Loaches Online Forum

I finally got a TDS pen to test my water quality in my clown loach tank. My tap water after priming measured 377ppm! My tank water is almost twice as bad, over 600! Everybody in the tank seems healthy, active and feeding.

I have got to get my water cleaned up as fast as possible with as little stress or shock as possible. I really can't afford to purchase R/O water from the fish shop. I don't think I could install a filter in my apartment without taking over the kitchen sink for a day. I seem to remember someone had some success with a DIY tap water filter but I can't find the link.

Hi, Pilze,

I haven't had to deal with this problem myself, but there are a number of threads on this site dealing with TDS issues.

Try doing a search (found second from the left on the top panel), and simply type TDS into the "Keywords" section. I just did this myself and several pages worth of threads came up, many of them containing helpful information on this problem and how to deal with it. For now, that might serve better than anything I would have to offer.

Until then, you might want to set a bit of tapwater aside in a clean container, and see if letting it distill overnight changes the numbers any.

Posting some greater detail on your tank and all that is in it will also help us to work with you in figuring out what might be causing this drastic change in the tank water.

How big is your tank?

How many fish are in it, and what kinds are they?

What kind of plants and decor are in the tank?

What is your cleaning scedule on the tank?

What kinds of products do you use to treat the water, etc?

What do you feed your fish, and how often?

And finally, has anything changed recently?

Good luck, and hope this helps!
soul-hugger

Try looking in the archives for a thread by LoachOrgy called "Fiin Rot Help?" (Yes, there are two ii's, this should make it easier for you to find.)

I remember this thread from over a year ago and there is some very helpful information on how to reduce TDS. It is very long but there is some excellent material there.

soul-hugger

Ditto: lets get some more information about the tank and its inhabitants. Slowly rising TDS is not an emergency, and lowering it is not, either. On the contrary, dropping the mineral content of the water too fast can kill the fish.
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To lower the TDS:

Make water changes with the tap water such that in any one water change the TDS will drop NOT MORE THAN 10%. Do maybe 2 water changes per week that reduce the TDS. If the tank needs more water changes to keep the NO3 lower, then do them, but maintain the same TDS.

For example:
Current TDS = 700
Goal, New TDS = 630 (or a bit higher)

Couple of days later, perhaps the TDS rises a bit??
Before water change: 650
After water change: 585

Couple of days later, perhaps the TDS rises a bit??
Before water change: 600
After water change: 540

and so on.

It took a while for the fish to adapt to the rising TDS, so DO NOT crash them down too fast. They need to adapt again to the lower levels. It is harder for them to adapt to reducing TDS than to rising.

Here is how to figure out how much water you can use at each water change:

Lets try a 25% water change.
TDS in the tank: 700
Tap water TDS: 377 (I am going to use 400- makes the math easier to see)
Goal: reduce the TDS by not even 10%.

25% x 400 = 100
75% x 700 = 525
Add 100 + 525= 625
Is this a safe water change? No. 625 is less than 630.

Lets try 20% water change:
20% x 400 = 80
80% x 700 = 560
Add 560 + 80 = 640
Is this a safe water change? Yes. 640 is higher than 630, giving you a bit of a safety margin.

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Continued maintenance:
Do enough water changes that the tank remains closer to the tap water parameters. 377 is not too bad, really.
Never top off with tap water, only RO or Distilled, or Rain.

If there is a lot of evaporation then the mineral content will keep getting higher in spite of these methods. If you can test the water for all the usual things, and you find something specific is too high you might be able to filter that out of the water. For example there are filter inserts that remove all sorts of minerals, such as copper, phosphates, GH, and others. Test the tap water and the tank water. If the excess whatever is in the tap water, then run a filter on some tap water and use it when the stuff gets lower. If the stuff is in the tank, then look at all the things you add, and look in the tank for rocks that might be disintegrating. Remove whatever it is from the tank.

Example: If the GH was way off the scale in the tap water, but all the other tests showed the tap water was pretty good, then I would run a garbage can of tap water and set up a filter on this that runs the water through a water softening pillow (see link below). Then the GH would come down, more in line with the other test results, and the water has that much less total dissolved solids. Use this water for water changes.
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/p ... catid=4048

If you are not sure what is in the water but you want to make it have less whatever, then you may have to get RO or DI water to dilute the tap water.

377 ppm from the treated tap water sounds fine. 600+ ppm in the tank sounds like a potential problem to me. You might want to daily test and track the tap water and the aquarium water's TDS for awhile. I've heard complaints about city tap water TDS changing from 200 ppm to 800 ppm before.


Could something be leaching in the tank? Such as rocks, gravel, decor, or even filter media? Are you adding plant fertilizers to the water? Most of the vitamins and minerals in the fish food that the fish eat, ends up in the tank's water column and that raises the TDS also. The TDS should plateau if you do consistent frequent water changes.


It's not hard figuring out what's leaching. You can test individual items by placing them in a container filled with distilled water. Distilled water has a TDS of 0, so if the TDS raises to anything greater than 0, then that item is leaching something. It shouldn't take more than a few days to get a conclusive result for each item. Things that leach aren't necessarily bad either. You'll have to determine what you want in the water and what you don't want in the water. If you figure out what's leaching in the water and decide to remove it, you should be able to get your tanks TDS down quite a bit, probably in the range of 400 to 450.

A TDS meter can be a very useful tool for determining when the aquarium needs a water change. Nitrates, TDS, and other pollutants usually migrate together. If you make equivalency chart comparing Nitrates to TDS, you can get a good estimation of what the nitrates in the tank should be.

For instance,
380 - 400 ppm TDS = 0 Nitrates
500 ppm TDS = ? Nitrates
600 ppm TDS = ? Nitrates

My chart usually looks someting like this:
100 - 120 ppm TDS = 0 Nitrates
130 ppm TDS = 10 Nitrates
140 ppm TDS = 20 Nitrates
150 ppm TDS = 30 Nitrates
160 ppm TDS = 40 Nitrates

Right now I try to keep my TDS between 125-135. I do daily continuous drip water changes at a rate of about 2 gallons per hour. I have to make adjustments to the chart based on the tap water's TDS a few times a year. I probably measure nitrates about every 3 to 6 months, but I check the TDS every few days.

Off-topic-
Something that I probably should of mentioned to LoachOrgy in his old threads is that I don't believe in fasting my fish. I think there should be consistent feeding and lighting schedules. IMO, fasting the fish starves the entire tank, including all the plants, algae, and bacteria. Starved, dying, and dead bacteria can cause huge problems, such as fin-rot and ammonia/nitrite spikes. There is a delicate balance of all kinds of bacteria in a healthy aquarium. They need a consistent environment to thrive. Also, the usage of antibiotics in a main tank should be avoided.

What is the ideal TDS range for a loach tank? I have a friend with a TDS meter, and am going to check mine this weekend - but need to know what level I want to be at.

Recently, my clowns started hiding a lot - been testing ammonia (0), nitrite (0) and nitrate - admittingly my nitrate was a little high for a few days, I cleaned filters and had the nitrate spike a bit -- but it went back to normal right away so I am now wondering if TDS could be having an effect on their behavior. ?