I went to visit a pet shop and I was told

[SwimSwimDiego]

by the owner that he dose not use a RO to clean his water and his tanks look GREAT including his reef tank. Boy that has me thinking, some people just are so lucky when it comes to things like that. I bet if was to try something like that nothing good would happend in my tank. Anybody out there just use tap water? And is it true that you can use the water from the RO vending machines in the superstores to do your 10% water change and to top off your tank? Are they pulling the leg or legs. These leg were made for walking and if not true, I am going to walk all you Mr.Bull.

[trdofwrkin]

I used it fora while but then i started getting slime algae...i checked my phosphates and they were up.I did 10 gallon water changes every 3 days with nsw and they came down. yes its ok to use the machines but the water depends on how oftern they service the machines

[2006]

I had a nocal aquarium shop employee tell me they used tap water in the store. The tanks all looked great. The employee used RO on his own tanks.

[BLKTANG]

I used tap years ago with disastrous effects.I ended up throwing away some expensive Martial Island LR from some wicked algae.

Got RO/DI,& never had another problem.

[bertoni]

There are stories both ways on tapwater. I don't see any reason to run the risk. For example, some day the local processing plant might decide to dump some zinc into the water as an anti-corrosion agent. That's killed at least one tank for a RC user.

[rlf_racing]

I use tap water but it is not city water. I have a well so I don't have to worry about all the sanitizing chemicals they use in it. My tank is going on almost seven months with no problems what so ever. I also have an under the sink filter that takes any minerals out of the water to be on the safe side. If you are worried about your tap water, you can always have it tested. As for the water machines at the store I am not sure. When I get lazy and need to do a water change and don't feel like making it I buy it from the lfs at 5 buck for five gallons. I know they use RO/DI water. I have only done that twice.

[seanb1]

check the cities water reports, chances are that they have kick butt water, no phosphates or nitrate.

i live in the farm belt and all water companies get water from the mississippi river which is loaded with nitrate from farm runoff.

our water sucks right out of the faucet, i firmly believe if i poured 1 gallon of it in my tank i could farm green hair algae for the next 6 months.

[Bebo77]

he may just have good tap water.. i have seen a few reefers who use water from a well that has less then 50 ppm tds....

[BeesGoneWild]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12265136#post12265136 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by seanndenise1
check the cities water reports, chances are that they have kick butt water, no phosphates or nitrate.

i live in the farm belt and all water companies get water from the mississippi river which is loaded with nitrate from farm runoff.

our water sucks right out of the faucet, i firmly believe if i poured 1 gallon of it in my tank i could farm green hair algae for the next 6 months.

yeap probaly, even with the best city water your probably looking at either a lot of phosphate or a lot of flouride, or nitrate.

[rlf_racing]

Like I said I put an under the sink carbon filter to be on the safe side. If i do get any hair algea in my tank my cuc takes care of it pretty quick.

[brians4671]

I live in miami fl. the end of last year the water & sewer department circulated an advisment. In detail stating it was going to boost the chlorine by a considerable percentage. This was done for a short period then returned to their normal levels.

[OceanSpray]

I've been using Culligen water from a machine at my local Walmart for 3 years now. It has a sticker on it which lets me know its been serviced. I've had great results so far. I would never use tap water again. Not ever. ever...did I say never? Ever...eve..ev..ev..er The Culligen water only cost me .25 cents a gallon. I finally added a double laundry sink and water lines to my shop, so I'm a little bit closer to my own RODI unit in the future, just in cast Walmart decides to get rid of my machine. Be smart...Just Say No to Tapwater!!

[wiscsaltwater]

Tapwater is a risk to avoid at all costs, if you can afford to get in this hobby you can afford at minimum a $100 RO unit.

If you cant afford the RO unit you can buy RO water for about a quarter a gallon, if you cant afford that then buy a couple of saltwater books and read up until you can.

[xUnicornx]

my dad has a water softernr is that ok to use? does it help at all ?

[clownFish1313]

i use tap water and its great but the DKH is 12 my sand gets black slime every now and than but no problems with my 46

[Michael]

the problem is though chlorine and fluride will be used in most city tap waters, if you do not filter it how do you remove it? i wouldnt want to treat tap water with chemicals to remove them, ro-di in my opinion is the must for reefers who want to keep corals, surely?

[SwimSwimDiego]

Thanks for all the replies, and keep them going it's nice to know stuff like this and the stories of the things that happened to some of the RC people. This is good information for the new people that think they can use tap water without checking it from a test kit or from there local tap water plant report and even then who can trust the report lots of time things go wrong and we are not told. SO LETS TEST THE WATERS OURSELFS, TO KEEP OUR LITTLE OCEAN SAFE. thumbsup:

Tell us your story:sad1:

Thank Again
DS: :strooper:

[seapug]

There are many more reasons NOT to use tapwater than there are for it. If you want to find out, have your tapwater tested.

You may be one of the lucky few who have good tapwater,but don't assume just because someone in the middle of Pennsylvania gets away with it, it'll work for someone who lives in another city.

As bertoni mentioned, even cities with "good" water will typically fush their systems with minerals and chemicals that are safe for humans, but can ruin a tank.

In my opnion, it's really just not worth the risk to save a couple hundred dollars on a water purification system when you have a tank with thousands of dollars in livestock that you devote hundreds of hours taking care of each year.

[SwimSwimDiego]

I just went to walmart to buy Culligen water and all it cost me was $1.65 for five gallon, that not bad for five gallons of RO water that’s been UV and with no additive. I am about to check the PH and other thing in the water, just to be on the safe side. The only thing that scared me was how fast the water got the RO treatment, can it really be cleaned good that fast.:worried:

[seapug]

Most RO systems purify the water, store it, then pump it out tp dispense it and refill the reservior.

[Roy G. Biv]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12264760#post12264760 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BLKTANG
I used tap years ago with disastrous effects.I ended up throwing away some expensive Martial Island LR from some wicked algae.

Are you the one who taught that to Ricky1066? :D

[Patrick12]

Not worth the potential risk. A purification unit is just such a cheap piece of equipment in the long term scheme of things and compared to the total investment.

The only time it may not be devastating is with a FOWLR and you use carbon....but still not something I would try or recommend trying. Give 'em you rbest and that is RO at a minimum....DI is better.

[SwimSwimDiego]

Well I plan on getting a RO but not for know. SOON Very SOON

[qfrisco]

I think depending on their water demand, RO/DI water is not practical. I remember reading somewhere that some public aquarium (The Georgia Aquarium sticks out somehow) actually uses city water for its tanks.

As has been mentioned already, it's possible, but if you're able to get an RO/DI filter, why not do it and avoid all the potential issues of tap water?

[inachu]

I stopped using tap water.

The tank was hit so hard with brown algae!

My advice.

Only use tap if you don't have any cash to buy or create your own.

[Michael]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12274447#post12274447 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by inachu
I stopped using tap water.

The tank was hit so hard with brown algae!

My advice.

Only use tap if you don't have any cash to buy or create your own.

better still , dont use it at all:)

[vr697getta]

just test for phosphate see how much is in you tap water
its not worth the risk think of how much you spent to set up a tank
live rock, corals and fish can add up fast and the main part or any fish tank is the WATER