FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Portales, New Mexico, US
Flytrap Store Greenhouse South

TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) of several water sources

• Tapwater -- 227 (enough to kill a Venus Flytrap in a few weeks)
• Reverse Osmosis under sink unit -- 26
• Collected Rainwater -- 6 (includes small amount of soluble material from rooftop and sides of tank)

(Anyone else with a TDS meter care to add their data to this discussion?)
Steve

Ashland, Oregon, US
Flytrap Store Greenhouse North

TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) of several water sources

• Tapwater -- 54 (low enough to use directly from the tap on most CPs if allowing the water to run out the bottom of the pot)
• Tapwater from Talent Irrigation Ditch (TID) -- 40 (low enough to use directly from the tap on most CPs if allowing the water to run out the bottom of the pot)
• Reverse Osmosis under sink unit -- 1 (almost as good as distilled water!)
• Collected Rainwater -- 11 (includes small amount of soluble material from rooftop)

In the summer time the TID water is on and it's a one time charge of $60 or so to use as much water as I want. Since it's only about 40ppm TDS, that's what I used mostly last summer on my plants.

Sanostee, New Mexico, US
CP grower on the Navajo Nation (haha)

TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) of several water sources

• Tapwater -- 159 - 158ppm (pretty high but mainly well water as said by NTUA)
• Collected Rainwater -- 2

Steve_D wrote:I didn't know that any reverse osmosis system could give a reading as low as 1 TDS!

Hah, I didn't either. I had it for a full year in Boulder without replacing any of the filters. Initially when I set it up, it was giving me a TDS reading of 11ppm. By the time we moved here to Ashland, it was up near 50ppm and tap water in Boulder was 75ppm or so.

So, when we made the move, I put new filters in it. The TDS measurement didn't drop though! So I had to change the main membrane, which was $40. Basically now it's like a brand new unit.

Steve_D wrote:Do you know what brand of RO unit you have, and how old it is?

I have a Watts Premier's WP-4V. It was on sale at CostCo about 2 years ago (March 2008) when I bought it.

I'll probably not change the main membrane filter again until the TDS measurement gets up near 30ppm. You're supposed to change the other filters every 6 months, but if the TDS measurement is below 10, I'll probably not mess with them.

Too bad I don't have a TDS meter...........

Sahuarita, Arizona, US
CP Grower (hobbyist)

TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) of several water sources

• Tapwater -- 195 (enough to kill a Venus Flytrap in a few weeks)
• Reverse Osmosis under sink unit -- unknown
• Collected Rainwater -- 23 (includes small amount of soluble material from rooftop and sides of tank)
• Deionized water -- 0

I believe that Tucson has the same reading because most of the water from Sahuarita comes from the Tucson Aquifer.



*I'm happy that someone thought of this!!! It's nice and resourceful for those without a TDS meter.*

I need to get a tds meter and see whats up with GA water, i'm really curious to see what it reads.

I needed Matt to take readings before he moved away from Boulder

95slvrZ28 wrote:I needed Matt to take readings before he moved away from Boulder

Hah, yeah. I did take it from our sink, but I'm not sure if the entire city is on the same water. It was about 75ppm from the tap in Boulder.

I see, still too much then. I assume you and I would be on the same water since I live about a mile from where you used to.

By the way...you shouldn't have moved, it would have made it way easier for me to buy plants...

Adelaide, South Australia 382 POISON
By comparison - Collected rainwater 29.
- Distilled water 2.

No wonder our water tastes bad and the plants die so quickly when watered with it. I asked SA Water (water service provider) for this information and they could not give it to me, so I bought a TDS meter and tested it myself.

My gosh, Linton, 382 is awfully high TDS. That is some ultra salty soil you have their in your region.

Most of our water is sourced from the Murray River which seems to be dying from the bottom up. Being that South Australia is at the bottom end of the river the water "quality" is at it's worst when harvested. Records indicate that the salinity of the river has been increasing steadily over the past decade, and environmental flow has just about reached zero. It's really very sad.

Kent, SouthEast England


TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) of several water sources

• Tapwater -- 270
• Filtered water -- 240 --- (Will test again after next filter change)
• De-ionised water -- 1
• Collected Rainwater -- 27 (Including floating bits, and stuff.(I will try fresh rain water when it next rains))

WOOT new toy!

"diggers australia" brand demineralised water

Thank you for your enquiry on the TDS for Demineralised Water. The upper Specification for TDS in Our Demin water is 10ppm as measured by conductivity