Is using tap water so bad?

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Blakskall

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
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Can i get away with using tap water with additives for my saltwater? there is no way im paying for the reverse osmosis unit i saw online lol
 
The problem is that tap water has a lot of silicates, chloromines, phosphates etc that all will cause you a LOT of algae problems.

Without RODI you're going to run into a lot of issues down the road. Any way you could buy salt/rodi water from your fish store?
 
hmm ill have to check, its kind of inconvienent when ill do PWC's, idk if i saw any at petco
 
Question sorry to piggyback your thread i have an RO unit how much more does an RO/Di unit remove? or is it not worth the upgrade
 
You can find a RO/DI unit on ebay for $100. Look for purewaterclub.com on ebay. I have one of their units and am satisfied with it.
 
To be honest if you can't justify spending $100 on an RO/DI unit,how are you going to justify spending more on stuff to remove all the algae your gonna get.
 
To be honest if you can't justify spending $100 on an RO/DI unit,how are you going to justify spending more on stuff to remove all the algae your gonna get.

i really think it depends on the city water quality because some people use tap water and have no problem others have algae issues but i do think spending money on an RO unit at the least is a very sound investment
 
hackteck said:
i really think it depends on the city water quality because some people use tap water and have no problem others have algae issues but i do think spending money on an RO unit at the least is a very sound investment

Reef - tap water = A, have you ever seen a corral reef around garbage :-( it just doesn't work.

There are way to much chlorine,metals,phosphate, and other crap that is not good in saltwater....

And if you thinking about a reef tank there's no way it would work...most stuff in tap water will kill or stump the growth of your corrals---- btw I don't even think you can put SPS corals with tap they would just die.......

Investment best way.
 
everyone lets not make this a debate on whats better tap , or ro or ro/di i think he gets the point
 
IMHO, if you're wanting a reef tank, I think we can all agree that water is THE single most important thing in keeping an aquarium. lol Since it is literally the foundation of the reef tank (or any tank) it's well worth buying a RO/DI filter. And if that is too expensive maybe you should wait a while before starting a reef tank. I've seen some african cichlid tanks that rival reef tanks as far as color and personality go.
 
i used to use distilled water but it gets annoying to keep running back and forth to the store so i bought an RO/DI unit the inicial fill up would be a thoug hand would take days to fill
 
I think im just going to fill 5 gallon containers with distilled reverse osmosis water, the intial setup of 30 gallons will be a little pricey, but for PWC's it wont be a problem
 
It took me about 30 gallons to fill up my 36g when I first started. $4 for 5g at lfs. They "sell" 5g jugs to fill up the SW to bring home and then you can bring the jug back for store credit. I kept 2 jugs, one for SW to do PWC and one for topping off the tank with RO/DI.
 
Iv got a 50l/pd 3 stage system off eBay for £45, incoming water is 270ppm and I was getting 45ppm out, I used this water once and have had algae problems for a month, 2 water changes a week with ro/di at 16ppm from the lfs has sorted the problem.I'm now looking for a d/I unit to add onto the system, I really think your water should be the best you can get because it will save you money in the long run, sort cuts never work out don't take the risk,
 
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