If you heat your water during processing, this will affect the conductivity of your solution which will likely throw off your readings.
Though TDS/PWT meters certainly have there uses, I'd say the most accurate way of measuring ppm would that of combining a weight differentiation with theoretical potential. ie. collecting a min. sample of 3 batches weighing your anode before and after and verifying against the common faraday calculation found here.
CURRENT:
The current controls the speed at which the silver ions are produced at the anode. Too much current and the process begins to form solids from silver oxides. This in turn binds with the otherwise simple ions to form larger particles. Therefore, the reaction is not limited to ions per say, but rather, with what's being produced in the electrochemical process taking place at the anode. We can observe this phenomenon by running 3 x 9v batteries without current control in a small glass of water. At which point, once the conductivity ramps past the point of what we'd call an effective reaction(for making colloidal silver), we begin seeing what looks like a smoky white/bluish cloud or stream forming around the anode. Though this may not always be apparent if there's stirring and/or heat, and so it's best to get some meters to monitor voltage and current levels while processing.
Aside from this, it's also worth mentioning that ions can combine. Either with each other as there fields collapse under stress OR as a result of combining with other compounds in the solution. Though I don't think this is as big an issue as that of processing CS with unmetered current.
CURRENT REGULATING DIODES:
These are really great. Simple, affordable and effective. You can buy 5 packs off eBay for as little as 5 USD. And you simply wire them in series on either side of your circuit(pos OR neg)to limit your current. They only work one way though, and so if/when you get the direction wrong, you'll end-up with uncontrolled current. And so you really need to be careful as they can easily burn a fuse in your meter OR worst yet, burn out your LCD meter altogether. - I usually use a small circuit(such as an LED light) that I know won't overload my meter when testing my circuits. Though I'd add that I've lost my share of mAh meters along the way due to carelessness this way before getting smart about it. - Oh and did I mention you can combine them to match a desired current?
IOW. If you aiming for something like 8mAh, you could effectively use something like 2 x 2.4mAh and a few .5 or .75mAh diodes to get there. Though I should add that the calculation isn't linear and so it's often easier to experiment with trial and error to meet your target than to try and calculate an exact throughput.
Hope this helps.
PS. Here's a link to some 1mAh current regulator diodes on eBay