tap water

angelsj247

angelsj247

New member
i know everyone said its bad.. but i decide to chance with it. especially when i set it up 2 months ago the book i was giong by said it wasnt recommend but you can choose do use it and i did. well my tank is very well i believe. I found star fish in my live rock, a bristle worm and ive had my clown fish for a week or more now with a pepermint shrimp and some astrea snails. I just found thousands of little tiny copods. so i dont see what was wrong with using my tap water.. or was i just lucky?
 
come back in 6 months with an update :D. tap water is the root cause for most peoples algae problems. not to mention any heavy metals that may build up and one day cause a crash for an apparent unknown reason.
 
so i dont see what was wrong with using my tap water.. or was i just lucky?
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I think it's way to early to jump to any conclusions, if your start to get serious algea issues then I would suggest you look into investing in an RO unit. Do you treat your water with a conditioner ? Watch out for chlorine and Chloramines !

I have used tap water for close to 5 years in FW and SW without any issues but that's not the case with most people.
 
using tap water usually causes algae outbreaks. and if you have any corals, they will hate you for using tap. You may have decent tap water. To be sure, you might want to use a TDS meter and check it.
 
i should add that some people do have "clean" enough water. you may be one of the lucky few like cheeks69. i can see where buying a RO/DI unit for a 20g tank would not be cost effective either, but i would atleast buy some RO from the LFS or grocery store.
 
You might have good tap water with a low TDS reading, but, over time that will catch up to you and your tank. Whatever is in your tap water will slowly biuld up in your tank over time (like copper, and other various heavy metals). Then all of a sudden it will be like a bomb went off in your tank. The stuff you put in your tap water only treats certain things and will not take everything out of the tap water.
Do yourself and your tank a favor and buy an RO/DI unit or buy the water from your grocery store.
The tap water I have has a TDS reading of about 20ppm. But I still use an RO/Di unit because my tap is full of phosphates and nitrates and other crap.
 
I used nothing but tap water on my previous 90-gal. tank... I cut corners wherever possible... and I paid for it big time in the end. Sure it looked great initially... but in several months time, I obtained every type of algae bloom known to the hobby. :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7039979#post7039979 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mystikdragon7
You might have good tap water with a low TDS reading, but, over time that will catch up to you and your tank. Whatever is in your tap water will slowly biuld up in your tank over time (like copper, and other various heavy metals). Then all of a sudden it will be like a bomb went off in your tank. The stuff you put in your tap water only treats certain things and will not take everything out of the tap water.
Do yourself and your tank a favor and buy an RO/DI unit or buy the water from your grocery store.
The tap water I have has a TDS reading of about 20ppm. But I still use an RO/Di unit because my tap is full of phosphates and nitrates and other crap.
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This tank has been setup for almost 2 years and a previous setup was also maintained for close to 2 years exclusively with tap water and besides some cyano initially which was quickly corrected I've NEVER had an algea problem. I realize that this isn't feasable for most people but again IME tap water has not been a problem.


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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7040556#post7040556 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nc2tarheels
tap water sucks. Just buy it from your LFS if you can't buy a RODI unit. I buy mine for like 30 cent a gallon
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I agree my LFS sells water for .50cents a gallon... not to bad to keep my tank up and running good so I don't chance nothing in the future
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7040947#post7040947 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cheeks69
This tank has been setup for almost 2 years and a previous setup was also maintained for close to 2 years exclusively with tap water and besides some cyano initially which was quickly corrected I've NEVER had an algea problem. I realize that this isn't feasable for most people but again IME tap water has not been a problem.


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Just over two years is when the tap water finally caught up to my tank. I had a hair algae outbreak that took my months to get over. I still have a bit of it still in my tank today. It seemed to have happened overnight.
 
Well most of the LR I have is 4 years old without any algea problems again I'm not saying this will apply to everyone just relating my experience. I know plenty of reefers that have had serious problems with tap water and to be on the safer side then use RO/DI water.
 
I would suggest getting a TDS meter and knowing exactly what the TDS of your tap water is.
I have never used a ro/di unit. Mostly because the TDS of my tap water is around 40 year round. Phosphate is very low so I have been very lucky.
My present tank is a 180 gallon softy tank that has been setup for about 7 years. Most of the rock that came from a previous 125 gallon tank is in it also.
So get a TDS meter, test the water and then decide.
 
You are going to have some algea, diatoms etc.
If you do have tap water that has moderate to high tds you will have a much worse algea problem.
I am in the pacific northwest and usually the water is pretty good here.
I know some people from your state that have told me that the water in their area is not to good. In fact it's down right bad.
If I were you, I would get a water test or a TDS meter and make an informed decision.
 
You can get a TDS meter relatively cheap. There was a thread on here a while back talking about TDS around the country. People chimed in with everything from 30 to over 800!! Anything over 500 is considered unfit to drink by the EPA. It was completely different everywhere.

Municipalities also add phospates to the water for the pipes. My tap has 2 ppm of phosphate and a TDS of 275. A faucet filter such as a Purr or Brita will not take that stuff out. I'm running phosguard to keep the phosphates at 0, so if I used tap water, even for top off, I'd be negating the purpose of the phosguard.

Low flow, poor spectrum lighting, TDS, phosphates, and nitrates...perfect recipe for an algae explosion in time. You can get a Typhoon III, 5 stage RO/DI with everything you need including a handheld TDS meter for 200.00. Airwaterice.com. That's a small investment for piece of mind in my book. I use to buy water at Walmart .64 a jug, plus hauling it around. This unit will pay for itself in a year for me.
 
400 on my meter, 390 for my neighbor......

Look at your return on investment for a RO/DI unit..... $100 for a good unit, or 30 cents per gallon for (at some places) questionable water. At 300 gallons of water, you break even. I don't know about you, but I also would have to drive out of my way, waste an hour doing it, and store it somewhere. And there's probably a good chance that when you really need some extra water, it'll be at 2am on a Sunday when there is no where else you can get it except WallyWorld at .80 cents a gallon for "spring" water that'll have you banging you head against the wall in frustration when the guy stocking the shelves says that water is just water..... (been there, done that,...) Most of the RO/DI units come with a 3g tank that can quickly get you some if you need it, and mine cranks out 2 to 3 more per hour if you in a pinch.
 
You can get a 5 stage RO/DI filter on ebay (from a dealer) for less than $70. Mine tests out (TDS) at 2ppm thru the filter. And that reading was out of a drinking glass (which probably still had some soap residue from the dishwasher).
I have my RO/DI under the sink on a back-pressure tank and hooked up to the freezer/ice maker and indoor water dispenser.
I used a T and a ball valve to run a line to my mixing tank.
My wife loves the fact that she gets bottled quality water from the water dispenser (easy sell).

I bought mine from this guy..
http://stores.ebay.com/ROfilterDepot
 
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