Just got first ever tds meter and not sure how to read ppm with it. It’s the tds20 model. Did two step calibration successfully. Its preset to 0.71. Tap water says 91.9 how do I read ppm from that?
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Most meters are pretty straightforward.
91.9 is probably correct ppm for your tap water.
Mine is 126 ppm when I check it.
My Reverse Osmosis water is somewhere around 8 to 10
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Distilled read 139.4 does that sound right to. Just double checking. Many thanks.
No that should be close to 0. Not familiar with the meter. I’ll take a look at the manual to see what may be wrong and let you know it I see anything
Can you take a pic of your screen with your readings. And also make sure the distilled water isn’t remineralized.
Will do ty
My mistake. Rechecked the numbers I wrote down and distilled was 39.4. I did test tap water first then shook and dried off meter before checking distilled but likely a little contamination from the tap water. I think its reading fine and you confirmed the numbers I’m looking at are in fact ppm. Having plant issue and wanted to make sure I’m reading the tds meter correctly before testing the girl. Many thanks!
Redid everything and new distilled water is 0.7 now thanks again.
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That’s much better
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@Spiney_norman I just got the Apera 5 in 1 and I’m using a PUR FAUCET FILTER. I’m not understanding how to read it either! All I know is I used a bottle of Poland spring water and it read: PH 7.04 // conductivity 56.1 // TDS 40.5 // and PPT 0.03
However, the PUR filter water reads:
PH 7.62 // Conductivity 92.8 // TDS 66 // PPT = 0.05
Is this ok for my plants? I’m not sure why the ph is so high.
Thank you @DEEPDIVERDAVE . What about the conductivity being 96.6 and TDS being 68.0?
When you get an answer, let me know.
PH & PPM is my limit.
6.5ph/1000ppm is feed level, for my grow.
Still learning new processes.
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@DEEPDIVERDAVE i think I’ll follow your lead.
An EC of 96 isn’t bad. You won’t get near-zero unless you use distilled or RO water.
Your meter looks to be using the 700 scale for determining TDS. I believe most around here have meters that use the 500 scale, so I’d just stick with the EC readings for communication purposes. The meter only reads EC, anything else is a derived number from that.
I’d also stay away from those cheap yellow pH pens. The pH probe needs to be kept wet, preferably in a KCl solution, and good meters (Blulab, Apera) have caps that accommodate a few drops of solution to properly store the probe for long life, whereas the cheap ones do not. Those yellow ones lose accuracy badly after a few months if you don’t rig up some way to store them properly.
The cheap EC meters seem to do ok, and can be stored dry.
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Aww wow! Thanks for the info @Bubbala ! Really appreciate your wisdom and support! My beans came in last night and I didn’t hesitate to make sure the water was warm before dropping them in. They are at the bottom of the jar now. Hopefully everything will go smoothly!
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