New Member here with a question...

[32Bit_Fish]

Hi All,

I am a new member and since everyone here is in NYC. I wonder how many of you are using tap water (not R.O water) for your reef tank?

I want to know if I can use the tap water to set up a reef tank. It would be much easier and cheaper to maintain.

Happy Holidays!

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

No tap water, that is a commandment here LOL

 

[digitalreefer]

DO NOT USE TAP WATER
DO NOT USE TAP WATER
DO NOT USE TAP WATER

I started my tank with tap water and it was the biggest mistake I could've made!

Seriously... just don't do it. I'm now tearing down my entire tank because I've abandoned hope of correcting the problems that came from using tap water.

 

[House of Laughter]

why would you for $139 you can avoid that mistake

Pay now or pay later. Better to delay the set up of the tank for a few months and get an RO/DI unit than to do it faster with tap water - I would say this will be the first of many mistakes if you decide to go with it.

I'd rather give you the RO/DI water than to see you start your tank this way.

Hope I am clear on my position :shhh:

House

 

[nanchil]

Welcome to MR.

 

[Potrzebie]

What's so bad about it? I've used tap H2O for 1.5 years and everything's doing great.

DO NOT USE TAP WATER
DO NOT USE TAP WATER
DO NOT USE TAP WATER

I started my tank with tap water and it was the biggest mistake I could've made!

Seriously... just don't do it. I'm now tearing down my entire tank because I've abandoned hope of correcting the problems that came from using tap water.

 

[nanoreefer22]

What's so bad about it? I've used tap H2O for 1.5 years and everything's doing great.

Everything?? Care to expand? Just curiousity

 

[fritz]

I ran a tap water reef successfully for a while. A short while, then all hell broke loose. You see in a reef nutrients are in short supply, every single thing is in competition for these nutrients. As soon as some phosphate or any other nutrient comes into the water column something snatches it up. Your tank is essentially a collection of chemical sponges. Just like a regular sponge that you use to wash dishes, they can only hold so much and then they can't hold any more.

As you use tap water in your reef you won't see any negative effects. This is due to the contaminants, nutrients and copper being sucked up by your rocks, sand and corals. After 6 months or a year they will be saturated with nutrients and that's when all hell will break loose. Your tank will become overrun with algae and cyanobacteria. You'll then purchase an RO/DI filter and a phosban reactor and maybe another reactor to run carbon in, in an attempt to get all these harmful substances out of your reef.

At this point you are at the bottom of a very long uphill battle and you will think back to this thread and kick yourself repeatedly. Just as it took 6 months or a year for your tank to suck up all these nutrients, they will continue to leach them back out into your water for the next 6 months. Think back to 7th grade bio, osmosis. You now need to run all manner of extra equipment to grab those nutrients the second they hit the water so that they don't prolong your "cleansing" the damage caused by tap water.

For example,. two weeks ago I was too lazy to make some fresh RO/DI for my auto top off reservoir. Instead of getting some distilled water or making RO/DI I just tossed a few pitchers of cold tap water into my reservoir. Within days I had a cyanobacteria outbreak! I couldn't believe it. Just two pitchers of tap water and I'm still fighting the cyanobacteria. It still blows my mind that such a small amount of tap water would have such a noticeable effect on my reef. The thought of using 70 gallons of the stuff after seeing what 4 quarts can do is INSANITY!

TRUST US, my RO/DI was the single best piece of equipment that I've purchased. This is 100% necessary and you should not consider doing a reef without one. It is going to cost you more time and money than you can imagine to try it without one.

 

[aaron23]

very well explained fritz. *applauds* Welcome to MR.

 

[32Bit_Fish]

Ok guys. I'm convinced 100%. Thanks for the clarification. I am new to SW aquarium and I have have been keeping Fresh water aquariums for many many years (Discus and planted tanks are my favor ones). I've never thought about a SW aquarium requires so much work and money.

Still I have a lot more questions regarding this wonderful hobby. Hopefully you people can answer all the questions I have. I've been doing a lot of readings and probably need more.

Thanks again for the replies. :smile:

 

[autoponicz]

if you really cant purchase a ro/di kit...i would at least buy r/o water or distilled water for the time being.......like evryone says.....dont use tap water....i have also learned my lesson

 

[32Bit_Fish]

I went to my LFS today and they told me I can use chemical to prepare the water for a reef tank.

The store has many SW fish tank as well as reef. I suspect they are not using R.O water. The first question that staff asked me was "Are you going to use R.O? That's going to be expensive"

 

[TimberTDI]

OK,

1. Never use any "miracle" chemicals.
2. Always take the LFS advice with a grain salt
3. I guarantee that LFS Is using an RO/DI
4. Did they elaborate why an RO unit was going to be "so expensive"?

Steven

 

[Craig]

I went to my LFS today and they told me I can use chemical to prepare the water for a reef tank.

NEVER listen to the local fish store

 

[Tonyscoots84]

I went to my LFS today and they told me I can use chemical to prepare the water for a reef tank.

The store has many SW fish tank as well as reef. I suspect they are not using R.O water. The first question that staff asked me was "Are you going to use R.O? That's going to be expensive"

hahaha :lol2: lmaooooo just comes to show you how much we should listen to our LFS's... rodi is not expensive at all actually very cheap... compared to the many other more expensive things we need to get and use everyday...

i had my rodi for 1 full year, doing alot of water changes and making up reg. water for evaporation and i just recently changed my filters and di beads... filters cost me 15 bucks and the beads cost me 13 bucks (most of the time the filters need to be changed every 6 months) as i said i made a crapload of water this year and my tds has always been 0 coming out of the unit...

i believe u have to replace the membrane every 2 or 3 years depends on how much u rinse ur catridges to clean em (a feature many of the rodi's have u turn a valve open ur water and it cleans the filters automatically).... but i see 28 bucks as pennies in this hobby and anyones reef or saltwater tank will appreciate the clean water....

just goes to show you how inexpensive an rodi unit is ... good idea posting here before u listened to LFS.... :banghead: were here to help you and guide you in the right direction...

you can get your rodi if you choose from our vendor buckeye's on the site or you can go to ebay.com and type in aquasafe systems and get one of the 100+ gpd (gallon per day) rodi 6 stage for about 140.00 (many of us have the aquasafe filters and we love em)....

also to step foot on the chemical thing... please be advised never use any chemicals for your tank... theres nothing good about most of them and could harm the inhibitants of the tank... i made a stupid move and used a chemical to try to get rid of red slime algae it killed almost all of my corals... a lesson well learned... this was the 1st and last time i will ever put anything into my tank that is not for alk, cal, mag, or trace elements...

good luck and happy holidays :biggrin: :teeth:

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

HI there.

 

[saltyweeds]

One mistake is don't jump into the hobby if your going to cut corners or use quick fix. Trust us when we say $125 is going to be nothing compared to the other things like lighting, refugium/sumps, pumps/powerheads, dosers/reactors, live rock, etc. Just think of it as a first step to acheiving a beautiful tank. If your worried about money then maybe you should reconsider choosing another hobby.

 

[drunktank]

i use tap water

 

[32Bit_Fish]

Wow, I'm glad that I posted my trip to LFS here. Thanks for the advice.

I probably going to get a Nano tank (20-29G). Mybe some shrimps and mushrooms will be good for a starter.

What do u guys think?

Is 4w/g enough for mushroom? I heard keeping anemone is challenging for beginners, so I may stay away from that for now.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Wats per gallon is an old rule of thumb and not really adhered to anymore. However, If I were lookin to set up a nano I would pick up the 24 gallon aquapod with the 150 w hqi lighting available from premium aquatics for 300 bux. Hint: the light costs almost that much alone :biggrin: