RO or Tap....

[Oceanicsublimat]

How many people are using tapwater with little or no problems..I was thinking I would get an RO purifier when I start seeing problems such as too much algae... thoughts?

 

[electrikat]

We use only tap in both tanks and have been doing so for nearly 2 years. You need to take a sample of your water to the local pool store and let them run an analysis of it to let you know about hardness, metals etc. A lot of older homes have metal pipes and it can cause problems with your water. Every city has different water situations so you must at least have it tested so you know what you are dealing with. This is just our experience and most others will argue this point. Yes ro/di may be best but in some cases it's not absolutely critical. It's up to you.

 

[Oceanicsublimat]

I got my tank water tested at the lfs today and no phosphates were present at all.. so maybe my water will be ok..

 

[badfish]

Oceanic, i also did my initial fill with tap. My tank has been up for six weeks now with no problems. I also had mine tested for phosphates and there were none. However, i do my water changes and top offs with RO. Its only .50 cents a gallon at wallmart, and i change around 10 gallons at a time, so its only like 5 bucks a month, and you dont have to worry about your thousand dollar investment because you didnt want to get RO water. I heard if your gonna do reef, you def. want to use RO. Its your call really, i know of many people using tap without any problems, especially for initial fill. this is just my opinion however. Good Luck.

 

[Ximat]

I used tap for the initial on all 3 of my tanks. No problems what-so-ever. Two tanks i've topped off and done changes with RO water, the other is in the cycle processes.

I just bought an RO/DI unit off of Ebay for $90 bucks after shipping.

 

[AR15 guy]

I have had good luck with tap in my tanks. Granted I don't keep anything fancy. But our water here is nice and hard. 8.3 ph out of the tap. I have been doing topoffs with cheapo distilled water from kroger. But I do not have bad algea or anything.