What's so bad about tap water?

O

OcellarisClown

New member
What is so bad about tap water? I'll be using BRITA water for my tank, which is a little cleaner I guess, but really, what is so bad about tap water that I need to spend $100 on RO?

I get that it has more phosphates, but could I make up for it with a phosphate remover pad...or is that only for FW?

What differences will I notice if I used brita compared to RO?
 
chlorine... for starters... and if you are going to invest thousands of dollars on equipment from skimmers and lighting why not actually have the water that everything lives in be "clean" that like setting up a green house with no roof in china... not very "smart"
 
There is chlorine in tap water but you can use a dechlorinator to get a good water. I am not saying that using a RO/Di is not useful, only that a tank can be done without one (if your local tap water is of good quality of course). If you are not sure about the quality of your local tap water, you should buy a Ro/Di.

Here is my tank that was started 2.5 years ago with tap water and is still running with tap water. I never got any serious problems with unwanted algea growth and my sand bed is very clean. Corals are growing well, fishes are doing well too. I keep fishes, LPS, SPS and softies. I may have been lucky, but this technique has worked well with me over the two last years. I have no phosphate reactor nor any other reactor of any kind.

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Just remember that keeping a reef tank is basically the art of keeping things alive in a septic system. You might as well start off with the highest quality water you can.
 
i used to use tap water in my FW set ups. one day my friend decided to test my tap water, it was 0 in ammonia (good), 5 for nitrite (uh oh), and 90 for nitrates (***?!). so in essence, i was making my tanks dirtier by doing water changes. he tested over the course of a week, with pretty similar results. thats the problem with tap water.
 
Tap water is a variable that you don't control unless you take filter it. You have to process out the chlorine, because that is just deadly.
 
what we are looking for in our tanks in longetivity--ask successful reefers who have kept tanks for 10-15-even 30 years what they feel about using tap water. We do know it can contain more then just chlorine and phosphates, also metals--these can accumulate in sand beds in tanks and in live rock causing problems in the future.

IMO it should be reefers like waterkeeper and PaulB that should be answering this post
 
Since I make that wonderful stuff we drink, thought I'd chime in. The first reason is we add phosphates to prevent corrosion in the pipes, algae fuel. Second is not just chlorine, but many utilities use Chlorine Dioxide (we use this), Chloramines, Chlorite(by product of CLO2), and other forms of that great and wonderful bug killing stuff that makes life possible, Chlorine. Some of these are not easily removed as raw Chlorine. Then there's Fluoride which builds up, and a whole host of other contaminants that could affect a reef tank. Although many are in such small quantities, ppm, mg/l, ppb, etc. that you probably wouldn't notice, some things like Nitrates could cause damage. I just think if I'm gonna spend as much on LR, fish, corals, salt tank, pumps, lights, so on and so forth, might as well do what I can with the primary medium that all the creatures have to live in. The Water. I make the stuff and there's no way I would trust my tank to tap water. Maybe well water. Got a friend with a 120 gal FW, and all he does is stick a hose in it from his well. Go figure.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12484954#post12484954 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by down and outman
Since I make that wonderful stuff we drink, thought I'd chime in. The first reason is we add phosphates to prevent corrosion in the pipes, algae fuel. Second is not just chlorine, but many utilities use Chlorine Dioxide (we use this), Chloramines, Chlorite(by product of CLO2), and other forms of that great and wonderful bug killing stuff that makes life possible, Chlorine. Some of these are not easily removed as raw Chlorine. Then there's Fluoride which builds up, and a whole host of other contaminants that could affect a reef tank. Although many are in such small quantities, ppm, mg/l, ppb, etc. that you probably wouldn't notice, some things like Nitrates could cause damage. I just think if I'm gonna spend as much on LR, fish, corals, salt tank, pumps, lights, so on and so forth, might as well do what I can with the primary medium that all the creatures have to live in. The Water. I make the stuff and there's no way I would trust my tank to tap water. Maybe well water. Got a friend with a 120 gal FW, and all he does is stick a hose in it from his well. Go figure.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
 
Tap water almost always contains:

Nitrites
Phosphates
Nitrates
Chlorine
Copper (can kill coral contact)
Iron
other metals
who knows what else!

Phosphate pads are usless and why spend hundreds of extra dollars on extra phosphate media. SPS coral need nitrates less then 10ppm and phosphates close to .02ppm. You won't get that if you do regular water changes.

Amphrion you started 2.5 years ago, but have you done a water change?

Alex
 
When I lived in the SW, the tap water out of the tap was hard. I mean HARD. You could bounce a quarter off of it. Not the best start...
 
Every drop of water in my tank was tap water straight from the sink. I have not had a problem, in fact, my water chem has been perfect since I started the thing. I guess my tap water is fairly free of the nasties.
 
i also use tap water. with tap water conditioner, i fill 30 gallon bin day before i do water change, get it up to temp and add salt. dont know if letting i sit helps but i have had no problems.
 
i never let mine sit. I used to, but I tested my city water and it was pretty darn pure. A smidge of chlorine, but de-chlorinator will do fine.
 
I don't know if this is a coincidence or not, but I mostly see people who are newer to the hobby using tap water with conditioners. I'm not saying it's wrong or that it won't work since I'm reasonably new myself, but I have noticed for the most part really (I mean REALLY) high phosphates, as in 5-6 ppm. I used to use bottled spring water for my water changes, but even that had undesirable effects. Now it's RO/DI all the way. It's a long process to make water but definitely worth it. You can find some lower GPD ones for a reasonable price and they're easy to install. Like so many people have said (and it cannot be said enough) with the amount of money we pour into the hobby, why not take all preventions and control everything we can? Anyway, I hope I didn't come off as harsh but that's my two cents =D
 
I've been using tap water in my reefs, FOWLR and fresh water tanks for ~15 years. Everything is going great....

Guess it depends a lot on your local water. Being in Colorado I'm pretty close to the source.
 
im with the tap water users myself.
all you say, if your going to spend hundreds on lighting bla bla bla why not an extra couple on water.
for me its not so much the cost (though i would never spend over $10 on some "cleaner" water) its the fact that i have 6 running tanks that would all need this ro water..hmm thats quite a few water jugs, more like swimming pools full.
yeah you have to spend $30 on a phosphate reactor and $20 on the media.
and regenerate it, not buy new ;)
mine have been fine with it.
some algae, but i like it, its good for a tank.
gives my fish free food.
and maybe the "newer hobbyists" are using it because new ideas are being sprung out with experiences..
if you have tanks that dont require 600+ gallons plus water changes to fill etc, by all means, buy a sparlets bottle and go fill it up!
but for me, im stickin with the hose and some amquel.
just my opinion though.
 
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