Initial tank fill up with Tap water?

[jnc914]

Has anyone used their tap water to fill up a new tank? I have an RODI, but it will take several days to filter enough water to fill a 400 gallons, plus there would be alot of waste water. I am considering going with just tap water, mixed with Seachem Prime water conditioner. I then intend to hook up the ozone and get an orp of 400. This should hopefully clense the water of impurities. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Slakker]

Granted mine was only a 58, but I used a combination of my own RO and the stuff you get out of machines at the grocery store.

Granted, at $2.00/5g it could get really expensive to fill up a 400g tank, but might be helpful.

Personally I think filling with tap water is getting off on the wrong foot...but if your water is pretty good it might not be a big deal. I'm not really familiar with the effects of Ozone or what it's capable of, so maybe that makes it a moot point.

[FranktheTankTx]

Don't fill it with tap water. Spend the extra few days making fresh RO saltwater, and have the peace of mind knowing you started out with good 0 TDS water.

[OAD]

I agree, best to start off properly than half do it. Be patient and let the RO/DI unit do its' thing.

[jnc914]

I was thinking that the ozone will make the TDS=0. I might be mistaken. Anyone with some insight on effects of ozone on purifying tap water?

[Jflip2002]

I was inthe same position with my 190g. I made the decision to let the RODI do its thing, that IS why we bought it afterall lol. Im glad I waited the couple days, rather than rushing into algae problems. Take your time and use the RODI.... Waiting a couple days is better than battling algae a couple months.

[NaH2Ofreak]

Ozone isnt gonna do it. You REALLY need to let it fill with the RO/DI water. Do yourself a favor and start out with nice, clean water. The ozone will help break down organics later on after you get livestock. It will make the water really clear but I seriously doubt it does anything for the dissolved solids in your tap water. Good luck!

Dennis

[Sk8r]

No. Don't do it if it takes you a week to fill that tank. The number of weekly water changes it would take you to overcome that volume of water laced with phosphates, nitrates, copper, arsenic, and things too many to count...I personally don't have enough math to figure out, but it would take a long, long, long time of hair algae, runaway macros, and general muck.

[RondaGP]

You can buy distilled water until you buy a RO/DI system.

And I know people who swear by tap water and just adding a few drops of de-chlorinator but wouldn't do it.

[Theomi]

When i first set up my 150g i used tap water because i didn have the money for a RO unit and it had no ill effects...
But test your tap water before you do any thing

[One Dumm Hikk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13136762#post13136762 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnc914
Has anyone used their tap water to fill up a new tank? I have an RODI, but it will take several days to filter enough water to fill a 400 gallons, plus there would be alot of waste water. I am considering going with just tap water, mixed with Seachem Prime water conditioner. I then intend to hook up the ozone and get an orp of 400. This should hopefully clense the water of impurities. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I did it in my 90 when I first set it up. It took me about 2 months to decide to break it down and start over with RO/DI water. Took me 4 trips from a friends house to get it all but I got it.

If you have the RO/DI unit, at 75gpd it would take 6 days to fill it. Well worth the wait compared to the downfalls from not waiting the week.

As for Ozone, no, it won't remove TDS. If it did, it would remove the salt as well and the Ozone has no way to export it from the system even if it did remove it.

[LOTUS50GOD]

I wish I would have filled mine with RO/DI.. I used tap, and now have cyno and hair algae issues.

[AZDesertRat]

Water is by far the largest single ingredient in your tank and everything in it depends on that water quality.
Start out right and use RO/DI from the very beginning and you eliminate that doubt about whether that future problem is water related or not.

[Macimage]

I have to agree with most of the other posters about doing it right and using RO/DI water. Patience is very important to be successful in reefing.

Joyce

[maharkona]

A hobby worth doing, is a hobby worth doing right. Please use R/O.

[phaedraeos]

I did it, but I also knew ahead of time that Boston has relatively clean water. I added tap water, dechlorinator, and salt all at the same time to my new 45g reef. I let it mix for about 3-4 days, then added the LS, let that sit for another 3 days, then added my rock, etc. No ill effects at all.

I should also add that I didn't really think about it at the time, but I added the water with my python which has a copper faucet attachment. Again, no ill effects. Not that I would recommend this as a good idea, but I thought it might at least be worthwhile to know that it can be done :)

[AZDesertRat]

You really have no idea the quality of tap water. It changes hourly or daily with demands, treatment techniques, storms, heck even different shift operators. The published water quality reports are to be used as a rough guide since they are a "snapshot in time" meaning thye show what was tested from that particular place at that given point in time. Things change!
I am a treatment plant supervisor by profession and while I would drink my water any day of the week, I won't use it in my expensive reef system.

[phaedraeos]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13139512#post13139512 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AZDesertRat
You really have no idea the quality of tap water. It changes hourly or daily with demands, treatment techniques, storms, heck even different shift operators. The published water quality reports are to be used as a rough guide since they are a "snapshot in time" meaning thye show what was tested from that particular place at that given point in time. Things change!
I am a treatment plant supervisor by profession and while I would drink my water any day of the week, I won't use it in my expensive reef system.

Good point.

I am humbled.

[sk8rreefgeek]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13139118#post13139118 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maharkona
A hobby worth doing, is a hobby worth doing right. Please use R/O.

I'd have to agree. i used tap only on mine for a long time, but it's been at least 2-3 months without an ounce of tap.
it's great to know that I'm not putting mysterious ingredients in there. I'll never go back to tap, regardless of price or trouble it takes.

that being said, 400g is a lot of water

[SHOmuchFUN]

I have hair algea, some bubble algea, and other problems and I USED RODI water...

I know one thing though, I can't blame it on the fact that I started with TAP water.
Do yourself a favor and limit the amount of variables you add to your system, especially with a large system like 400gal. When problems occur, you're going to want a rather small checklist of things to correct when things don't go according to plan.

[sweetleaf]

I used tap to fill up my 55 (75gal column) about 4 months ago. I had a little bit of algea build up on the glass for the first 2 months, but after several water changes using RO/DI and the addition of cheato, I have been fine. My water chemistry is perfect, and I haven't had any losses in fish. I'll be adding my first corals pretty soon.

I'd like to add though, that in the 2 months leading up to filling, I had 4 seperate water reports mailed to my house and each one was not only fairly consistent, but generally very good water.

I would have to say though, if you have an RO/DI unit...USE IT!!

[Von_Rahvin]

if you don't have the money for a RO/DI, then you don't have the money for a big tank. tanks are expensive to play with and the RO/DI is about the cheapest thing you can get to help out the beginning of a tank. also the best virtue in this hobby is patience, take the time, do it right otherwise you will be paying for it more than you can imagine.

[areze]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13137119#post13137119 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
No. Don't do it if it takes you a week to fill that tank. The number of weekly water changes it would take you to overcome that volume of water laced with phosphates, nitrates, copper, arsenic, and things too many to count...I personally don't have enough math to figure out, but it would take a long, long, long time of hair algae, runaway macros, and general muck.

if you did the math youd find out it would theoreticly take forever.

change 10% at a time you will never ever ever remove 100% of the original water. luckily it would get close enough, but by that time, youd have the nastyness that you wanted to avoid tied up in the tank in the various forms of algea, stored into the rocks, ect.

took me 6days to fill my display and back room tanks. ran it 24 hours a day. dreading the water bill for this month, but itll be worth it if it spares me on the algea outbreak even a little bit.

[One Dumm Hikk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13140899#post13140899 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Von_Rahvin
if you don't have the money for a RO/DI, then you don't have the money for a big tank. tanks are expensive to play with and the RO/DI is about the cheapest thing you can get to help out the beginning of a tank. also the best virtue in this hobby is patience, take the time, do it right otherwise you will be paying for it more than you can imagine.

He has an RO/DI unit. Just doesn't want to wait the week for it to fill the tank.

The most fitting phrase for that is this though:

The only thing that comes fast in a reef tank is disaster.

Patience is the key.

[tangers]

You will regret it if you don't. I can already see cyano for miles... by the way, nice avatar!

[jnc914]

Thanks for the input guys. i have the RODI going as I type. I have never had any algae problems in any of my previous tanks. i guess I can attribute that to always using RODI water. Patience is a virtue, especially in this hobby.

[weluvfish54]

been using my tap water for a long time with no ill effects..algae come from ro/di or tap water, ive used both on many of my tanks..it takes more then just ro/di water.
just check the water in your area. my lfs uses tap water and has for 20+ years in reef tanks!
just my experience.