What water quality is acceptable for tap?

[SevTT]

Hey. I was wondering what specs I'd need to look at to be sure that my tap water (after being dechlorinated) would be OK to use for a reef tank. We seem to have very high quality water here; I've used it before for growing things like carnivorous plants, and it worked quite adequately.

Here're some water-quality results from my water district's wells that I think are relevant:
Ammonia: avg 0, high .17 mg/l
Calcium: avg 12.5, high 26 mg/l
Copper: avg .02, high .25 mg/l
Dissolved solids, total: avg 63, high 152 mg/l
Iron: avg 226, high 867 ug/l
Nitrate: avg 1.46, high 5.56 mg/l
Nitrite: not detected
Phosphate: avg 1.1, high 1.70 mg/l
Silicon: avg 5.7, high 8.1 mg/l

I'd like to get by without an RO if all I need is a little extra care or filtration -- putting one in isn't really feasable -- but I don't want to screw this up excessively.

 

[KathyC]

The numbers for phosphate, copper, TDS, iron and ammonia all all too high for a reef tank - they should all be zero.
You really do need to look into purchasing a ro.

 

[masterswimmer]

RO/DI for a reef

 

[henrye718]

All that stuff in your water will grow everything thats unwanted, you want pure water with nothing in it. you need RO for that.

 

[Ricardo_Jorge]

RO/DI for a reef

That?s it!!

 

[Awibrandy]

You can do a portable RO/DI. You mounted on a plywood on wheels and get the faucet adapter that way you can simply roll it away and store it somewhere out of site until you need it again.

Everyone here will advice you to get and use RO water for very good reasons...........