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Cultivated Reef

Tap Water TDS?


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I live in Chicago. Suburbs not city. About 24 miles from water tower according to map quest.

 

Anyhow I got this from Menards. Dupont wffm350xw. To filter the water form the tap in my sink. We had the pur from costco but they started leaking and were no good. The dupont is good. It actually tells you how many gallons are filtered and goes unto 200 gallons. Plus its stage 4 and PUR is only stage 3.

 

http://www.menards.com/main/plumbing/water-filtration-softeners/point-of-use-filtration-systems/filter-systems/dupont-deluxe-faucet-mount-system-white-200-gallons/p-2189922-c-8680.htm

 

And I got this form amazon for 7 dollars. It was from china that's probably why but it finally arrived today.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KLWZC7S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Not sure what the temp button does but it actually works. Its cheap but on youtube most of the videos are using something very similar.

 

The fridge upstairs has a wetter thing built in (Water/ice).

 

That reads about 115. The rest of the house is about 140-150 total solids including bathrooms and showers. So not bad.

 

I don't have a reverse osmosis or any whole house thingee. Just the dupont in the basement in my small kitchen.

 

It really does work. I mean there was a thick black sludge form the water the first time with new filter (one came in the box). So its filtering something. After it went form "flh" to "000" the water was clear and gray tasting.

 

But the filter and non filtered water is showing the same 140-150 tds. So its not doing anything. But something obviously filtered the first time. I mean the black sludge as I read somewhere on amazon I think was the charcoal filter doing something.

 

Unless I have a bad meter. But then why is the fridge saying 115 and thew rest of the house 140-150.

 

Or once its filtered it doesn't matter. Its the same. But rest of the house is also the same 140-150. So if it was working then it should be much lower than that compared to the rest of my house.

 

So what gives. And also out out curiosity (since we have no filters) why is the fridge 115 and the rest of the house is 140-150. Why is my fridge so much lower. And there is clearly a taste difference.

 

What is happening. I'm confused.

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Refrigerators often have filters so that's probably why the TDS is lower. The sludge you are seeing might be nasty stuff that tends to grow in the filter (gross). Some reviews claim that faucet filter adds minerals/salt into the water... it improves taste but not TDS. No experience with it though but its cheap so most likely a piece of junk.

 

I hope you don't plan to use either for a reef tank. An RO unit would be good for drinking and add a DI filter to it for a reef.

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I've read mixed reviews about the health affects of reverse osmosis water. But that will be later.

 

For now the black water was just after use of the first filter. Once flushed it was clear. No more black. Still no black.

 

But the fridge is lower tds so it is filtering something. So my other unit is not. So something id wrong. I have no reef. Small pond in the back yard. But nothing fancy.

 

I'm mostly concerned with drinking water. Water taste bitter and heavy after taste. I only like sodas and propel or those things you put in the water, mio, skinny girls, etc.

 

But I should be drinking more regular water. So I need to figure out what's going on. But I like the meter showing how many gallons. No other unit does that.

 

And I just tested the Costco Kirkland mini water bottles and it is only 120 so not much better.

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I probably got a bad meter. Very cheap. Now the second bottle of Costco is only showing 20 tds. Odd unless I forgot to shake off the access water.

 

Edit: After taking out the batteries and reinserting them it says 120 tds. Then shake off the water and it says 20 tds. Very iffy meter.

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TDS is normal for drinking as long as nothing is harmful. Bottled drinking water may have high TDS due to minerals, ect. The minerals make it taste good too but there shouldn't be anything harmful in it.

 

It has carbon so it should be filtering chlorine and organic compounds and help with odor and taste. It won't filter out minerals, nitrates, sodium, ect.

 

It looks like others have similar experiences with similar products:

 

I buy gallons of drinking water, our tap is 50 TDS but I refuse to drink tap anywhere. Just paranoid I guess but I just don't trust a simple carbon filter to do its job. Too much watching of "Monsters Inside Me" I guess since a carbon filter is not going to bacteria and parasites.

 

 

I can't imagine RO water being harmful unless you were sweating/exercising heavily/running a marathon and lost a lot of minerals through sweat without replenishing them. A bloody mary mix would be great running a marathon over water :D But in normal day to day activities we get plenty of electrolytes. It is certainly safer than drinking straight tap or poorly filtered tap.

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Ya I saw that video and thought the same thing. It doesn't matter what the number is as long as it is filtering something. Number might be the same cuz its adding back in things like you said.

 

But others have reported lower tds on other models. So I thought number was important. Unless its filtering everything and removing all the good stuff also.

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Your faucet filter does not contain an RO membrane which removes 90-98% of the tap water TDS nor a DI (deionizing) filter which removes the remaining 2-10% of the TDS. Faucet filters contain carbon which removes chlorine and some metals, thats it.

 

TDS is dissolved solids or contaminants in the water. TDS is in the 0.0001 micron range, sludge or suspended solids are usually in the 1 micron or larger sizes so 100's to thousands of times larger than dissolved solids.

 

There is no replacement for RO or RO/DI so you have only removed a couple ppm of TDS in the form of chlorine, copper, lead and a few other metals, all of which probably only make up 2-3 TDS at most.

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