Tap water in a tank?

[FishDaAx]

Ok so here is my problem. I don't have an RO/DI system yet and won't e getting one for another month or 2. I am going to be filling my 125g tank this week and I can only carry 10g to and from my RO dealer at a time so I am thinking of using tap water. Now here is what I am thinking and let me know if you agree or disagree. The whole problem with tap water in a reef is that it has way more TDMs (total dissolved material) in it than RO water, isn't a protein skimmer's job to remove the dissolved organics in the the water? So I am thinking. Use tap water and let the tank cycle with that water and do my water changes with RO water. If not i will have to make an awful lot of trips to get water.

 

[jeffaquarius]

You can get ro water from nearest grocery store. It's a vending machine outside. It's good enough for a start until you can afford to get an ro/di filter.

 

[FishDaAx]

You can get ro water from nearest grocery store. It's a vending machine outside. It's good enough for a start until you can afford to get an ro/di filter.

Yea that's what I used for my smaller tank but like I said I only have 2 5g jugs so I would have to drive there and back 15 times to fill the tank and sump. And not to mention mixing it all

 

[jeffaquarius]

Using tap water for salt water tank will give you a lot of headache later on. You will find many here who made such mistake and spending a lot of time to correct it when they already have tank inhabitants. As the common saying "do it slow". Skimmer can remove nutrients but not unwanted elements from tap water.

 

[FishDaAx]

Using tap water for salt water tank will give you a lot of headache later on. You will find many here who made such mistake and spending a lot of time to correct it when they already have tank inhabitants. As the common saying "do it slow". Skimmer can remove nutrients but not unwanted elements from tap water.

Ok thanks. Yea I am going to just lug 10g at a time home and mix it in a 55g bin. I think that's my best bet. Thanks for the advice