RO Water Vs. Conditioned Tap Water

[badfish]

What is the differences from using RO Water and Conditioned Tap Water. My LFS said that using RO Water is more of a Luxury then a necessity. Do a lot of people use tap water, if so what type/brand of condioner do you use, or shoud i just buy RO Water. My tank will be FOWLR. TIA

 

[EJS4]

Conditioners convert chlorine to a less toxic form. Leaving water in an open container for at least 24 hours will rid the water of chlorine and save you money. On the luxury necessity question it depends on the quality of your tap water. If you want to read some more info on this www.airwaterice.com has some good info on the subject. I personally started with tap water and only recently started using RO/DI water because a new wholefoods opened up near me and only charges 1.95 when I fill my 5 gal container.

 

[loganj]

If you have really good tap water, you might get away with using it. Tap water is subject to have all kinds of nasties in it though...silicates, phosphates, nitrates, even pesticide residues. It also has dissolved solids other than the above mentioned. If your tap water is treated with chlorine only, you can add some sodium thiosulfate and dissipate the chlorine immediately. However, if your water company uses chloramine, you have ammonia to deal with as well. Chloramine is a lot harder to get rid of. There are some water conditioners that will break the chlorine/ammonia bond and reduce the ammonia to a less harmful form, but I'd rather be safe and use RO water. It won't have any of this stuff in it.

 

[midiman]

My main reason to use it is a measurable phosphate level in my tap water. Realizing that I would be topping off with tap water, I figured the phosphate concentration might even RISE over time ... until the inevitale algase bloom that would consume it.

With all the potential problems there can be in this hobby, prior knowledge of them and steps to PREVENT them, to the extent possible, just make good sense.

 

[badfish]

I would of course have my LFS test the water first and get their opinion, i would only use tap for the intial fill. I would top off and do my water changes with RO water.

 

[fishfreek]

The common test kits we use in the hobby wont be able to tell you the quality of your tap water. If you have municpile water supply you can ask your city for a disclosure to whats in the water system. They do studies and have to supply the public that info upon request.