How is the city water?

[nash]

San Fran. Anyone has a TDS to test? I use a ro/di but wonder if we have good water Q

 

[Paradox]

My TDS reading in Portrero SF shows in the 30s.

 

[Raddogz]

Wayland - the cold water at my house has tds reading anywhere between 38 up to 45. It generally has tds reading of 42.

Fwiw - I do water changes with tap plus prime (okay I've only done this once - so far nothing bad as in algae) I still use the ro/di (I just put in new filters a month ago) for top-off.

 

[nash]

So What range is consider good?

 

[Paradox]

Ideally you will want a reading of 0 for reef, but in comparison to what ive seen, other cities often show triple digit TDS readings, making SF wateer seem much cleaner.

 

[Raddogz]

I would say anything under 50tds, but it's not like it was that horrible back in the day before I got the the ro/di.

I just so don't like the idea of changing out between two tanks sixty to seventy gallons of water a month outside of top-off. I'm wasting close to three hundred gallons of water and that really bums me out.

 

[Apon]

Why don't you just collect the waste water and us it for your garden or plants?

 

[sfsuphysics]

I do Arnold, my RO exit goes straight to the backyard, my trees and plants love it

Although I do need a 3rd check on my TDS meter(s)... I'm questioning their accuracy, and the stupid calibration fluid is for a range of 1380!

 

[Raddogz]

Three hundred gallons is a lot of water even to go watering my garden and the entire hillside.

 

[bareefers]

in Tiburon I get about 100tds from the tap... I still make my own salt and top off with RO/DI though..

 

[sfsuphysics]

Unfortunately I don't get water quality even close to Eileen's, or so I think *shrug* again tds calibration is a beyotch.

However 300 gallons? Do you make up 60 gallons at a time? You'd be surprised how easily the ground absorbs water... then again soil types do dictate a lot of this. Make a backyard pond with nothing but the run off water! Evaporation, no problem, overflowing, no problem, make it all pretty

 

[Raddogz]

Waste water is either a factor of four to one or five to one I can't remember.

I change out the water every two weeks on both tank. I fill one 45g trash can about two-thirds full.

Since I live on a hill, and soil erosion is a high priority (um...I don't want my house to fall down ) so water going somewhere could mean house goes down the hill right into the school below.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Hey I live on a hill too, and there is a school a couple blocks down the street as well!

But yeah it's cool, also depends upon the vegetation in your backyard. I have two fairly large (for san francisco) trees, each topping out at over 20 feet (one of them is a coastal redwood) so they'll do their part to suck up excess water.

 

[Raddogz]

Umm...actually I meant there are no houses behind my house. It's just a steep hillside that slopes downwards to the school's fence.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Great way to extend your backyard space Eileen.. come on you know you want to!

 

[Raddogz]

Too bad I don't own all of the land on the slope/hill, and it's too expensive. Maybe when I win the lottery

 

[nukeproof]

The TDS in SF is really close to what we have in Alameda. Jim got me converted to using just treated tap water when he told me that the money I save in water could go to salt for the extra water changes you could do. I dread filling up the brute cans with RODI water because I know how much water it wasted, the fear of over flowing and the time it takes to fill them up. Now it takes me a few hours to have the salt water ready for a water change. I haven't seen any nuisance algae growing on my rocks either and it's been over a year.

 

[nash]

I use a Ro/DI unit and wonder what the TDS is out of it.Should be close to zero.

 

[sfsuphysics]

I need to really test my TDS meter against something more reliable for adjustment.. I just have this feeling that calibrating it to a 1382 solution when I'll be working in the 0-20 range is not too groovy...

But from what I have now, I get 4-7 tds from the RO unit.. according to my new meter.

 

[Raddogz]

The ro portion should read anywhere from 2-4 (it depends how many filters you have before it hits the membrane), the di should take of the rest.

Mike what kind of TDS meter do you have? I think I have only bought two TDS meters and only the second one cuz I accidently left the entire meter in a bucket that a little bit of saltwater in it, and the battery corroded out.

I have never calibrated mine, but do check it against the inline TDS meter on the ro/di