safe tds levels?

[Rehype]

Whats a safe range for reef aquariums. I know 0 is ideal but what range would be acceptable for reef life. Ive always wondered but never asked.

 

 

Thanks for any feedback.

[vangvace]

"Most aquatic ecosystems involving mixed fish fauna can tolerate TDS levels of 1000 mg/l" Boyd, Claude E. (1999). Water Quality: An Introduction. The Netherlands

 

500mg/l is typical the max acceptable rating for drinking water. The higher the number the harder the water generally too.

 

With that out of the way though... It's the individual solids themselves (arsenic anyone?) that pose a larger danger to aquatic life. Removing all, or almost all, of the tds from the water before adding salt gives a known baseline and helps eliminate a potential problem.

 

When I lived in Utah, before I went to RO water my tap put out on average ~350 tds after my brita filter. The tank was running for a year without problem except for hair algae. Switching to RO has one of my steps to fix it.

[Rehype]

Thanks for the feedback. good to know theres such a high tolerance.(not that ill ever stop using my ro/di filter)

[filefish949]

it depends what the "DS" in TDS are, and without an assay, it is hard to know, i would guess under 10 would proly be OK

[bdare]

I NEVER add any water to my tank that didn't start as 0 TDS. As already mentioned you just never know what is in there...