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Coral Vue Hydros

How much TDS


farkwar

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I've never done a calcium test on my tap water, but I'd assume it's relatively high. It does seem kind of strange that we strip it out just to add it back in. I guess that's the main attraction for using a Kold Ster-il filter instead of a RO unit. I might even consider using one if my tap water was good enough.

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AZDesertRat

A water hardness test kit tells you your calcium carbonate level in your tap water. It can be expressed in PPM, mg/L or grains per gallon. All RO membrane manufacturers recommend you use a water softener before your RO or RO/DI system so the membrane works better and lasts longer.

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A water hardness test kit tells you your calcium carbonate level in your tap water. It can be expressed in PPM, mg/L or grains per gallon. All RO membrane manufacturers recommend you use a water softener before your RO or RO/DI system so the membrane works better and lasts longer.

Thank you.

 

I think my question is not very clear. Is the majority of my TDS in tap water, after chlorine, calcium carbonate? If so, after carbon has removed the chlorine, the largest pollutant would be calcium carbonate.

 

So when my TDS starts to creep up from zero to 1 to three, etc could I then assume that that is calcium carbonate?

 

If so, then does it make financial sense to change my DI resin at 1, 2, or 3 TDS(not zero)?

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AZDesertRat

Tap water is very complex and contains hundreds if not thousands of constituents. its not really safe to assume anything since it is constantly changing due to different sources, treatment methods, blends, time of day and demands, degredation in the distribution system and many more factors.

While calcium makes up a big part of that it is one of the easier things to remove and not much if any harm. As DI exhausts it is the things that are harder to remove such as phosphates, silicates and nitrates that are a bigger concern. All are weakly ionized so even great DI can miss some of it and the RO membran is not particularly effective either so you start passing harmful things that may not even register on a hobbyist grade TDS meter and be worse than you think.

 

I always recommend changing resin at the first signs of anything other than 0 TDS since you have no idea if it is arsenic, iron, copper, nitrates or all forms of ammonia, phosphates, silicates or whatever. The calcium is the least of your worries.

 

So, No you cannot assume it is calcium as it probably is not calcium but some weakly ionized substance.

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