How do you feel about keeping a bette splendens in 800 tds water

[anewbie]

So i got into an argument with someone that tds matters and basically the moderator said it did not matter. So without knowing the composition of the tds gh/kh can at any point 800 tds be fine for this species of fish.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The odds are that level of TDS is not good for a Betta. The problem with TDS is it includes almost anything in the water. The odds are pretty decent that TDS at 800 is likely to contain things harmful to a Betta. But it is theoretically possible that there is an assortment of things which contribute to TDS which might might be super bad. The problem is we have no way to know what is in the water that gives one any TDS reading.

It is also important to realize how TDS is measured. A TDS meter or pen does not actually measure TDS. it measures conductivity.

A TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meter estimates the total concentration of dissolved substances (like minerals, salts, and metals) in water. It doesn't physically weigh the solids; instead, it measures the water's electrical conductivity (EC).
Here is the step-by-step process of how it works:

• • Probe Insertion: The meter features two metal electrodes (usually made of platinum or stainless steel) that are submerged in the water.
  • Measuring Conductivity: Pure, distilled water is naturally a very poor conductor of electricity. However, when minerals and salts dissolve, they break down into charged particles (ions) that allow electricity to flow. The meter applies a small electrical current and measures how easily the current passes from one electrode to the other.
  • Calculating TDS: The greater the electrical conductivity, the more dissolved solids are present. The meter's internal microchip takes the conductivity reading and multiplies it by a conversion factor (typically between 0.5 and 0.7) to estimate the TDS.
  • Displaying the Result: The result is displayed on the screen in parts per million (ppm) (or milligrams per liter, mg/L).

It is important to note that a TDS meter cannot identify which specific minerals are present, nor can it detect uncharged organic chemicals or biological contaminants like bacteria.

 

[anewbie]

Yes of course we can't know the composition of the water with just tds but all you have is too pieces of information tds 800 and betta splendens. Is the tds value by itself worthless and safely ignored?

In fact would you keep any south american fish (i realize the betta is asian) in water that is tds 800 or would you keep lake malwai in tds 20 water or can you safely ignore the tds and just go to your fish store and buy whatever ?

Naturally the more complete answer is you should test kh and gh and presume that if the tds is significantly higher than kh and gh combined it is nothing of concern (but of course that might also be false but to test further you would need a lab analysis of the water composition); alas for this problem we are solving all we have is tds.... can you safely ignore the value if you are a new fish keeper ?

 

[gimme30]

In my area what's exactly in the water is available online from the municipality. Of course you need to know or research what element may be harmful or not. Our water is concrete hard but it's due to components that aren't necessarily detrimental to fish. IME some soft water fish can adapt to hard water parameters without the damage many claim will occur, but 800? No way. That's off the charts high, and too high for any of the species we might keep.