Uhhh is adding sink water bad?

[chabooky386]

i add like 2 cups of sink water every couple of days because my water in my sump evaporates really quick... but then i put chemicals in there too so is there anything wrong?

 

[xxmoorishmanxx]

Most tap water, has harmful metals, chlorine/chlormanie, and phosphates which can be problamatic. The chemicals u add do a fair job at removine the chlorine/chloramine, but not th ephophates which cause algea to grow. Also some tap water has nitrate in it or so ive heard, u should at the very least test the tap water for such things before u put it in your tank, u never know whats in it.

 

[foma2000]

i thought my tap water was fine till i tested it and found that it had high nitrates. but from what ive heard ro/di cant even take out nitrates. what i did was go out and buy a water filter. it wasn't as expensive as the ro/di but it did take out most contaminents.

 

[srgetz]

A properly functioning RO/DI system will remove everything, nitrates included. Only h2o molecules fit through the membrane, thats how it works more or less. You should mix the fresh water with tap conditioner (stress, prime) first, then add to sump. HTH

 

[JamesR]

if you can't / don't want to buy a filter, you can find a LFS that sells ro/di water, it should only be 25-35 cents a gallon.