Tap water !!!!!

[Dimdim]

Sincerely i see the benefiet to the water, but cmon ppl, is it really this heated of a debate ? I like to think so, ive seen about a dozen reef tanks, all with local tap water treated with prime, something tells me im doing something right, no chemical media in my tank and my phosphates are next to zero. Heres a few pics, this is a small nano that requires heavy daily maintance due to water volume only. Heres a look

 

[Psychocircus91]

appears you have a diatom bloom on the sand bed. Of course this can happen with RO water as well. Regardless tap water is different depending on the source and where you live. If it works for you, that's great. Many people just prefer to play it safe.

 

[melosu58]

Working for a large water municipality I wrote this article.

Tap Water in the Saltwater Reef - Aquarium Advice

 

[danbstrong]

Sincerely i see the benefiet to the water, but cmon ppl, is it really this heated of a debate ? I like to think so, ive seen about a dozen reef tanks, all with local tap water treated with prime, something tells me im doing something right, no chemical media in my tank and my phosphates are next to zero. Heres a few pics, this is a small nano that requires heavy daily maintance due to water volume only. Heres a look

I doubt you would have much success with harder to keep coral not to mention algae that will inevitably come in to play down the road Ive personally never seen anyone have longterm success using only tapwater but who knows good luck

 

[Dimdim]

Diatom bloom is now under control, my astrea snails are cleanin it right up, as for the coral, ive had good luck so far, ill keep a diary to see how it does !

 

[Sniperhank]

If you are able to do well with tap water...man you are lucky. I run my water through a 5 stage RO/DI and still have minor issues from what is coming out of there. Fresh resin and filters won't get the water to 0 TDS, always .04. That is how bad some water supplies are. This water source also won an award in the mid 90's for being some of the best water around or something like that...been awhile since I thought about it, but puts things into perspective.

 

[TheTodd]

it seems a little premature, in my opinion, to say anything is being done right. Keep adding tap water and see how things are going a year from now. Skimping on the environment that everything lives in cant work long term. Especially in a smaller tank.

I stopped doing reef several years ago, but used to use tap water. I did not start to see problems until about 16 months in. That was back before all this great info was available on the Internet, so you were kinda on your own to figure things out. I never would have gone that route had all this info been available back then.

 

[Phranque]

it seems a little premature, in my opinion, to say anything is being done right. Keep adding tap water and see how things are going a year from now. Skimping on the environment that everything lives in cant work long term. Especially in a smaller tank.

+1. Even the best of municipal water systems have trace amounts of some pretty bad stuff which you & I can handle, but can (and will) accumulate in your rocks & livestock.... particularly metals like copper from the pipes your water runs through.

 

[Dimdim]

What about distilled water from the grocer? I just cant afford an ro di unit nor would my dad let me have one and install it and or pay for the usage costs?

 

[Phranque]

What about distilled water from the grocer? I just cant afford an ro di unit nor would my dad let me have one and install it and or pay for the usage costs?

Not the greatest option, but much better than tap..... Do any of your lfs's sell RODI water?

 

[Dimdim]

No none of them sell it, my one fish store uses just distilled water from culligan the ones for water coolers

 

[ezy33]

Maybe this site will help. Aquarium Store Finder - Map
If not try your filtered water dispenser like in front your local grocery store.

 

[bigben2057]

The tap water in your house runs through copper pipes, copper is not good for inverts. if you cant find ro distilled would be better, it wouldnt have any metals in it.

 

[TheTodd]

I actually use the "front of the grocery store" (usually Glacier) water. It's 25 cents per gallon. I will eventually get an RODI, but other expenses in life keep hitting my wallet every time I get ready to buy one. I've got a FOWLR and so far, so good. I think if I was going reef I'd pay the extra for RODI from my LFS (80 cents per gallon).

 

[J_Anton]

I'm new to the hobby but I've done okay with tap. Guess it depends on where you are. My tap water tests at no nitrate or phosphate. Not to say there aren't plenty of other unknown variables in the water. Just one town over the tap water is awful. It's all a matter of luck IMO

 

[TheTodd]

It's not completely the nitrate or phosphates that cause problems though. There are all sorts of other things in most water that become harmful. Reading that Melosu article should make that pretty clear. The better the filtration process, the better your water. Since your water is what your fish live in, it makes sense to provide them with the best possible environment. To me, it's just part of the expense of this hobby.

 

[J_Anton]

Obviously I can't test for heavy metals and silicates. I do agree that an important part of fish keeping is providing the best possible environment.

Would it be fair to say that the anti-tap water notion is specifically relevant/ important to reef systems? I only ask because my brother has been running a cichlid tank for 13 years with tap only (with dechlorinator) and has never encountered a problem with it affecting his fish

 

[TheTodd]

I feel that tap is probably fine for freshwater. In all honesty, I've had freshwater tanks my entire life. I've never used anything other than tap and never had any problems. There might be experts out there that disagree, but thats been my freshwater experience. Saltwater, on the other hand, seems like a more delicate ecosystem. FOWLRs give a little room for parameter fluctuations, but reefs tend to want everything just right. With freshwater, I've never been too crazy about water testing (I just keep up on water changes), but with saltwater, I can't imagine not testing frequently, even with regular water changes. It's all that stuff that we can't test for that worries me in saltwater.

 

[Dimdim]

My tds of my tap water was just measures today. Im at 32 ppm. Which is just straight out of the tap, a friend with a tds meter who works for the county came by and tested, my tank is at 18 ppm so with my water ita not too bad, i want to buy ro di to top off with from now , to slowly move the tds down with my bi weekly water changes

 

[Psychocircus91]

does anyone just use RO water without the DI?