Water filter question

[spinman]

To all,

I know most of you are beiievers in the RO/DI water system, but I plan on using plain ol' tap water treated with Amquel for my FO tank.

I have a whole house Omnifilter that houses a No. T01 carbon wrapped canister filter. The filter is not attached to my house plumbing. I used it when filtering my water for brewing beer.

Question: Would there be a benefit to using this filer for my fish tank water? And if so, would the Amquel still be necessary?

Thanks

Mike
Cherry Hill NJ

 

[RLG2182]

I wouldn't use that unit at all. Brewing beer and making aquarium water is slightly different.

What is your budget? At the very least, pick up some water from the grocery store to fill your tank. I would use the Amquel... but do plan extra time into your plan to battle algea that will result from tap water. I did that years ago after not researching the hobby first... not a day went by that I didn't have some plague of algea and unhealthy fish. Biggest mistake I ever made.

 

[malkore]

Your tap water may or may not be fine for a FO tank. RLG is hinting at the potential phosphates in your tap water, which would give you fits of cyano and other true algae blooms.

Then again, you may have no problems. Regardless, the filter isn't gonna be worth while. Carbon doesn't strip nitrates or phosphates or chlorine/amine, so you'd still need Amquel (though I recommend Prime over Amquel).