Starting a tank with tapwater

reefermike1

reefermike1

New member
So Im almost ready for water to go in my 180 gallon and I'm really tempted to start it off with tap water. I have no livestock to go in it right away besides liverock.

If I did want to start with rodi, I would need to either buy the water which would be around $100 plus about 10 trips to the water store, or I can buy a rodi maker, wait a week for it to arrive, then wait another 3 days for it to fill.

My thought is to get it cycling with tapwater treated with de-chlor, and instant ocean salt. Then weekly do 20gallon water changes with rodi and reef crystals during the cycle. Then drop to weekly 10gallon changes or bi-weekly as the tank matures.

Anyone see a problem with this?
 
Before in my 80 gallon I used to have a rubber maid that stored tap water, I would let it air out for a few days so the chlorine would go away naturally. You could try that method - my 80g was perfectly fine with tapwater.

Tapwater also depends on your area. An example would be GTA has good water, but guelph has bad water (yellow colored water) lol.
 
Bad idea!
Start off right or it will bite you in the behind later.
Buy the RO/DI unit and wait.
If you don't have the patience, this is the wrong hobby for you.
Just my opinion.
 
+1

you have no idea what is in your tap water, just a small trace of copper and it's all over.

My house has copper plumbing !!
 
I started my tank off with tap water. Didn't have an ro unit. Then I bought some ro/di from my lfs, and began top offs and water changes with that. got my hands on a tds meter to only find out the water I was buying read just as high as my tap water.

No serious issues. I have a ro/di unit now. I believe you will be ok to start your tank off with tap but start using pure water asap. jmo
 
No way would I add what I KNOW I will be spending months of frustration trying to pull back out and tugging on HA while doing so.
Trust me, well worth the wait to at least start off right, and even then expect to chase some typical start up issues.
I personally would want faster as well, and would probably make the compromise of doing some water runs to help move it along, but agree, patience prevails in this hobby.
 
reefndude said:
I started my tank off with tap water. Didn't have an ro unit. Then I bought some ro/di from my lfs, and began top offs and water changes with that. got my hands on a tds meter to only find out the water I was buying read just as high as my tap water.

No serious issues. I have a ro/di unit now. I believe you will be ok to start your tank off with tap but start using pure water asap. jmo
Click to expand...

You may be lucky enough to live in an area w/ exceptionally low TDS, possibly, we don't see that very often.
I'm curious what your numbers are on both tap and LFS, as well as time running on your tank, and have these issues just not hit you yet.
 
I highly recommend starting the right way and using RO/DI water. I know from first hand experience what tap water can do, you don't want to battle algae for months from being impatient.
 
There is already plenty of frustrations ahead of you during the first 12 months....even when you do everything right. Do you really want to add a major impediment to success before even starting? Maybe a local company like Culligan could provide the initial fill on site if time is worth the money.
 
davocean said:
You may be lucky enough to live in an area w/ exceptionally low TDS, possibly, we don't see that very often.
I'm curious what your numbers are on both tap and LFS, as well as time running on your tank, and have these issues just not hit you yet.
Click to expand...


My tap was 144 ppm ro/di I was buying was 123ppm. Tank has been running for 2 years in March. I stopped buying water and started making my own about 4 months ago.

Maybe I was just lucky
 
clearly its not a good idea, but i do have a side question for ya what were you using for your old 110g mixed reef?
 
I hate to be the one to go against most here, but every single time I moved my 180 (NC to SC, SC to MD and many times In between I have used tap water to fill her mostly back up. I would say almost 75 % of the water had to be tap water as I was moving and had 0 chance to make 180 plus of RO water. This has not once every back fired on me ever. Now I am also not saying that nothing will happen that is all dependent on your local water department and the TDS readings. I would also test the water and moat of the time it would read between 5-10ppm of nitrates and less then .05 PO4. If the OP is only going to use tap to atart the tank and will start water changes within the week I dont see the issue. Once again is also depends on his water source and what is in it.
 
A large tank is usually more stable due to the water volume. On the flip side when things go bad they are usually more costly and time consuming to get back on track.

I would wait for the unit to arrive and start making some water. I would also have extra DI resin on hand just in case. If you do not need the resin now it will be used up later. Just my 2 cents good luck
 
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