Water for freshwater aquariums

Jovial Eel

Jovial Eel

Registered Member
Oct 17, 2005
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First off i would like to say hi. you see this is my first post.

Anyway i am going to set up a small planted tank here shortly and i have a question as to what type of water everyone uses here. Do you guys use tap water that is just treated with that cheap petsmart stuff or do you use RO water? I have an RO unit for my saltwater aquariums, but i somehow fear that that water is too pure if that makes any sense. Thanks in advance.

-Ryan
 
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I just use tap water, and let it sit for a day or so, to initially fill the aquarium.

And use tap water for water changes, but never do more than 10-15% changes.
 
i would guess ya just use regular tap water .. that is what i use .. in all my tanks .. and let it cycle .. and if ya want use the test kits .. we dont .. we just do regular water changes . have never tested our water in the tanks ..

Marn
 
I just use tap water and as I'm fill up my tanks I'll add the water conditioner (prime) right in the tanks . Your right about using only RO water being too pure to use in your freshwater tank. You would need to put back the trace minerals or cut it with tap water depending on the type of fish or fishes your planning on keeping
 
I use tapwater in all of my tanks, in the planted tanks I do 50% partials weekly.

IMHO, using RO in planted tanks and having to replace/supplement all the minerals removed by the RO process is shooting yourself in the foot. Plants do not need RO.
 
I use tapwater and dechlorinator (or dechloramineator ?). It works well. My tanks are heavily planted and lightly stocked and I usually do 30% water changes or so each week. If I had more fish I would probably get off my lazy butt and do larger changes. The fresher the water the better and the more nutrients your plants will get.
 
Bigbob55 said:
And use tap water for water changes, but never do more than 10-15% changes.
Click to expand...

There is nothing wrong with doing much larger water changes as long as the water is dechlorinated and the temp. etc. is close
 
Holly9937 said:
There is nothing wrong with doing much larger water changes as long as the water is dechlorinated and the temp. etc. is close
Click to expand...

That is true, but for very large water changes it is a good idea to check the pH and match that, too.

pH shock will kill your fish. the pH of the water out of my tap is around 8 or higher, but my planted tank seems to always stabilize at around 6.4 or 6.6. I wouldn't be surprised if the softness of the water had something to do with it.
 
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