city water
- Thread starter Westfield
- Start date
CStrickland
New member
You can google your city water for the report that they have to file every year. It will tell you what chemicals were in it at the time they took a sample pretty much down to your address.
The idea of leaving it overnight is to let chlorine evaporate so it doesn't kill fish. But a lot of cities have changed over to the less evaporaty chloramine, so you need to add water conditioner drops. People do this for fw tanks, maybe fowlr too idk. But for reef tanks most say it isn't clean enough because of other things in the water that don't hurt people but aren't good for a tank, whether it's added at the water plant like chloramine, or from the pipes like copper. The reason you are topping off is because only the water is evaporating, not the salt or minerals or whatever. So if you are using water that has little bits of stuff in it, over time the levels of those stuffs go up and up. If you are topping of with distilled or rodi water you are just replacing the pure water that evaporated.
The idea of leaving it overnight is to let chlorine evaporate so it doesn't kill fish. But a lot of cities have changed over to the less evaporaty chloramine, so you need to add water conditioner drops. People do this for fw tanks, maybe fowlr too idk. But for reef tanks most say it isn't clean enough because of other things in the water that don't hurt people but aren't good for a tank, whether it's added at the water plant like chloramine, or from the pipes like copper. The reason you are topping off is because only the water is evaporating, not the salt or minerals or whatever. So if you are using water that has little bits of stuff in it, over time the levels of those stuffs go up and up. If you are topping of with distilled or rodi water you are just replacing the pure water that evaporated.
billdogg
Well-known member
In addition to what he said, other problems can present themselves as well. For instance, the city of Columbus has just issued a Nitrate advisory and is handing out drinking water to those in need. You can leave your water open to the air forever - the only thing that will happen is that the Nitrates will become more concentrated.
RO/DI really is your best option. Schlepping jugs of water around will get old quickly.
RO/DI really is your best option. Schlepping jugs of water around will get old quickly.
davocean
Active member
Agree, and it's nice to know what you are putting in your tank.
Good DI water helps prevent dreaded algae issues.
CStrickland
New member
I wouldn't necessarily say rodi is the best bet.
Say, for example, one has a 10g with only coral in it
At 1g of distilled per week it would take almost 4 years for a refurbished spectrapure 90gpd to pay for itself. It would make sense to hold off on investing in a rodi for a while until one were sure they liked the hobby. It could be worth schlepping a jug or two when you go in for groceries, rather than trying to unload a $150 unit that you bought a few weeks into a new hobby on Craigslist if it doesn't work out.
What I wouldn't do is trust an lfs, to many horror stories.
Say, for example, one has a 10g with only coral in it
At 1g of distilled per week it would take almost 4 years for a refurbished spectrapure 90gpd to pay for itself. It would make sense to hold off on investing in a rodi for a while until one were sure they liked the hobby. It could be worth schlepping a jug or two when you go in for groceries, rather than trying to unload a $150 unit that you bought a few weeks into a new hobby on Craigslist if it doesn't work out. What I wouldn't do is trust an lfs, to many horror stories.
CStrickland
New member
Are you saying that it would be better to buy a $150 rodi for a tank you don't have yet than to spend $3 a month on distilled for a little while in order to spread out some early costs and ease into the hobby?
I started with a 5, my 55's less work by far. Nanos are way too persnickety for my clumsy self.
I started with a 5, my 55's less work by far. Nanos are way too persnickety for my clumsy self.
mmittlesteadt
New member
Fluoride is in most city water supplies. It is a toxin that slowly breaks down the immune system (despite dentists constant recommendations for its use).
I have two friends that work for city water treatment plants. They are coming into the hardware store on a regular basis to replace screens on filters and the epoxy on their floors because the fluoride eats it away. They have to wear special respirators and protective clothing before coming in contact with it. Nasty stuff. Something you will rarely, if ever, hear about.
And that is just one of many things in our water to be worried about. Best of luck.
I have two friends that work for city water treatment plants. They are coming into the hardware store on a regular basis to replace screens on filters and the epoxy on their floors because the fluoride eats it away. They have to wear special respirators and protective clothing before coming in contact with it. Nasty stuff. Something you will rarely, if ever, hear about.
And that is just one of many things in our water to be worried about. Best of luck.
Shawn O
Active member
On a related note, the purified "spring water" kiosks popping up everywhere look like a pretty good source for water. The one nearest me says water is run through activated carbon and a micron membrane. Can I assume it's RO/DI? The only issue I can see might be how often they replace the membrane and carbon.
I still have yet to check the industrial DI unit i have at work to determine if it's actually pure water. That thing puts out DI almost as fast as the faucet.
I still have yet to check the industrial DI unit i have at work to determine if it's actually pure water. That thing puts out DI almost as fast as the faucet.
coralsnaked
New member
Their is no time period where all unwanted chemicals and elements will evaporate from the bucket of city water. Many of the unwanted items could be: Chloramines, copper, silicates, fluoride, arsenic, iron and manganese, sulfates, barium, lead, nickel and the list goes on and on. A good city water plan will still have ~ 3 - 4 hundred ppm of dissolved solids, where an aquarist is looking for 0.0 ppm of TDS
If you can't do RODI then stick with the distilled water and hope they do not incorporate copper in the steam generator.
If you can't do RODI then stick with the distilled water and hope they do not incorporate copper in the steam generator.
Back in the 1940's you could let chlorine go to bubbles and leave the water...but cities took to using chloramine, which doesn't do that. Neither do other elements like phosphate, lead, copper, etc, none of which are good...they don't evaporate: they just concentrate with evaporation.
CStrickland
New member
Nah. Rodi tastes pretty bad, like flat and dull. For "drinking water" if it isn't from a spring I think it's ro, or carbon. Either way theres minerals and stuff left in or added to make it taste right. If you buy from a store you want distilled (for steam irons and stuff, for the same reason we want it - no crud left behind after it evaporates). Also, some say it's unhealthy to drink rodi, but idk, the reasons weren't very convincing to me.
Also, lol@ a dentist flouride conspiracy, like "guys, we are making waaay too much money fixing all these cavities, let's trick everyone into having healthy teeth so we don't have so much business. Muahahah"
You can't even trust distilled absolutely...back in OK, where I once kept fish, there was a case of copper in the distilled water of one company: investigation turned up a copper hood used in the distillation process, where steam rises up to turn back to water---
Unfortunately the distilled water was not 0 tds.
Also, think of your salt mix as 'dried seawater.' Add water to it, and you have salt water with all the other minerals you have in the ocean---in the proportions they occur in the ocean. Those proportions are important. Using tapwater is going to skew that balance and not to the good.
Unfortunately the distilled water was not 0 tds.
Also, think of your salt mix as 'dried seawater.' Add water to it, and you have salt water with all the other minerals you have in the ocean---in the proportions they occur in the ocean. Those proportions are important. Using tapwater is going to skew that balance and not to the good.
CStrickland
New member
Yeah, I've used distilled and I added a little Prime to it just to be safe re copper. It says on the bottle that it binds heavy metal or something, not sure if that's forever or what. Dunno. I was told I was paranoid, but it can't hurt.
Never fear 'conditioned city water' in an emergency, like an impending tank crash or a sudden need for a qt. That's one time, one dose, one tankful that will likely be tossed anyway.
But do not set up with conditioned water, because a whole DT full, especially a big one, takes quite a while to get rid of the bad stuff that can get in from and and entire tankful. All your topoffs are only replacing the liquid part of what concentrates in your DT with evaporation, not diluting it.
So use it if you have to---it's like oxygen full of smoke and fumes---it ain't good, but it's better than no oxygen.
Do try to keep both spare salt and Prime on hand.
But do not set up with conditioned water, because a whole DT full, especially a big one, takes quite a while to get rid of the bad stuff that can get in from and and entire tankful. All your topoffs are only replacing the liquid part of what concentrates in your DT with evaporation, not diluting it.
So use it if you have to---it's like oxygen full of smoke and fumes---it ain't good, but it's better than no oxygen.
Do try to keep both spare salt and Prime on hand.
