What is the Target TDS Level?

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GlockFu
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What is the Target TDS Level?

Post by GlockFu »

I just bought a TDS meter and found out that my TDS from the tap is extremely low. It's only at 24 ppm. What is the target TDS to get to at the end of the dry season before dropping it down to about 100 ppm?

I think this is the reason my Zebras have only bread once which was about two years ago.

I read in a couple of Barbie's posts saying she uses RO right for the last two weeks to increase the TDS of soft water in the tank and I've just started using this method as well. Is raising the tank's TDS by 20 ppm per day too much? That's what I've been doing for about a week and a half now.

Also, since my tap water TDS is so low, should I even use any RO water at all?

Thanks for any help!
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Post by Zebrapl3co »

The post doesn't make sense to me.
RO is supposed to be close to 0 if not very very low TDS. It's the tab water that is high in TDS.
So how can you increase TDS by adding RO water?
I think what barb means is that she is using the rejected water from the RO unit, now that is high in TDS as that's what the RO unit does. It creates purified water that is very low on TDS and the excesss mineral and stuff are ejected into the drain. ...
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Barbie
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Post by Barbie »

RO Right is a product used to add minerals and hardness back into RO water. I was using it in order to cause fluctuations, and while it did eventually result in one spawn, it was not the fix I needed to get the main colony really rocking and rolling again. Sorry I hadn't updated that!

My RO unit waste only has a TDS of about 190. Not enough to make a big difference for the hardness in the tanks either, I'm afraid. My zebras were spawning like mad when my tap TDS was 338 and I could use RO to simulate a rainy season, so I've been trying to figure out ways to recreate those parameters. The TDS in the tanks would get up to 400ppm or so with waste and evaporation when I'd let them miss a couiple water changes.

I'd love to help you solve the problem, but so far, I've been unable to really say I've fixed it on my end. RO water is definitely a waste of money for you at this point. Even if you got the tds raised high enough, you should be able to cause enough fluctuation with just tap water. I envy you your tap water ;). Not that it makes life with the zebras any easier having it that soft!

I have a good friend that gets big fluctuations in his pH if he uses untreated and unaged tap water in his tanks. He has a number of zebra colonies and they spawn like mad. I have envy of him, also :p.

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Post by GlockFu »

Thanks for the replies!

Barbie - So you are saying that adding RO Right directly to the tank to create the fluctuations when you did the rainy season wasn't effective? That's discouraging news to hear... I was almost certain this was the missing puzzle piece :( Well I guess I'll try it anyways since I have nothing else to go on.

I've been adding 1/4 tsp of RO Right directly to my 26 gal tank per day which raises my TDS by about 20ppm. Is an increase of 20 ppm per day too much?
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Post by Barbie »

I don't think that's too much, no. I just also didn't have as much luck with the method as I hoped. If you can stand to do it, let the dissolved solids build up over a month or so. I never can leave them that long without a water change, which I'm sure contributes to my problem ;).

I did once tip an entire glass of salt meant for another tank into my zebra tank. The fish weren't stressing, so I just got out my siphon and did a water change to suck it out. The TDS was still well over 1200ppm when I was done though. The fish spawned the very next day (this is in the tank that's been holding out!). The eggs weren't fertile of course. I just can't always win! :p

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Post by TwoTankAmin »

I understand about TDS and the concept of dry and rainy seasons. When I got my colony of zebs I was prepared to purchase an ro system and TDS meter. As it turned out neither was necessary.

Over the years I have had a number of different fish spawn in my tanks. many of them were SA fish: bristlenose, cories, angel,s discus, farlowella and zebras to name a few. While I have found the water change part to be very important, I have also found that of equal importance is to time it to the arrival of a storm and the associated barometric pressure changes. I have never relied on cooler water changes to lower the tank temp.

It is my personal opinion that the fish are more sensative and receptive to the barometer than the temp. change. I have combined this with what, for lack of a better term, I call "bastard" tds changes. By this I mean I have never used either additives nor ro water to achieve TDS changes. Instead I have just omitted one or two weekly water changes to "dirty" up the water and then used a storm and big water change.

Years back an accomplished cory breeder explained to me about conditioning and cool water change and the wet and dry seasons and a little light seemed to go off in my head. In the dry season water levels were lower meaning less space for the fish and also for their food to hide. So the fish should be more readily able to find food and thus stuff themselves. Then the storms came which brought a torrent of cool clean water. And then there was spawning.

It took a while before it dawned on me that I was getting multiple fish spawns in several tanks right after a good storm came through. Since I tend to do all my wcs over the weekend, when a storm coincided I seemed to up with one or more spawns quite often. Some often occurred even when I did not skip a wc or did and conditioning feeding. Granted I was not getting the biggest spawns when the conditioning part was omitted, but I was getting spawns. And I have always matched the temp of new water to the tank temp for wcs.

Perhaps the most interesting thing I observed happened when I began feeding live red worms to tanks. Originally I got the worms for discus, angels and clown loaches. Since the worms ranges in size from small to large I decided to see if my sterbais would take the smaller ones or ones cut in half. They did and to my surprise I found a single feeding of live worms often resulted in a cory spawn inside a week.

Everybody does things there own way, and what works for one may not for another. However, my money is on conditioning and then water changes timed to storms as the most effective trigger for many fish, including my zebras.
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Post by churun meru »

I like I guess alot of people get confused by the TDS thing.
When you take water from the tap and check the TDS I guess your basically measuring hardness, minerals etc on the water.
Once that tapwater is in your tank and it is having fish wastes etc added to it you have a much higher TDS over time.
I guess what I am getting at is if a trigger is needed for plecos with a change in TDS are you looking for a mineral change -ie purer water or would a drop in TDS associated to the dissolved wastes be a good enough trigger.
eg- tapwater is 190 once in the aquarium over time it raises to 350 with dissolved wastes etc is it only considered a trigger if it drops below the 190 starting point?
Thanks
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Post by Andrew C »

I used to raise the TDS of my zebra tanks to around 500 over three weeks by adding a teaspoon of RO Right to their tank each day (pre mixed with some tank water) and at the end of the third week did large water changes with my soft tap water, and also aimed for a good 6 or 7 degrees drop in tank temperature.
I got a pair of zebras spawning doing this, but honestly don't know if it was what i was doing, or just that one of the females finally decided to spawn.
This pair spawned for the first six months of last year, a batch of eggs every month, but since then, nothing.

I cannot find RO Right any more (in the UK) and i have hardly any left, so i am now just trying regular feeding and no water change for three weeks and then doing some large cooler water changes, though nothing so far.

Hope that helps
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Post by smithrc »

I dont know the TDS reading off the top of my head as it was a year ago now... BUT - our zebs only started spawning after 7 weeks without a water change...

Before that I was following a similar 4-6 week cycle of raising and lower the TDS using RO...
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Post by GlockFu »

Thanks for all the input everyone! Great, so it sounds like there just might be some hope with this method.

This might sound bad but I actually havent changed the water in about 3 months :shock: to try and let the TDS build up. My water is so soft that even after 3 months, my TDS reading was still only at 240 ppm. They dont seem to mind me not changing their water in so long.

Actually when I got my spawn a couple years ago. I didnt change the water for a loooong time. And thats when they finally did it!

I'm hoping this RO Right method works so I dont have to go so long without water changes. *Fingers Crossed*
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Post by GlockFu »

HUGE storm hit today. I've only gotten the TDS up to about 430 ppm but I wanted to time the water change to this storm since if there is a difference in atmospheric pressure from a storm, this storm would cause it. I wanted to get the TDS up to at least 500 but I couldn't in time.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
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