Walmart Culligan Water Ain't That Good

rudedog40

rudedog40

Member
I purchased a Hanna TDS Meter and decided to test the Culligan RO water you can buy at one of those machines in Walmart. After calibrating the meter with 1382ppm solution, I put it in a glass of Walmart water, and the reading was 350ppm! Can't find a TDS chart to see how bad that is (I know you want a reading of 0ppm), but it probably explains why I have such a bad problem with green algae all over my glass.
No worries. A new 6-stage RO/DI unit is supposed to be at my door on Thursday. I'll see if this will help clear up the algae problems.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
I don't buy water from Walmart, but have wondered about the quality of it. I am sure it is different from store to store but this is an indicater that it isn't as great as people thought! Many people on here do buy their water from there. Thanks for pointing this out rudedog. I am sure many will be thinking again before buying RO from there
 
groupergenius

groupergenius

Active Member
TDS= Total Dissolved Solids
What your looking for is a test meter that shows what the TDS is.
I just bought a RO/DI unit from my LFS that has one installed on it. It displays what the TDS is before the DI and after.
RO/DI= Reverse Osmosis/De-Ionization
 
mademperor

mademperor

Member
Originally Posted by GrouperGenius
TDS= Total Dissolved Solids
What your looking for is a test meter that shows what the TDS is.
I just bought a RO/DI unit from my LFS that has one installed on it. It displays what the TDS is before the DI and after.
RO/DI= Reverse Osmosis/De-Ionization

Can you get salinty reading from a TDS? Guy at a LFS Chain said they use a TDS to get Salinity. He showed it to me, and it said Total Disolved Solids on it.
Said they don't ever use a Hydrometer or Refractometer.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by cleanrshrmpfan
well you had to figure that the water wasn't going to be any good. "Walmart", it speaks for itself.
You would think that, but you would be so surprised at how many hobbiests get their water from there! So many on here do. I do hope that they read this.
 
patandlace

patandlace

Active Member
I buy water from the culligan machines at walmart from time to time and test it every time I do. The water I bought last night tested at 3 ppm. It's usually right around there. I guess some places don't maintain there machines as well as others.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by patandlace
I buy water from the culligan machines at walmart from time to time and test it every time I do. The water I bought last night tested at 3 ppm. It's usually right around there. I guess some places don't maintain there machines as well as others.
I am sure it does vary. Rudedog, can you say what town your Walmart is in? I would still think that people should test their store bought RO. You realy don't know how often they change their filters or maintain them.
 
t316

t316

Active Member
rudedog...where did you get your 6 stage from (brand/type...anything that won't get you scolded on SFS) I'm doing a lot of research and about to make the purchase myself.
 
groupergenius

groupergenius

Active Member
Originally Posted by mademperor
Can you get salinty reading from a TDS? Guy at a LFS Chain said they use a TDS to get Salinity. He showed it to me, and it said Total Disolved Solids on it.
Said they don't ever use a Hydrometer or Refractometer.
Not that I know of.

Are we talking about Petsmart or something??
 
S

sexyshrimp101

Guest
Uh oh, I am in the cycling stages of my tank and got all of my water from the Culligan machine at Walmart
 
D

dragonzim

Active Member
Originally Posted by mademperor
Can you get salinty reading from a TDS? Guy at a LFS Chain said they use a TDS to get Salinity. He showed it to me, and it said Total Disolved Solids on it.
Said they don't ever use a Hydrometer or Refractometer.
You can not get a salinity reading from a TDS meter. The meter will tell you that there are disolved solids in the water but not what they are. For all the guys in your LFS know they could be reading disolved lead in the water and not salt. The only way it might work is that if he knows for a fact that he is starting water with a TDS of zero and then he knows what the TDS needs to be after adding salt, but I believe that it would register off the charts if you try to take a TDS reading off of the salt water that we use in our tanks.
 
rudedog40

rudedog40

Member
This is in San Antonio. I can attest the machines there probably aren't kept up very well. The last few times I've been there, the automatic valve that you have to move down on top of your bottle has been broken.
I got both my TDS meter and my RO/DI unit from ********. The TDS meter was only around $20 including shipping. The RO/DI unit comes with a 4 gallon tank, extra filters, and all the hookups. I got that for $150 shipped.
******* For around $90, they sell what looks like a nice 6-in-1 meter that tests PH,Temp, CF, EC,TDS, and PPM. It has three displays and two probes.
 
rudedog40

rudedog40

Member
I've seen numerous posts here referring to the 'site' I quoted, and there was nothing ever mentioned about it being a problem. I didn't even post the actual name, just an abbreviated reference.
If anyone is interested in the specifics of where I purchased my TDS meter and RO/DI unit, PM me and give me your email address. I'll send you specific links and anything you want to know about it.
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Rudedog, your's was not the only site deleted. Another major competitor was mentioned in the now deleted second post.
That said, the site you posted will be deleted every time one of us Mods comes across it. Whether it's the name, an abbreviation, it's implied, etc. If you see it mentioned feel free to report the post and we will deal with it.
As for soliciting pm's to give out links; Admin monitors pm's directly. As Mods we cannot keep you from violating the forum rules in PM's. Please realize, however, that the pm feature can/will be disabled if Admin decides this feature is being abused. Not to mention that Admin may choose to take action directly against posters who exploit the current system.
 
derekc

derekc

Member
yea i usually get my water from peacock water i havent had any algae problems in my tank at all....
 
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