Ok, I've got my 75g ready to go and still haven't gotten a definite answer. (It's amazing how many different answers one can get) I've got my salt mix and will be buying about 150lbs of LR once my water is in the tank. Is it ok to use tap water and just dechlorinate it, or do I have to go searing for 75g of distilled water??
First time filling tank
- Thread starter gregp
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electrikat
Aquarium Advice Addict
Yes you will get different views on this one. I use tap water with Prime as the conditioner. It all depends on your tap water. You can take a sample of your water to any pool supply store and they will test it for you and give you a computer printout of its condition(soft, hard, copper, etc) Alot of people swear by ro/di water and that's great if you can afford it and that may not be the place to scrimp on cost, but I have been using tap water in all my tanks for the last nearly two years and have not had any problems so far. jmho and ymmv
youronlysin
Aquarium Advice FINatic
My issues with using RO/DI water werent with the cost, it was how to get it home, up three flights of stairs and into the tank. When the LFS charges to rent the container, youll either need a huge deposit to rent several 5 gallon containers, or make many many trips with one 5 gallon container. I don't think I could carry any more than 5 gallons at once up three flights of stairs.
As far as the necessity to use it in the first place, I view it like this: With the price I paid for the life in the tank, I cant afford NOT to use every precaution to make sure everything is ok.......The water cost far less than some of the fish I've considered buying.
As far as the necessity to use it in the first place, I view it like this: With the price I paid for the life in the tank, I cant afford NOT to use every precaution to make sure everything is ok.......The water cost far less than some of the fish I've considered buying.
RMPD109
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Before making a final decision you may want to test your tap water. I used tap water until very recently and besides a little algae I had no major problems. I had problems with phosphates and nitrates in the tap water.
PiscesLou
Aquarium Advice Freak
yeah thats the one frustrating thing about this hobby, is that there arent any consensus on any subject. allot of what you read, IMO are guildlines, how far or near those guildlines you stay or stray is up to you. With that said, what you read here has to do with the experiences that people have following those guildlines. So take everything you hear or read with a grain of salt ( no pun intended). and do what makes sense to you! HTH good luck!PiscesLou
Aquarium Advice Freak
thats what I did to get started but ever since then Ive been using nothing but RO/DI for water changes. as stated before Id suggested also to get your tap water tested.
SeriousDude5
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Tap water is fine but I would say you should get an RO/DI because you wont have any problems with alage in the future as I am having right now but I jsut got my RO system installed so I'm hoping for it to diminish soon!
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