Microseimens = Parts per million?

[ozone]

Many of the discus books that I have read when refering to the hardness of water is that they state the reading in Microseimens. Is a Microseimen measurement the same as parts per million. My aquarium pharmaceuticles hardness test kit gives you the reading in PPM. It becomes a little confusing at times- can anyone clarify?

Thanks

[Ardan]

Hi,
This is a fairly accurate formula that I and some others use

33ms=17.9 ppm=1GH.

hth

[dred]

Ozone,

They aren't exactly the same thing. But a conductivity reading (microsemiens) does report similar informations to the hardness "drops" test.

You are actually getting more information from the "drops" tests because you get two readings on hardness. The KH (carbonate hardness) which is highly related to pH stability plus the GH (german hardness scale) which reports the concentration of other minerals.

I just got my multi function electric gizmo from Randall on friday (thanks Randall). It is already useful (to me) for watching pH, but since I'm still verifying the consistency of my water supply in very new aquarium setups ... Knowing the actual, current value of KH is very useful for predicting (learning) how the pH will respond to various inputs (i.e., peat). Oh, and it's still fun to get those instant micro-semien and TDS (ppm) readings.

I think the true utility of the meter gizmo will surface when my future discus have matured, and I start a spawning/hatching water v. growout water shuffle. Since spawning water will arrive via WCs, I will be able to verify the waters condition quickly and accurately. And, FWIW, most of the biotypical information I've come across (water conditions in native habitat) has been reported as microsemiens versus dKH or dGH, so ...

hth, milton

[ozone]

Thanks guys that seems to clear it up for me!