No need to donate money.
Just being a member and sharing your knowlegde with other’s is worth more than the money.
Will
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As far as I know, this site isn’t going anywhere. It will continue to remain free.
Bergmans Lab is just a little different and there is a one time membership fee, you get a little more one on one with me there and some of my hand picked top notch mentors like @Majiktoker, @Donaldj, @Niala, as well as some up and coming new mentors that are super friendly and helpful.
It is a smaller community where super new people can get help without as much confusion from well meaning, but sometimes the overwhelming amount of voices that chime in here. And just like here you have the mentors that you know their answers are not going to lead you astray.
Happy learning,
MacG
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We just got our TDS/EC meter today so I tested it out on tap water, rain water and pond water. Between each test I rinsed in distilled water per instructions. Oh yea, the brand name is Sunny.
Tap water 655 ppm
Rain water 3 ppm
Pond water 21 ppm
Filtered tap water 0000 ppm
Do these readings sound right? I have never used one so I don’t know.
@garrigan62 @Donaldj @Countryboyjvd1971 @bob31 @Hogmaster
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Sounds fairly close though I suspect it did come with calibrating kit of some kind the filtered water should still have some ppm even my 5 stage RO unit comes out with around 5-9 ppm pond and rainwater also can vary a fair amount though may be accurate enough to serve purpose since the number that matters most is when nutrients are added or run off is measured. During those measurements being out by ± 5-10% is acceptable I usually calibrate atleast once a month depending on how many times I have mixed nutrients and used it 
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I checked some nutrients that my wife, @70sChick, had mixed yesterday with pond water and it was 221 ppm. This was mixed for seedlings. The meter didn’t come with anything but a storage case with one page of instructions.
FYI, my R/O with a deionizer filter will do zero ec/ppm, one exactly like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Reverse-Osmosis-Filtration-POQ-4B-100/dp/B00DBOXLQC/?tag=greenrel-20
When the deionizing filter gets old the ppm will creep up. And you don’t need to replace the entire unit, just replace the deionizing part and you’ll be back to zero.
And so this can depend on the type of filter they are using on their tap. There are even some cartridge filters that will do zero. Like the name brand Zero Water filters.
https://www.amazon.com/ZeroWater-Pitcher-Meter-Dissolved-Solids/dp/B0073PZ6O0/?tag=greenrel-20
~MacG
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That is pretty amazing, but as I said, it depends on the type of filter, and your fridge might have a very good one.
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What are we growing in that requires nutrients at seedling stage? and have you considered a journal ? The main reason I suggest journal is any reader can track details start to finish trust me it’s nice to be able to glance through threads to save having to ask questions but on average there are 25-30 new posts a day not to mention equal or more threads that are active to track. I would love to say I could remember every one but not the case I typically glance back to refresh my memory.
To answer my line of thinking a seedling should need little to no nutrients until it has surpassed 4-5 nodes
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Mine adds cal back to water as last stage but at so low ppm I don’t worry it my preference is rain water I only found it odd since tap water reads so high and single stage filter would have hard time getting that low though I could be wrong?
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It better be a good one…lol…no bigger than my fist and cost about $60
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The ones I’m calling seedings have 5 or more nodes and are a little more than a month old. You can check @70sChick journal on those (Happy Hunger Games) I guess they wouldn’t exactly be seedlings.
That’s not so bad try replacing 5 the RO membrane lasts about 6 months prefilters 3-4 but makes good coffee and back up water during dry spells
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Link to our journal @Donaldj
http://ilgmforum.com/t/happy-hunger-games-journal-may-the-odds-be-ever-in-your-favor/14687
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So Ive checked my tap water with this, possibly faulty, cheap TDS tester. I keep getting a reading of somewhere between 60-70ppm. Does this seem realistic?
If this is actually right, I would consider myself extremely lucky as that is an amazing reading for tap.
My coworker bought a kkmoon 3 in 1 meter off of Amazon, just got some batteries for it. Hes gonna bring it to work tomorrow and Im gonna bring my testers in. I will also bring some of my ph and tds calibration solutions and a little of my tap water - Im gonna calibrate his meter and test my water - see if our readings match up. I will prob end up buying one of those if it works well.
Im in the process of getting a refund for the crappy meters I bought off of ebay. Ph meter and TDS tester for $11, I shoulda figured something would be wrong with one/both of em. 
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My tapwater is close to that at times but fluctuates so could be right lol so hard to know for sure which is why I keep 2 calibrating fluids for ph and ppm if meter is set right both fluids should be very close to spot on ±5%
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Thanks just didn’t want to get too off topic on this thread either of you guys can feel free to tag me if needed 
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Check out the above article, good stuff in general about flushing and it is TDS related.
But most beneficially to you will probably be the TDS meter chart about near the middle end of the article. It will help you see the differences between the different TDS meter models and may help you pick out your new meter.
~MacG
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