[Poseidon]

Originally Posted by Reefer769

so tap water is bad even if i add a dechlorifier?

Yes, it has other dissolved solids in it, things that can cause an Algae problem.

[Reefer769]

thanks for the help so far, but i still have some more questions.


i have "Start Right" that REMOVES CHLORINE & CHLORAMINE. i used this with tap water for my 10 gal tank, and the Ph is perfect, and the salinity is perfect, and nothing seems to be going wrong, so im not sure what the big deal is about using tap water.

[Poseidon]

Tap water can contain-

Phosphate, cause Algae to grow

Copper- Kills corals and Snails

Nitrate- Harmful to invertabrates

Arsenic- a poison. Granted it is very low, but why put it in?

Those are the biggest things to worry about, I'm sure Ninong has more details, but you will not find any serious reefer who puts tap water into his/her tank. RO/DI ONLY!!

Here is another thread where someone wanted to use tap water.Here

[Ninong]

Besides what I already covered in the previous thread that Poseidon linked, I would like to point out that municipal water districts from time to time will use "treatments" to clear pipes and prevent buildup. These events may happen only once or twice a year but you never know in advance when they are going to do something like that. So even if you test the water on one occasion, you have no way of knowing it it will always test the same.

At the very least you would want to know what the water district is adding to the water. Many districts add more than just chlorine or chloramine. You might also want to know the TDS (total dissolved solids). My tapwater is relatively good but it does measure 590 ppm TDS, which is quite typical. Many water districts measure much higher TDS. R.O./D.I. water should measure 0 ppm. Good R.O. water will measure either 0 ppm or no more than 3 or 4 ppm TDS.

If, after looking at your water district's most recent water quality analysis report, you decide to use plain tapwater, you should treat it with sodium thiosulfate or some other type of dechorinator/dechloraminator and you should use a hang-on carbon filter to filter the freshwater for several hours before adding the salt mix.

[Reefer769]

dammit, i just went out and i picked up my CPR skimmer, and 20 lbs of live rock, and sand, and i dunno what i should do about the water situation?? would it be fine if i just dechlorified the tapwater, and filtered it through a bio filter for an hour ? then after that add the salt.


oh and one more ques, do i add the sand after the water is in? or do i put it in before?

[Reefer769]

wow you guys should have told me this was gunna be so much work...HAHA, alright well my dads probably gunna kick my a$$, but ill try and drag him out to a grocery store to buy some RO water. i really cant wait any longer, becuase ive already got the live rock/sand so i cant let that sit for too long, and i have school tommarow so i dont wanna be up till the crack of dawn doin this haha, but this is the only spare time ive got. anyways... thanks!