TDS in my storage tanks

[Mikepl84]

my setup

160 gallon tank for saltwater

60 gal tank for fresh rodi water

BRS 160 per d RODI system with tds meter

My water changing station has 2 tanks from these guys

http://www.plastic-mart.com/category...-storage-tanks

they were bought as NEW and for drinking water and now i'm worrried that the plastic is leaking TDS

when i tested my rodi water throught the TDS meter thats inline it shows 0 TDS coming out into the tanks. i tested my water and its showing about 189 TDS in one of the tanks.

i'm using the hanna TDS checker from BRS that i bought for about $150

i'm new to the hobyy and learning all this as i go , should i bleach the tanks and then flush them a couple times or am i reading something wrong

one of my fish died and i started to inverstige as everything seemed to be fine but now i'm finding out i have tds in my tanks.

any input would be greatly appreciated.

[Mikepl84]

shuld i have bought the tanks somewhere ealse , if i have to i will order new tanks as in my opinion there is something wrong with these tanks.

i also poured a cup of water into a plastic dispose cup and it was reading 2 TDS, should it read 0 ?

please help

[bertoni]

The TDS of RO/DI water will rise as carbon dioxide dissolves into it and as chemical leach from the container. As long as the container is food grade, and was rinsed a bit, I think the water will be fine. That TDS is a bit high, but a new container will tend to leach more than an older one, I suspect. If I was very worried, I might wipe down the container with a bit of vinegar, to remove any dust, mold release agents, etc. Bleach would be useful if the tanks had a disease-causing bacteria or virus in them, but I doubt that's the case.

I suspect that the fish died from other causes. Did it show any signs of disease?

[homer1475]

I remember when I first setup my mixing station, brand new barrels.

First batch of RO/DI after sitting for a couple days was 83TDS!!

Now a year later Even if the water sits for a couple weeks it never gets above 5.

Dead skin cells, dust, smoke, etc can all settle in the containers and create TDS, but we know that this TDS is not bad. Whats coming out of your tap's TDS is another story.