top off water, changes etc....

[chwattscaw]

I am curious, and before you yell at me, know I have had very large reef systems in the past with SPS etc. I always used RO/DI water for changes and top off etc.

But I sold everythign a while back and am starting a small nano tank (12 gallon). So i am a bit curious if I can get away with 'filtered' water from my refrigerator? I know I will likely need to dechlor the water, but other than taht it would have to be better than tap?

Anyone out there successful with method, or even just straight tap etc?

Thanks
Chris

[nate82]

personally i use straight tap water with no ill results but maybe i'm just lucky as i've never tested the water with a tds meter or have anything besides my tank to back me up

[ShootMe]

By “filtered water” are you referring to those Britta tap water filters? From the poster above it is possible but I say why risk it as you can pick up a cheap ro/di machine from selling/trading forums.

[IslandCrow]

If anything, I'd say using RO/DI water would be more important for a Nano tank. Nano tanks tend to be in such a delicate balance to begin with, something like using tap water can very easily be the straw that breaks the metaphorical camel's back. Can you get away with tap water? Just like any other tank, it depends on the tap water. After seeing the water quality reports from my town, I wouldn't use my tap water.

[chwattscaw]

No actually I am speaking of a situation where I would use water coming out of the refrigerator door, which I believe is a better filter than a britta.....

However a Britta might also work, just do that and then ad some dechlor...and go with it....

[chwattscaw]

I may go ahead and get an RO unit..cheap....but I was concerned about the on again/off again affect on the RO unit... basically I have always heard there are issues with infrequent use.....

[saleenpwr88]

When I first started I used tap water with a dechlorinator and I had great results...actually the coraline algea grew much faster in that tank. The only problem you MIGHT have is nussiance algae.

[oldreefer76]

Distilled water is what we use on a 10g

[chwattscaw]

I am going to play around with it for a while...see how it goes...and will report here once I get going....whihc will be very soon.....

[Loon]

Just boil up some water its only 12 gal

[m2434]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13702797#post13702797 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Loon
Just boil up some water its only 12 gal

What exactly do you think boiling will accomplish?

[IslandCrow]

What exactly do you think boiling will accomplish?

It will make it safe to drink. Then you'll be fully hydrated and have the energy to go to the store to get some distilled or RO water:)

Seriously, though. Do people really think water quality is less important in a smaller tank? I suppose I can understand not wanting to invest in an RO/DI to support 1g per week water changes and top-off, but at the very least, that's going to make buying purified water more viable. Still, if you're going to keep the tank long term, I really think investing in an RO/DI is worth the initial cost.

[GoingPostal]

I use tap in all my tanks but that's just laziness. For a tank that small you coud buy a couple 5 gallon jugs and fill them up weekly at the grocery store or lfs for topoff and changes. Problem with tap is while it works fine for my tanks, the water where you live is probably drastically different so a few people doing great on tap doesn't guarentee you will. And you won't need a huge ro or anything for a couple gallons a week.