can I use tap water just this once

M

marcrunner

New member
Setting up my new tank. My RO/DI will take a while make the 400 gallons of water that I need. Would it be a big deal to use aerated tap water for this initial fill. After that, it would be strictly RO water. the system will be fish only with alot of LR. thanx,Marc
 
me personnally would not use the tap water. it may lead to problems down the road. 400 gallons is alot of tap water to try and phase out. i would take my time and fill with ro water. this is a very patient hobby and without patients you are looking to have a rough road. this is just my opionion though.
 
i would agree with am3gross, generally a lot of people find they get more/worse blooms of algae after using tap water instead of RO/DI. and im sure there are a lot of other impurities that you would rather not want in your tank, even if it is only going to be FOWLR, take your time and at least you can be confident with the water. good luck.
 
I differ and say go ahead and use the tap. If it is only going to be a fish only and then you are going to use RODI the rest of the time you will be fine. Alot of people with fish only use tap ALL the time anyways. Fish are not affected by impurities that would kill coral but if you ever go to sell the rock or anything tell the other person that you have used tap incase they plan to use it where organisms may be adversely affected by copper, etc...
 
Hmmmm... If you already have the R/O, use it. If you think it will take too long, then you are in the wrong hobby. Look at it as your first test of patience. Nothing good happens fast in reefing except dead fish & coral. Spend the extra time and fill it up the best way. You will be happy you did.
 
bpd964 has sid it as well as can be said. If you can't wait for the RO/DI, then you are in the wrong hobby. You might use tap water and have everything turn out fine. If so, I still wouldn't congratulate you. If you take short cuts now, you will do it in the future. Sooner or later, a lack of patience will cuase you problems.
 
I will admit, that I want this to be fast, and I can only make 35g a day, but I did not think that my water was that bad.
 
My fish have never seemed to mind the water, either way. Maybe, depending on where you live, the water holds more or less of these impurities. I guess I am just getting a little impatient. A large tank like this is a huge project.

Thanx for the guidance------Marc
 
Do you have a LFS that sells RO or saltwater already made up? When I first set my tank up my LFS came out and helped with the set up and filled it for me (for a fee of course). I actually bought saltwater from them for water changes for the first couple of months until I figured how much it was costing me and put in an RO system.
 
yeah after seeing what happened to steve's tan k i will never add tap water to my tank...
 
When I setup my 600gal (850gal total) I used RO/DI from the start and it took about 10 days of non stop RO/DI'ing... That was with a booster pump and 100gpd unit... I would wait the extra time to fill it with RO/DI...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9722358#post9722358 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bebo77
yeah after seeing what happened to steve's tank i will never add tap water to my tank...
Click to expand...

I can't see tap water along doing that... He stated that the tap is like 35 tds, that is pretty good... Mine is like 140ish out of the tap... He thinks it was the 5yr old dechlorinator... Also freshly mixed salt is not good to add to a tank... I would think worse case his corals would not have been happy, but I can't half of his corals dieing... Also if his skimmer was not keeping the water "as clean" as it could and then after his cleaning it went crazy that could shock the corals as well... I think it was a few diff things happening at once... I am surprised he didn't have 100s of gal of RO and SW already made up on hand... I am getting off my butt and going out monday and get more storage tanks so that I can have both on hand... Up to this point I have been kinda slacking off and putting it on hold, but you never know when you will need it...
 
Marcrunner, if you'd like to take a shortcut, check with your local LFS on purchasing Real Ocean Water from them in large quantities. I that there is a couple of real ocean water companies that delivers water directly to your house if purchase in 100 gallons or more. It'll be a lot more expensive than mixing your own but its quick and convenient.

Good Luck!
 
I have a couple of LFS that would give me cycled water, is this better than freshly mixed RO or am I asking for trouble with pests/parasites?
 
I THINK you can take the hose that goes to the membrane off and run it to the DI filter. You well need some extra DI filters. A friend of mine has has filter setup this way. I think is called cold filtered. Sentiment filter, carbon, carbon, DI. Am I wrong?
 
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