jskitch Posted July 24, 2013 Report Share Posted July 24, 2013 I have recently purchased a fluval g6 canister filter. And the screen keeps flashing "conductivity out of range" does ne one know what this mean and how I can fix it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted July 24, 2013 Report Share Posted July 24, 2013 That is probably saying your TDS is too too high? Did you put this on an already running tank? What water are you using? RO vs tap + prime vs well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jskitch Posted July 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2013 Yes,I have set it up on a tank that has been running for awhile. Iam using tap water. And have been treating with prime. What do you mean Ro? Im pretty new to the aquarium world. What do you mean TDS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted July 24, 2013 Report Share Posted July 24, 2013 TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids. Dissolved solids can be anything from minerals to organic compounds like fish and plant waste. TDS is usually measured using conductivity. In general for aquariums, more minerals and junk in the water gives higher conductivity. The G6 shows conductivity I think. RO stands for Reverse Osmosis which is a way to filter water so that it is mostly pure. That being said, you should be able to check your tank's conductivity history via the "Operational Settings" menu under "Conductivity Points". What does the little graph show you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted July 24, 2013 Report Share Posted July 24, 2013 I assume you have the manual already yes? http://www.fluval-g.com/pdf/Fluval-G-Series-Manual-EN.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jskitch Posted July 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 Yes I do have the manual. For the conductivity it said to check out the website. Basically it explains what it is and how it s measured. Right now its at 1338. The chart showed adrop to 1150 then a spike back to where it is now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted July 25, 2013 Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 (edited) 1338 uS/cm works out to about 850 ppm TDS? That can't be right can it? Calgary tap water is like 170 ppm TDS.Did the drop correspond to a water change?What do you have for substrate?What about rocks?How often do you do a water change and how much?What fish are you keeping?If you think the g6 is faulty I can only think to run it on a bucket of tap water and see what the reading comes out to. Calgary tap would show something like 230 uS/cm. Edited July 25, 2013 by cainechow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted July 25, 2013 Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 If that is in ppm, you have something dissolving in your tank. Probably limestone or shells or some other rock. Our tap water is around 250 ppm, which is considered moderately hard; 400-500 is considered very hard. So, there's no wonder its giving you a warning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jskitch Posted July 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 The drop was around the time of a change. I have sand instead of rock, there is a couple of rocks in it. Drift wood a decorative ship. For fish I have a gourami blushing angel. Male and female rainbow pelco, peacock gar rope fish and a sting ray. I do believe there were shells in the sand. Water change twice a week 25% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jskitch Posted July 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 And a chunk of coral Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 I'm gonna guess it is a combo of the sand and maybe the rocks. I have a tank that I was/am cycling and it has sand, that looks like play sand, in it that I'm not sure of the source. That tank is slowly creeping up to the 300ppm mark. That tank is using only RO water that measures TDS out at 4ppm! I'm going to scrap the sand and dump it under my deck and start over on that tank. I know people are using playsand a lot, but not all play sand is created equal I found out. Some are more pure silica and others have a lot of other mineral grains. You can check your rocks with vinegar. If it bubbles then you could swap them out. Otherwise you could switch from sand to SIL80 instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 The coral and shells will also be adding to the hardness. If your fish seem fine, it's not really a big deal; and, if you're not wanting to breed your fish, then carry on. However, if the health of your fish seems to be an issue, you'll want to lower the TDS slowly down to below 500ppm (assuming that is the unit of measure for your filter) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 TDS of 500ppm should be about 780 in uS/CM which is what the G6 shows for units. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jskitch Posted July 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 Thanks for your input guys I really appreciate it. I know the sand is not play sand. It was quite expensive to buy I was told. But Im guessin this could also be the cause of my nitrate and nitrite spikes to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted July 26, 2013 Report Share Posted July 26, 2013 (edited) White sugar argonite like some of the reefers use? Edited July 26, 2013 by cainechow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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