Should my water filter be lowering my water's PPM?

[Learninglots420]

I just installed a dupont 4 layer water filter (clearence at wally world, 15 bucks.) The main reason i wanted it was to remove chlorine from water and all the brita filters they were selling did not effect chlorine levels. Well after installing and running it for about 10 minutes to flush the filter I compared PPM levels of my unfiltered water and my filtered. The unfiltered water measured 300-310, while the filtered water read between 310-320. The TDS meter i'm using is brand new and is factory calibrated.

So does this mean that the filter is not working properly?

 

[ilcattivo]

no, that's normal, unless you are doing RO filtration a carbon filter (probably what you have) will not effect the ppm very much. I have a filter system that has 2 canisters (sort of like ro) but it is not ro, and it doesn't change the ppm at all. It removes 100% of chlorine and chloramine though, and probably a few other things. If you want less ppm you have to use ro, di, or distilled.

 

[Learninglots420]

Thanks for the quick response! It is indeed a carbon filter, it is not reverse osmosis. It just seemed counterintuitive to think that if the filter is removing things, such as chlorine, that the PPM would stay the same (or even measure a small increase in my case.) I will still use the filtered water for my up and coming hydro grow for the chlorine reduction unless anybody else can provide a reason why it is bad. I'd rather not have to sit water out for the chlorine to dissipate and i've heard fish tank drops can cause problems.

 

[Wetdog]

i've heard fish tank drops can cause problems.

What problems would that be?

I've been using the drops for years with no issues and trust me, fish are more sensitive to the water than ANY mj on the planet. Doesn't seem to bother my micro herd either. I'm running full organic.

Glad the filter is working though.

Wet