Next question...Water

[wcsoft]

Thanks to all the help on my previous post.

My next question concerns water. I've read just about every post in this particular forum on RO/DI, distilled water, tap water. Again, I have a 90 gallon tank that I'm going to be using as a FOWLR tank. I don't have access to an RO/DI and it's not currently in my budget and there is no local dealer I can buy RO/DI water from. I do go to Seattle every 2 weeks and I can get it from the Seattle Aquarium, but I don't think I'm going to bring 90 gallons of water down in my van

I know tap water isn't the way to go but I've read that some use tap water for their initial setup and then use RO/DI water for their water changes. So, in my setup I plan on using uncured live rock to help with the cycling process. I've read that after that is complete I should do about a 50% water change. So, here's my question.

Would it be ok to use tap water treated with Prime to do the initial fill and the 50% water change and then use water RO/DI water for my top-offs and 10% bi-weekly changes?

Thanks again, for any info you can provide.

 

[fishfreek]

there is no local dealer I can buy RO/DI water from

Some grocery stores carry water you can get out of a machine aswell as some wal-marts.

You dont 'need' an RO/DI unit or you dont have to use RO/DI water. Its something that some people have had sucessful tanks for years and have not used. Alot of it has to do with the quality of your water supply. Using tapwater with a water conditioner will be fine for the intial setup and unless you run into excessive algae problem or other water quality issues later you might not even need to go to RO/DI.

 

[XXFirefighter]

My initial set up was water from my Culligan drinking water system... Took FOEVER to get 45 gallons ! For water changes I plan on using 5 gallon water bottles filled from the drinking water stations outside Vons.(a grocery store)

 

[dralarms]

Using tapwater with a water conditioner will be fine for the intial setup and unless you run into excessive algae problem or other water quality issues later you might not even need to go to RO/DI.

Glad to hear that, I haven't used ro/di water and have no algae problem. I mean I get a little algae from time to time but it's not like my freshwater tank where I have to scryb the sides with a brillo pad.

 

[wcsoft]

Thanks for the help, again