NYC City water clean enough?

[Pony of the Sea]

i have been keeping a 20 gal mixed reef tank successfully for over a year now. I am located in northern NJ where our water is VERY HARD. I check my tap and the TDS varys from 550-650! as high as that is i began my tank using no more than tap water with some tap conditioner. I have experienced no serious negative side effects aside from the occasional algae bloom in the tanks infancy. After a year i have only upgraded to filtered tap water (500-600 TDS).

I now live mainly in the Bronx, NY. I have tested the water in the bronx and it tests 20-35 TDS.

I am setting up a new tank in the bronx and am really trying to do everything right, and not do the same mistakes i made with my current tank.
An RO/DI system was always on the top of my list of things to get, but now that the TDS is so low in my apartment should i even bother?

and please be a little open minded people, i know everyone says "YOU CANT START A SW TANK W/O RO/DI" i get it, its obviously the prefered way but to say it cant be done with tap water is nieve.

thanks,
John

 

[Pony of the Sea]

if anyone is located in the nyc area, and uses city water (cleanest water in the world..) any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sniperhank]

I would still get an ro/di and run it. Even though city/township water is clean, it is full of other things that you'd want to avoid. Chlorine is the most common example of what you would want to avoid, but you can also find fluoride and other things added into the water. It might be ok for us, but when it comes to some of the sensitive creatures we like in our reefs things will become difficult.

 

[melosu58]

I work for a large water municipality and I would never say you cant have a reef tank but I will say that I know what they use to treat water. Compounds with nitrates, silicates, ammonia and other heavy metals are added to your tank and no condioner will remove them. Eventually they will build up after time. I have seen instances where tanks that used tap have crashed and for what looks like no reason at all. I personally think it was a build up of heavy metals from yrs of tap water use. That obviously is my opinion but it`s an open minded opinion. Your tap water I can not speak for since I live in Va but I hope you get some local experiences.

 

[Phranque]

I now live mainly in the Bronx, NY. I have tested the water in the bronx and it tests 20-35 TDS.

I am setting up a new tank in the bronx and am really trying to do everything right, and not do the same mistakes i made with my current tank.
An RO/DI system was always on the top of my list of things to get, but now that the TDS is so low in my apartment should i even bother?

No offense, but I would try & find a second TDS to double check that number. Not saying that it's not possible, but I've never seen a municipal water supply with less than 150 TDS.

Even if you are indeed at only 20-35 TDS, I would still recommend an RODI. Even if they're low, you don't know what those solids are.