Testing peat filtered water with a TDS Meter

[troyclark]

Hello all, I have a question that has probably been answered 100 times but here goes. I have a RO unit that gives great water. I put this in a 55 gallon plastic barrel that has a power filter on it with two bags of peat moss in them. I cycle this 24/7 replacing the peat about 2 per week. My question is this, will the use of peat make my TDS meter read out of whack?? I have a Hanna TDS 1 meter. Thanks for the help.

[Carol_Roberts]

TDS meters read Total Disolved Solids. It reads everything disolved in the water including things that do NOT raise the hardness like food, feces, salt, peat, etc.

[GulfCoastDiscus]

It shouldn't unless the peat you're using has some additives in it.
I once used peat with something in it to neutralize the acid. The bag was not labeled but noticed white things in the peat and when I tested with the Hanna tester it read very high.
Another thing I don't think you need to run your RO water through peat unless you just want to add some tannin in the water and reduce the Ph more. The water should be soft enough.
I run my Ph 8.2 and tds 365ppm tap through peat and it reduces the parameters to Ph 7.6 and tds 230ppm.

Here's a pic of my peat bomb. :)
The water is cycled through the 55 gal peat drum and returns to the 330gal storage tank.
dan

[FrankR]

Like many things, there is confusion over what TDS measures. I have attached what I think is an excellent article that explains how the TDS meter measure inorganic (as opposed to organic) dissolved matter. Hopefully this will provide the answer you are looking for. If you want to test this theory by the way test it by taking two glasses of water. Test the TDS of both of them. Should come out the same. Add sawdust or some inert matter into the water and give it a good stir. Test the TDS again. I would be surprised if you saw any difference. The reason I say inert is because TDS is a measure of electrical conductivity. I doubt if fish poop is conductive and therefore does not impact TDS.

http://hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/TDS.html#So%20what%20exactly%20is%20TDS%20and%20wh y%20is%20it%20important?

[Cosmo]

awesome setup Dan !