hobby. Never once has someone Said TDS to me until you mentioned it. Dug through your videos and found what I'm looking for.

@ACAquatics 6 жыл бұрын

Great explanation of TDS!!! To many beginning in the hobby, with so much to learn and the learning curve being so steep, TDS can be quite confusing and you have made it much easier to understand. Thanks for sharing and "Keep doing what you do if it works for you".

@Fishtory 6 жыл бұрын

Thanks man, I appreciate that, im going to do gh and kh next

@ACAquatics 6 жыл бұрын

The Secret History Living in Your Aquarium that will be extremely helpful as well.

@kristykeimig3498 2 жыл бұрын

I had no idea you lived in Seattle! I'm in everett. I recently found your channe last yeael and you have taught me so much in such a short time. I have been methodically setting up my own shop selling plants and fish on a small scale of course. But your channel is so underrated. Thank you!

@Fishtory 2 жыл бұрын

Oh thats awesome to hear, thank you!

@niqlikesthis 6 жыл бұрын

Great experiment, very helpful to see the differences. I picked up a tds meter after watching LRBretz. A great tool to have.

@altosmusiclab2248 Ай бұрын

no fish were harmed during the filming of this episode!!!

@melissafoster1228 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for this video!

@Fishtory 2 жыл бұрын

Why of course! Thanks for tuning in

@jeffreyleikachon1 2 жыл бұрын

you are so lucky to have such soft water! i live in Las Vegas and our TDS on tap is about 500...i need to dilute a lot to keep my goldies

@Fishtory 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah it is very nice most the time. Plants tend not to really like it...but its easier to add things than trying to remove them from water

@Mskittey 3 жыл бұрын

Just bought mine! When I bought the TDS meter it came with a free pH meter as well got a love Amazon

@Fishtory 3 жыл бұрын

Whoa! Score! I need one of each again.... tell me which product you selected haha

@jeremybw2180 4 жыл бұрын

The Dr. Pepper in the frame caused my ADD to kick in and all I could think about was Dr. Pepper so what were you saying about water?! 😂

@ccpelaez12 4 жыл бұрын

Very informative thanks. I just put in 16 CPDs in my heavily planted 17 gallon and and two days later all but one died. I tested my water and all levels seemed fine (nitrates, ammonia, nitrites all 0) except for my TDS being high. We have hard water here in Houston. I think that might have been the culprit, so I came here to learn about TDS. I think I may need to get an RO system

@Fishtory 4 жыл бұрын

Yes, could be that, could also be any trace amounts of fertalizers, oils, pesticides etc if its a used container... i like to buy a few 99 cent zebra danio at petco and put them in a tub the first few days to act as a canary in a coal mine

@ccpelaez12 4 жыл бұрын

The Secret History Living in Your Aquarium the tank has been running great for close to a year with a group of green neon tetras. All was fine but I recently had a die off of some of the green Neons as well. The only thing I can think of is that I added some Sachem Potassium aside from the normal plant fertilizer that I use. Does K raise the hardness considerably? Not sure what else could have happened, this tank ran great for a long time. Ironically, the Two Otos I put in with the CPDs are doing fine and they are known to be sensitive. There was also a reduction in some of my RCS in that tank.

@jkytest1 6 жыл бұрын

Yay, another Seattlite!

@Fishtory 6 жыл бұрын

+Jesse wooo! Glad to "meet" you! Keep in touch...im in Ballard and love me some blue neos haha. Feel free to hit me up if you want to hang out, like the old days... you know, in person hah

@jkytest1 6 жыл бұрын

The Secret History Living in Your Aquarium For sure for sure, it would be awesome meet people of same interest. any good shops around here? I usually hit up aquarium co-op or Denny's pet world in Kirkland. Any recommendation near Ballard?

@Fishtory 6 жыл бұрын

+Jesse totally, check out aquarium zen, aquarium co-op up in edmonds or The Fish Store in Lake City...those are the 3 I frequent most...and petco for glass and hardware if im on a budget and can't support local. Aquarium zen is where it's at for plants ...they have expensive ADA glass, stone, wood and CO2 is ridiculously priced, but they get some random fish in that are hard to find and it looks beautiful in there. It's on 64th and Roosevelt. Also I order rainbows from tampa aquaculture online...im friends with the owner, but hes growing his farm, and i like shopping local, or ordering direct from breeders and farms...but I'd love more friends in the Hobby to swap and sell/buy from.

@Justintheinsane Жыл бұрын

We live off well water in my area. TDS average is about 650. 800 when it hasn't rained in a long time. Somehow my planted tank dropped in TDS to 326. Its only a month old. After a bit of searching my guess is the plants have absorbed it outta the water column.

@Fishtory Жыл бұрын

Yeah its probably organic compoinds or carbon, iron, sulphur etc... and many plants love that. Id pay more attention to ph than tds though

@DashDrones 2 ай бұрын

@@Fishtoryexcellent, thanks Alex

@DamianBloodstone 6 жыл бұрын

Good vid. In my first tank, I doubt TDS was something you could measure with your own instruments.

@vikkirountoit497 3 жыл бұрын

Looking up more info on TDS as I brought home some fish from LFS today and on a WHIM I tested the water in the bag. It was 45 min from bagging fish at store to testing at home. Smallish bag with 13 young fish (long fin blue danios). Even so, TDS was 3020?!! Calibrated TDS meter verified. That's beyond crazy. How are fish living in that and I'd love to know what in the heck is in their water?! Other numbers shocked me too. Ph was below 6?! Ammonio 1 - OK I get that. Nitrite 0 - OK I get that. Nitrate 160+ and it changed during 1 min shake - no wait needed. So it came from LFS at that level. Phosphates 10+ instant reading did not need to wait 3 min to see off chart. gh 4. kh 0. I know that's a lot of fish in a small bag, but some of those numbers are just nuts and not all from being in a bag for 45 minutes. Thank the heavens they don't ship fish!

@Fishtory 3 жыл бұрын

Its almost certainly salt... try an experiment... get some warm tap water and measure it.... then get warm tap water and add 2 tablespoons of salt to it stirring and mixing it in.... and check the reading again. If its showing a huge jump then you can assume your meter is functioning and that they either added salt for treating stress on the ride home (that would be odd), OR you can assume they recently treated the tank with something like antibiotics and or salt dips etc...so make sure and quarantine those fish if that's the case...the store may have gotten them in sick and then resold them from their treatment tank and medicated water

@UpperAquatics 3 жыл бұрын

For the algorithm!!

@tabas9948 5 ай бұрын

My aquariums have a TDS of (Bolivian ram tank) 1600ppm and (platy tank) 2000ppm and an EC in micro siemens/cm of 3200 and 4000 respectively. Are these values too high? Both tanks have a pH of 7.5 and my ORP is 290mV and 320mV respectively. I'm using the 10 in 1 digital water parameter meter jq-006 Thanks love your channel

@Fishtory 5 ай бұрын

Nope you are okay if that ram is not wild...which i doubt it is. Ive seen rams in 7.8 and spawn in 7.6 when given lots of fresh water changes and oxygen. So the ones being bred are often bred in harder water than the wild ones...by a long long ways off. Its really only imported wild fish that you have to worry more about aclimating to that...and some key species like cichlids from africa or rainbowfish etc.

@chucknorisclone 6 жыл бұрын

Do you use ferts in your shrimp tanks? My country water is out of a river before being treated but lacks things like calcium so I take care of that, but I don’t want my tds to jump too high in my tanks

@CADSMITH-jimpac 3 жыл бұрын

i love the voice...so soothing i wish i can speak the same way...great video as well! thanks.

@Fishtory 3 жыл бұрын

Haha thanks

@WayneTheSeine 2 жыл бұрын

With Flint Michigan water you can actually build a car, lead battery and all.

@Fishtory 2 жыл бұрын

Whooa! Super sad

@khairuddinazfar3954 3 жыл бұрын

What is the good reading for tds range in aquarium if I want to have cherry shrimp.& Rummy nose tetra ? I'm still new here....and hope to learn more about tds

@Fishtory 3 жыл бұрын

I'd aim for 120 to 160ish probably.... 120 being better for the tetras in theory...but ive seen them in tds 500+...its all about gradual changes. Best of luck, and thanks for dropping a line!

@khairuddinazfar3954 3 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory your welcome and thank you for your advise, I really appreciate it....

@Zapton5 5 жыл бұрын

Ok this is old but wow. Could you have made a better video? I think not! I have been keeping fish longer then you been alive but I can't find anything wrong with your facts. If I can't give you a perfect score I'll deduct one point because it sounds like you had a cold. So 99 out of a hundred. But even that shows work ethic and dedication. New sub as I feel like I should of had to pay for a video like this.

@Fishtory 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you very kindly. I've kept fish about 22 years now if you cound age 12 selling my guppies back to stores hah. But moreover I love science and history and wanted to tie it all together on this channel...sprinkled with a tad bit of the list videos and popular fishtube prototypes for videos. Thank you for taking the trouble to find this video! My early videos actually had more work and research put into each video on average, but 60 hours of research and videos a week tool a toll and now I do 30ish of the same work. Ideally through patreon or the channel's growth, id love it to be self sustainable, where i can spend all week researching. Until then- cheers to folks like you for subscribing! Have a great week! -Alex.

@carriej8337 3 жыл бұрын

I’m still confused about the CM reading part on my reader. Is it conductivity? Is there a video on it? Excuse my beginner lack of knowledge & understanding

@Fishtory 3 жыл бұрын

No worries. We just don't use it in freshwater usually. It is, as you assumed- Conductivity. It isn't used usually, due to a lack of information. As Conductivity can be effected by dozens of things. So while it may tell you the Conductivity, it doesn't tell us if that's due to minerality or metals in the water,, due to ionization or due to salts etc. etc.. Without the test kits for identifying various elements, metals or relative gravity/ salinity, it just doesn't narrow down much info for you. Some fish that use electrical signals or a stray appliance that's shorting out (a heater that breaks , or impeller that's sending a current into your tank (all rare Occurrences) ,however usually your fish all dying will indicate that issue much easier.

@probablynotabigtoe9407 6 жыл бұрын

What Fertilizer schedule are you running in all your tanks, do you use Excel? My well runs at 180 -210 ppm depending on heavy rains. Mostly Calcium Carbonate and about 15-20 ppm sulfur, based off of local city well water reports and I dose EI up to 350ppm.... Also I found that flushing your water heater will significantly reduce excess carbonate buildup... Just open all your hot faucets and let the tank run empty, let it fill, then repeat flush. Do this every once in a while to keep saturation levels low.

@Fishtory 6 жыл бұрын

+Bob Saget I use Easy Green a mix of potassium nitrates and phosphate compounds with a tiny salt i think. But i use ot sparingly and let fish waste do the job woth flowing water from the HOB and a large sponge filter which moves water, oxygenates it and also just acts as another large b.bacteria sink. Totally thanks for the tip on the hot water heater. I do that by default when my wofe and i both shower (our tank is very small, like 40 gallons or so) but the pipes for sure have debris of iron, carbon, copper and lime slllightly. Its still only .4 higher ph than cold tap water when first running Do you raise shrimp or anything needing soft clean water?

@probablynotabigtoe9407 6 жыл бұрын

The Secret History Living in Your Aquarium I have raised shrimp on almost identical tap water

@Fishtory 6 жыл бұрын

+Bob Saget yeah you can actually raise crystals in our tap water... it's kinda crazy

@calgary_kai 5 жыл бұрын

How is your fish doing in the tank where TDS reading was ~200 on the surface and ~500 about 2 inch down? Do you think 500 can be a good indicator that it's time for a water change? I have 5 guppies/1 tetra/1 pleco and 2 dwarf frogs in my 10g. My tab water TDS is ~180. I have just planted bocopa/glosso which will gradually raise TDS so I was wondering if TDS can be a good water change indicator.

@Fishtory 5 жыл бұрын

yeah usually a tds thats super high means you have a high ph also...but certain things like chalk and calcium can do that , sometime if soil is super kicked up and agitated itll become dissolved also

@loreall.2461 3 жыл бұрын

My TDS is over 900 yet my ph is 7.0. I use strictly DI water and add in Epsom salts and I use Flourish products but my plants are not thriving. I have gravel in in the tank and a few river rocks but don’t understand why the TDS is so high it’s gone from 325 to over 900 in 6 months. I’m frustrated.

@LBitoeverything 2 жыл бұрын

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.

@Fishtory 2 жыл бұрын

Sounds like you have a layer of soil created by mulm compacted down into the substrate (which many people are very jealous of!). But I'm guessing when you gravel vacuum it exposes mulm which us acidic and dissolves any calcium or carbon in the substrate.... which would raise the tds... make the ph drop a little...then when it that acidic layer starts to break down any sediment, it neutralizes or even turns the layer slightly alkaline. I'd suggest you only vacuum big stuff like leafs, extra food or big curly qs of poop sitting loose on top...but try not to mix or disturb the sedenent and let that mulm build a bit.. just like in a natural lake or river. Maybe add 2 cups or so of crushed coral/shells to buffer the tank's ph if you want. Best of luck! Happy fish keeping

@LBitoeverything 2 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory it’s just gravel nothing underneath as a matter of fact it was just gravel replaced it with aquarium sand TDS still rising no soil nothing 🫣

@greenthumbaquariums1185 6 жыл бұрын

To compare the TDS of hot water to that of cold water i believe you should let the hot water cool down. Temperature affects the value displayed on meters unless they have temperature compensation built-in.

@yourtap 3 жыл бұрын

I went back to this video. After testing my tap. It was at 350 with zero for GH, nitrates, Nitrites. I then figured out it was my water softener. That was all sodium. So then I by passed my softener. This time I read around 250 but my GH went up to hard. I'm so lost with that because either way I cut it. It's too much for my neo's and that's before any plant waste, food waste, animal waste, and fertilizers for my plants. All these things can sky rocket my TDS up to 800. I had to did a 30% water change in it yesterday with RO water and that only brought it down to 550 TDS. This is a 40 gallon breeder. My nitrites are 0 and my ammonia is zero, my GH is hard my PH is is a bit over 7. What should I do with that? Literally up all night battling my TDS.

@Fishtory 3 жыл бұрын

Oi that's rough. I suppose depending on your ph you could add a decent amount of almond / oak/ maple leaves, which would add a lot of acidity and tannins. Then add crushed coral or shells to your substrate. However, if possible ask for a print out of what's in your water from the utility co/city. Most will let you see it 1 or 2x a year free...or charge like 5 or 10 dollars to test it. I'm guessing it's iron or copper etc....some sort of other thing causing your hard water... but short of a filter or RO/DI system- you're pretty limited annoyingly.

@yourtap 3 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory I appreciate your feedback. For the time being. I went and bought 20 gallons of purified water. I cut my filtered tap with that. Gave me a starting point 100TDS. Gives me a bunch of wiggle room. I'm doing more digging around today. Call my water company and find out about those minerals. Thanks again man.

@Fishtory 3 жыл бұрын

@@yourtap good luck 100 tds is nice and low for now. I know it can be a battle, man . Best wishes on it

@cynthiadavis9589 Жыл бұрын

@@yourtap I am going to have to do the same! I am just now learning about this TDS stuff. My well water reading is 515!!! Darn it! Luckily I only have one Pleco in a 55 so far.

@yourtap Жыл бұрын

@@cynthiadavis9589 I'm a expert at it now. I've posted very beginning friendly tutorials on how to build your water from scratch or adjust your tap. I feel your frustrations. Come visit me over there if you like. Good luck to you my friend 🤙

@booperfumprdink859 8 ай бұрын

Do you recommend a cheaper TDS meter or a little better quality one? Does it matter?

@Fishtory 8 ай бұрын

It doesnt matter from what ive seen. You can go on amazon and get a 12 dollar one and itll work as well as a 50 dollar one. Save your money for fish hehe

@booperfumprdink859 8 ай бұрын

Good to know thank you! I was looking at a few that were a bit more expensive but if it doesn’t really matter then I’ll just get the cheaper ones. I will say you always have really good advice that’s more nuanced then most.

@dongzternft6633 4 жыл бұрын

What is recommended for Guppies for TDS?

@Fishtory 4 жыл бұрын

Ph is probably a better metric to go by (ph 7.2-8.5) but usually the TDS is around 200 to 350 when you have a more basic tank, with crushed coral or limestone/calcium added

@Fishtory 4 жыл бұрын

All that said, ive had them keep breeding in a tds of 50 and ph of 6.0

@dongzternft6633 4 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory thanks so much I know you're more knowledgeable because you're a scientist.. :)

@Mattypantaloons 3 жыл бұрын

If the total TDS (266) of one of my tanks is about double the total hardness (GH of 70ppm + KH of 36 ppm), what could the rest of the TDS be? I use dechlorinated tap water for water changes, and top offs with RO. Water from the tap is ~ 150. TDS is high in the tank from repeated top offs with tap water instead of actual water changes. I'm gradually lowering them. - Ammonia: 0 - Nitrites: 0 - Nitrates: 0 - pH: ~7.5 - Almost never dose ferts, just started using roots tabs conservatively, and we'll buried. - Using ~1 year old Aquasoil - Botanicals (alder cones, cattapa leaves) added from time to time. - Moderately to heavily planted for a 15 Gallon Cube. The only thing I can think of is sodium from regular feeding of live brine shrimp, but it'd have to be from their carapaces since I rinse them in treated water before adding to the tank. Could that be it? In another tank I have, the total hardness equals the TDS almost exactly. Same water source, but inert gravel. So I don't think this is heavy metals. What else could it be?

@Fishtory 3 жыл бұрын

Calcium, sodium, it could be carbon from organic or plant matter, phosphates, zinc, iron, and if you use Dechlorinator , as we almost all do- then the nitrates and ammonia related compounds are not destroyed but rather, they get trapped in a sulfur and salt matrix cage, and therefore are neutralized in ph, and cannot dock or bond since they are turned into a big blob of a molecule....so it could also be those blobs some what too. In reality it's almost certainly a mix of half a dozen elements or compounds

@dannycraig 3 жыл бұрын

Hot water has a higher TDS than cold water because the molecules have more energy - bear this in mind. The increase may not be due to aeration

@Fishtory 3 жыл бұрын

So them having more energy, they can hold more Dissolved Solids? I would have thought that physics wise, cold water expands the matrix of molecules and holds more. ... interesting thanks.

@Mattypantaloons 3 жыл бұрын

It always surprises me to see 4 litre jugs of distilled water in the grocery stores mixed in with various brands of bottled water. I'd say that most people grabbing those bottles of distilled have no idea what the difference is or that it's not healthy to drink a lot of it.

@Fishtory 3 жыл бұрын

I always wonder the same thing

@rp101aquatics6 5 жыл бұрын

do i really need to worryy about tds for neocaridina

@Fishtory 5 жыл бұрын

not a huge amount 80-350 seemed to be a fine range for mine... even 450 in once case or cherry reds. But too little and the have problems molting and can die

@rp101aquatics6 5 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory ok I'll keep it above 100 with fertilisers and stuff

@terryterry1655 Жыл бұрын

Will snails increase tds

@rp101aquatics6 Жыл бұрын

@@terryterry1655 How would snails increase tds

@user-ii1ei9gw8t 2 ай бұрын

got a tds reading of 500 ppm from my tap water..... now what lol??????

@Fishtory 2 ай бұрын

Livebearers and African rift lake cichlids will love that. You can live with it and just avoid plants and fish that can't handle hard water.

@jaysgone2020 4 жыл бұрын

I know it's off subject but you sound like Ryan Renolds....lol

@Fishtory 4 жыл бұрын

Ill take it! Hahah thanks for watching

@ula_la0806 3 жыл бұрын

Not all TDS meters are waterproof, so be careful if yours is not 😉

@Fishtory 3 жыл бұрын

Truth!

@lyses5975 5 жыл бұрын

Hi Alex! I think you don't want to put the meter too deep as is might damage it. And always store up right position as you don't want water to go in it as Rick said in that video. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/frmVodN22bnOimw.html

@Fishtory 5 жыл бұрын

Yes you are correct, every ph meter has different marks on it, mine is about 2 inches, some are less, but the storing it upright is a really good point. Thank you

@lyses5975 5 жыл бұрын

@@Fishtory It seams you have a good geology knowledge. I suspect those big red chunk of porous lava rock I put in my tanks for the aquascaping increase the mineral rate. I was wondering if that rate of mineral fade out with time?

@Fishtory 5 жыл бұрын

@@lyses5975 you are correct in your thinking.