The Tap Water Question

[chris331]

I have a little bit of live rock (10 lbs), will get some live aragonite, i have my filter(s), heater, and protein skimmer, sea salt mix, test kit(s), hydrometer...

Now it's assembly time!! :dance:YAY!! But I need to figure out how I will be getting my water. Now I know that tap water is kind of frowned upon, but I was wondering why and what are the downsides... I like the cost factor and availability of it, but i don't want to start off on the wrong foot.

my other option would be to go to those water stores that sell water for 20 cents a gallon. this only bugs me because i do not currently have enough storage containers and don't want to have to make all those trips to fill up my tank.

help me out! thanks! :dance2:

[Germanman]

tap water usually contains harmful metals and chlorine and chloromines. start here call up ur city and ask for a report on the tap water and then post it here if all looks good then u should be fine using i with a dechlorinator.

[chris331]

here it is...

http://www.suburbanwatersystems.com/SWS_AR_05.pdf

[noskimmer]

You asked for that Germanman! I don't know if I would be drinking it if it had vanadium, arsenic, copper, and uranium in it, let alone the Nitrate levels, but it's nice for them to let you know, just in case you develop a twitch.

Buy some storage containers. Or, maybe, look up some commercial water suppliers, like those ones that fill up the Chinese restaurants salt water tanks, they normally come to your house and just pump it in. Just ask them where they get it from etc, and of course test it.

[Pallen81]

As said above, tap water in most urban areas has Nitrate and Phosphates added in the water.

in a freshwater tank its not as big a problem... but in saltwater keeping your Nitrates under 20ppm is pretty crucial especially to the survival of corals (the nitrate has to be super low for them). Still if you plan on having inverts (shrimp, crabs, etc) you'll need to keep those levels low as well. In the ocean Nitrate tends to be quite low.

I have city water, what I did was test my tap water. Fill your test tubes to the proper level. Let it sit out over night (some immediate readings from tap water are false) and then test for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Phosphates (helps cause algae blooms), and pH. You'll want to see what you are putting into your tank BEFORE it actually makes it there. Post your levels on here. If they are deemed too high, you may have to do something about it. Like get an RO/DI unit. Thats what I had to do. But maybe your levels will be acceptable.

The water that you put into your tank has a direct effect on everything going on in there and you want to start out on the right foot. Let us know how it comes out!

How big is your tank? What do you plan on having?

[chris331]

i'm setting up a 29 gallon fowlr tank or possibly a reef tank w/ fish... i mostly want a clown fish and maybe an anenome but from what i'm reading i am weary that i can support anything other than fish.

and yeah, the water here isn't too yummy... (on the graph, my water is on the right under whittier / la mirada). and to think much of so cal drinks the same water... delicious! needless to say, we drink bottled.

thanks.

[chris331]

Buy some storage containers.

i'll probably head out to wallmart and buy some of those big blue water containers...

[Pallen81]

okay, your choices sound fine. You can always start with FOWLR for a few months, year, whatever. Master that... then when you are feeling really comfortable, your knowledge has increased, and maintaining animals is going smoothly... upgrade your lights and go for some corals.

To me, marine is so much more then just fish. I had my tank running for a month before I put in the first fish. Hermit crabs, snails, "hitchhikers" on your live rock, starfish, featherdusters, etc etc are so interesting. So even if it's not a reef tank there is plenty of life that is amazing. I would stare at my tank for a long time, no fish even in there. haha.

When doing weekly water changes on a 29 gallon tank. you only need to do 10-15 %. everyone has their own amount they think is perfect. so for your tank you'll only need 3-4 gallons a week. that's not too bad. only a couple bucks a week if you're buying water from the LFS. If you plan on having the tank a really long time, might not be a bad idea to invest in an RO/DI unit. Over time the price will certainly be cheaper with the RO unit. And you don't have to go to the store all the time. Purely up to you.

My bro used to live in Los Banos, CA. The water and just about everything else there disgusted me. "In and Out" was cool though. :eek:

[5xevy]

Whoa, never mind an aquarium, I wouldn't even drink that water!

Since your tank size is a 29G you really won't need a lot of water for changes and top-offs. Do they sell 5-gallon jugs of water near you? That may be the easiest to purchase as well as your idea with buying the large containers. Even those large Rubbermaid containers (Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, etc.) would suffice.

[divecarl]

dont go with tap water once you start it takes alot of time using RO to get the phosphate levels down as i found and algae loves phosphates

[chris331]

thanks everyone... i'm actually setting up my tank right now... well i'm taking a break... i drained my fresh water tank and sent my few fish to a better place (my girlfriends lightly stocked 55g)... i miss them already, lol.

i'm definitely not going to use tap water! i already have the salt mix, so i'm going to head down to the water vendor down the street and get some pure ro water and i'll mix it here (wish me luck)... and i've been thinking of getting RO (even for fresh water) for a while and i want it now simply for the convenience of it. i have a couple friends who work at marine depot so i'm going to see what kind of deal they can get me if any!!

oh, and one more question. i have a fluval 403 with three baskets... i have one with sponge, one with carbon/bio stars, and the last one is full of bio max... is this set up okay for saltwater? i've been hearing too much biological filtration is bad.

anyways, i'm going to keep working! my tank is dry, but i have my aquaclear 70 hooked up w/o filter media, a fluval 403 hooked up, my heater is ready, and i have two power heads i had lying around in there.

just need to get some water so i can add my aragonite and 10 lbs of live rock my friend gave me.....

thanks everyone!

[SHK_ATK]

I wouldnt use ro water for the FW tanks. RO water and RO/DI water removes everything from the water once it passes all the membranes good or bad, by taking some trace elements in the tap water and using ro water on FW you will need to add those elements back into the water somehow. If the fw fish are fine and have not had any adverse effects thus far then just leave it as is. SW on the other hand I would be using RO/DI water some LFS even sell RO/DI water that is already premixed with salt. All you got to do is figure out the SG and just dump it into the tank. with a tank that small a one or two 5G buckets from wallmart or home depot is all you will need. I would always keep premixed for PWC and regular ro/di for top offs. two 5 G should last you 2 weeks give or take.

[chris331]

the reason i had wanted to use RO in the past for my fresh water tank was b/c i was having a hard time controlling the hardness of my water... since i no longer have my angel fish, it's no longer a concern for that, but i have been looking into it for my new sw... thanks.

[fsn77]

If you can buy RO water for $0.20 / gallon, that's not so bad. It costs me $0.23 / gallon to make RO/DI at home (all operating / maintenance costs for our RO/DI unit included). The LFSs in my area only sell RO water, not RO/DI, and they do so for $0.50 / gallon (pre-mixed, and typically highly variable, sw runs $1 / gallon). The nearest LFS is only a 5 minute drive, but I prefer the added filtration of the DI stage and the convenience of not hauling water in the car or having to make it to the store on their schedule.

If you can afford to buy a quality RO/DI unit, the convenience of being able to make pure water right at home might be worth it for you, especially if you ever plan to add more sw tanks or go larger.

[Germanman]

ok....after a long read through on that...lo, like the others, i would say go RO. wouldnt use that water. far to much sulfate and phosphates. and metals like copper that u dont want in there.

[Pallen81]

yeah, once bad water is in your tank. it takes so long to get it out.