Who else uses tap water?

[pitmindi]

Hi, I have a 90 gallon tank that has been established since Jan and I usually use tap water for the water changes and top-offs. Who else does this?

 

[sasharotty]

Is this a reef or fowlr?? If its a reef i would say not too many reefers do.

 

[critofer]

Well, I have a Rain-soft Water softener that removes all Chlorine's and other impuritys in the water, so i do!

 

[rkelman]

Almost 5 years reefin from the tap here. (Well water)

 

[pitmindi]

I have a reef tank with many LPS and soft corals and I use city water. It is hard water with a high ph.

 

[Anthrax15]

I have used tap water for over two years now with fowlr and heavy reef tanks (softies, leathers, LPS, SPS, and sensitive inverts) with no illeffects. *knock on wood*

 

[chris88]

tap water for the past 5 years on sps, lps and zoanthid dominated reefs. Depends on where you live.

 

[cornraker]

What about well water? I know my water contains no chlorine. Should I be worried about metals in a FOWLR setup?

 

[BuckeyeTodd]

Couple of years back on my fowlr I poured a couple of pitchers of tap water to top off tank, my Kole tang swam under it and proceeded to die within an hour or two(copper pipes probably). I had that tang for over a year till that day. The next day I bought an R/O and haven't looked back since

 

[BuckeyeTodd]

and you can normally find a good r/o used for $75, so with all the costs in this hobby this ones not that bad

 

[mscarpena]

I get not wanting to spend the money and the ease of using tap water, but when you look at all the time and money you put into your tank why not go that little extra and spend that little extra just to be sure. I used filtered tap for a while then when I got serious and really started buying corals I bought an RO immediately.

 

[Jachael]

The copper incident is unfortunate. For those who use tap-water, you'll notice that the longest time mentioned is 5 years.

The problem with tap-water isn't usually immediate as in the copper case. The problem is small amounts of minerals/elements that build up slowly over time. With evaporation they become concentrated then top-offs replace more of that element, and there is no way to truly dilute the water.

This is true of silicates, which we don't test for and can be problematic with regards to algae. The next problem is nitrates/phosphates which you are trying to remove with water changes, but if the water you're putting back in contains them, even at a lower concentration, your water changes won't be as effective. Slowly over time these too can build up. Protein skimmers can help alleviate some of this by getting rid of macromolecules and with them nit/phos.

When I was poor and in college, I did tap-water, I had the worst problems with algae. I moved into my new house, unpacked my RO/DI (which I had bought and had shipped 3 days prior to moving day), and started making water to set the tank back up. I haven't had an algae problem since! And the coral look so much happier.

 

[Peale]

OK, I'll bite. I've used tap water since the beginning...almost 10 years now. I have a very successful tank with SPS, LPS, shrooms, zoas, just about everything. I have no algae as I keep up with water changes and don't over feed.

I'm not saying everyone should throw out their RO/DI units, but, depending on your home water, they are not necessary and everyone who chooses not to use one is not doomed to a mess-in-a-box.

 

[tspors]

I use RODI but agree 100% with Peale regarding this;

"I'm not saying everyone should throw out their RO/DI units, but, depending on your home water, they are not necessary and everyone who chooses not to use one is not doomed to a mess-in-a-box."

It all depends on your cities water source. If you go to your cities web site you can down load a water treatment report and see what is there.

 

[travis32]

I use RO water. My outgoing TDS from my faucet is 620. And I know we have copper and brass pipes in the house. After the water goes through a water softner and an RO system, the water is then down to a TDS of 25.

I still have problems with Cyano. Very little hair algae though. I had some HA starting to come in, just a couple patches, I added Chaeto to my tank and my sump and I have seen no expansion of HA. Cyano is another story. It doesn't run rampant, but I can't get rid of it either. It's enough to make me want to try a RODI unit at some point.

 

[username in use]

Ive been topping off with tap for a while now, but do all my water changes with water that I collect from the ocean, so whatever may be in there gets pretty dilluted with the really pure water from the big blue.

 

[Harpo]

ok I'll chip in too. I've been using well water only for over 15 years. I would recommend having any water source tested. I will agree ro water is likely the safest alternative for most. However I'm a "more biology, less technology" type reefer and I like the simplicity.
Mark

 

[T Diddy]

I have an RO unit that is not set up yet, and due ti my lack of patience will probably do my initial tank fill with tap water for the cycle, and all subsequent water changes with the RO unit. Is this foolish?

btw, never had a problem with tank health and tap water in the past.

 

[brycerb]

My well water runs about 45 TDS, but I still run a ro/di unit. I like the piece of mind, plus I am sure I am filtering out things that are untestable. I ran just tap water at first and had some issues. I am not saying it was the water, it could have been inexperiance or both.

 

[JHemdal]

Like has been mentioned - it all depends on the city water source. Our water comes from Lake Erie and is higher in orthophosphate than a reef tank should run (>2ppm) so doing water changes with that source wouldn't make a whole lot of sense - each water change would make things WORSE. Cities that draw from rivers often have high nitrate in the spring (>10ppm ) and again, that is higher than you would want your reef to be.

TDS isn't the specific measurement of concern - high TDS derived from calcium would be a good thing! That's why some well water is actually better to use than RO.


Jay