Something strange going on. Extremely high TDS in rock "curing" water
 

I am stumped, and can use your help with this one. I have extremely high TDS from water that is sitting in the rock bucket. High as in 880 ppm

I calibrated my Milwaukee TDS meter with proper calibrating solution to 800ppm
Tap water, I have TDS reading of 12-18 ppm (Inline TDS meter on the RODI is showing 12, Milwaukee TDS meter is showing 18)
Clean water coming out of RODI is showing 0 on inline and 2 on Milwaukee (milwaykee has +- 10ppm accuracy, so this is fine I think)

I filled up bucket with dead rock that I bleached several months ago (using bleach and tap water) with RODI water and let it be for 2 or so weeks (no salt or anything else, just RODI water). I have powerheads in there to move water around. I just took a sample to get TDS reading and got 880ppm with Milwaukee :oops:

For rock, I bleached it all (about 120#) in bleach and water solution for a week, let it dry out in the sun for a week and then put it back into the bucket. I washed bucket out with hose and dried it out as well before I put rock back in. Rock was sitting dry in that same bucket for 3-4 months. Before I filled it up with RODI water there was no bleach smell.

Could bleach residue somewhere cause readings this whack? Something else? No idea what happened and why I have way worse TDS reading than tap water.
Thanks for the help

Looking into this more, and it looks like it is expected. Apparently adding rock, no matter how clean will add to the TDS reading. I just didnt expect it to be this bloody high. 880ppm... jeebus.

Thanks for sharing! I would've suggested to do a few water changes and see if it made a difference.

Yeah I thought something is wrong, but doing more digging around it is normal. Rocks will leach minerals, no matter what they are. Dead, live, doesnt matter. Apparently only time 0 TDS is important is on initial tank setup, water changes water and top up water.

I wouldnt have never guessed that had I not taken this reading today and almost got heart attack haha

Interesting read on post 21 and 23 here about this topic: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2201617

lol Good luck with the new tank build, exciting times!