Tap Water in SF

The water in SF comes from Hetch Hetchy which is in the sierra nevadas. You pay big money to get that water to you, some of the peninsula and a bit if the east bay.
 
My understanding is that the water then sits in a water treatment plant before being sent out to the houses. They test the water for things that harm people, and if bad things are found then they does the water with large doses of things that kill those bacteria that can also kill my corals, some of which are from Fiji, which is out in the South Pacific somewhere :)

Ron
 
While living in the Marina District and keeping fish for 14 years, I found that the water needed frequent buffering. You may want to keep an eye on that if you aren't now.
 
Psionicdragon said:
what....my city's water is 130ppm :(
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the reading now is higher. south bay water supply is from the same hetch hetchy source and water has been cloudy since december and remember seeing in news about hetch hetchy water supply will be cloudy because they switched filtration plant to do maintenance on the regular filtration plant.

so I'd say now is not a good time to use tap.

FWIW, I usually get low readings as well but checked yesterday and got 160ppm.
 
No true--South Bay water comes from a wide variety of sources and reservoirs. I believe non of them are from the Hetch Hetchy. Someone posted a map of the different water districts but I can't remember where they posted it.
 
patrickb said:
No true--South Bay water comes from a wide variety of sources and reservoirs. I believe non of them are from the Hetch Hetchy. Someone posted a map of the different water districts but I can't remember where they posted it.
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Read the first paragraph of this document to say which statement is not true :)
But I probably should have qualified it as Milpitas instead of generalizing South Bay.

http://www.ci.milpitas.ca.gov/_pdfs/pw_water_quality_report.pdf

BTW, the document shows the TDS range of Hetch Hetchy water is 39-203, I know my tap water typically reads under 50, and I've never seen it over 200.
 
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Good that you guys have low TDS but how would you know if it is consistent everytime you need some water?

If your TDS was low your RODI cartridges will last a long time anyway, so why not use RODI?
 
believe it or not, ive used 100% tap water to setup new tanks but have always let the system sit for a few weeks before adding coral. never had an issue but i do think continual use of tap will eventually foul your tank from the accumulation of nasties....and even if the water looks to be good one day thats not to say next month you'll get crappy water.
 
When I first set up my tank, I was using RO, then I got chatting to a really nice elderly guy in my local fish store, and he told me that he has never used anything BUT tap water for the 40 odd years that he has kept marine fish. He told me this when I went in to buy an RO top up. Further to this he showed me pictures of his tanks, they looked phenomenal with fish, corals, anemones, and live rock. I asked him what he put in his tap water, and he said "absolutley nothing" straight out of the tap, at the right heat and salt content, perfect.
His argument was, that what did folk do to keep marine fish before RO came on the scene?
I changed to tap water immediately, and can I say that I have NEVER had any problems whatsoever. I have added fish that I have bought from the fish store and they are very happy, and I have had one in particular for 2 years, a Blue Trigger. NONE have ever died in my tank of tap water.
So there ya go!!
Sorry, can I add that i am in the UK, and not SF as I have just noticed the thread is concerning.
 
You live in the UK and that is the difference steveluigi. We're on different continents, and definitely different water grids. The fact that you use tap water is great, but looking around on this forum, you will see many problems with tap water (High TDS, phosphates, minerals, copper, etc) and the effects to the tanks.
 
I lived in the UK for years. At least in London, the water supply is atrocious. Thames Water is notorious for its pipes being antiquated and leaching tons of TDS into the water supply. Not safe for human consumption much less aquaria.
 
Sounds great for fish. One more check on the board for...

U S A!!
U S A!!

BenR7132 said:
I lived in the UK for years. At least in London, the water supply is atrocious. Thames Water is notorious for its pipes being antiquated and leaching tons of TDS into the water supply. Not safe for human consumption much less aquaria.
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Yeah, but the UK gets the check on the board for a healthcare system that works and is available to all! Sorry, I couldn't resist. There are many, many great things about that country. We Americans should be more receptive to best practice as proven in other nations. The US is a great place to live, but sometimes our bull-headedness saddens me.

Rant over!
 
lets see them tapwater sps saturated reef tanks...i find it funny that when ppl say they've used tapwater for years and then u see their tank full of macroalgae and some softy corals that can tolerate less than pristine water parameters or if they do have sps, they're your famous chocolate colored acros. LOL
 
d0ughb0y said:
Read the first paragraph of this document to say which statement is not true :)
But I probably should have qualified it as Milpitas instead of generalizing South Bay.

http://www.ci.milpitas.ca.gov/_pdfs/pw_water_quality_report.pdf

BTW, the document shows the TDS range of Hetch Hetchy water is 39-203, I know my tap water typically reads under 50, and I've never seen it over 200.
Click to expand...

http://www.bareefers.org/home/node/9662

http://www.sunnyvale.ca.gov/Departments/Public+Works/Water+Supply/

Sunnyvale gets water ( a majority) from S.F.P.U.C. where +80% of their water from the Yosemite area where Hetch Hetchy happens to be :) Hetch Hetchy is in fact one of their major sources :D

S.F.P.U.C. SUPPLY

The City of Sunnyvale operates six connections from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Bay Division pipe lines. Over 80% of the SFPUC's water supply originates from reservoirs in and around Yosemite National Park. Hetch Hetchy reservoir water flows from the snowpack runoff in the Sierras across the Central Valley of our State. This is where it is blended with filtered water from other local water reservoirs, disinfected, and then comes through the Irvington Tunnel, and the local Bay Division pipe lines before enter the Sunnyvale water distribution system.
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