High TDS

[Firochromis]

Hi fellow community,

Nowadays I'm reading Understanding Orchids by William Cullina. He mentions that in the nature orchids benefits the rains so under cultivation it is better to use "soft" water. He also mentions that a beginner must deal with the lighting and watering periods first but I'm familiar with the water chemistry from aquariums so interested in this topic.

My tap water has 190ppm of total dissolved salt, which is quite high. According to Cullina, tds readings is best when lower than 60ppm, while 60-120ppm is ok. What do you do about tds?

[Ennui]

While I do not measure or monitor my actual TDS,
I have read the water reports for my area specifying
160 mg/L (same as ppm) ave.
Realizing it is on the higher side of acceptable,
I use DI water for filling the S/H resevoirs,
and the saucers of those who like wet feet.
I flush all pots with tap, and non-S/H plants get fertilized with tap as well.
My understanding is that water quality is really only an issue
in the case of Very high TDS,
and sensitive (paph/phrag/masd/disa) genera.
If you have concerns the top options, I guess, are to
invest in a RO system, collect rainwater, or buy distilled.
Alternately, if you do nothing to lower the salts level,
I suppose you could flush your pots
thoroughly and frequently
to prevent deadly salts buildup.
Also, fertilizer increases the overall TDS,
so you might cut back on that,
but that would be one of the last options I'd consider.