if any of you have a tank with corals that are doing ok and use nothing but dechlorinated tap water, without any supplements or additives, kindly name the tank size and what you have in it. i'm curious :thm:
Do you successfully keep any corals in your tank using only tapwater?
- Thread starter -Nemo-
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It depends on the Total dissolved solids coming out of your tap (TDS) usually they are high and cause nitrate and phosphte problems which cause green hair algae, red slime, diatoms, dino's...the things that make you want to cry lol
I use tap water, have been for going on two years now. I do supplement B-Ionic two part in between water changes though, using Reef Crystals. I have various zoas, kenya trees, a leather, neon green candy cane, branching hammer, branching frogspawn, torch, and mushrooms. I do have slight algae issues (hair and cyano) but not to a terrible extent. I am looking for a RO/DI system to start using, but haven't been in much of a rush. I also run only 4x65w CF lights over my 55 reef so that might have something to do with lower algae levels.
these algae can grow on the corals too and potentially kill them i presume?
i see.do you have a pic of it? i'll probably get a small RO later this year, but i'm not waiting till then to get some easy to keep ones. i've already been waiting 10 months. hehehe
btw, can't instant ocean be used in a tank with corals?
Nope, my feeling is if I can't afford the cheap RO/DI water then I am in the wrong hobby. 
Never once used tap water on a SW tank and never will.
Never once used tap water on a SW tank and never will.
The Cyano is awful because it spreads like a brush fire...and it smothers corals. Plus indicates your parameters are off. for SPS tank this is not a good thing..and a sign you will have some bleached corals on the horizon.
The Dino's are very very toxic to a tank and very difficult to rid of.
My first time doing salt I started with tap and conditioner. In the long run this lead to a huge huge problem. 50% water changes and 20% on average never resolved my cyano and hair algae problems. My tank was so saturated with something that no matter how many changes I did. My nitrates were high...my algae was always reappearing ...and cyano would always appear .. i lost a lot of time and money with this.
Now that I am more informed vs back then. My current tank is a night and day difference...
I am so against TAP....its not worth the gamble. Some people have good municipal supply. But it can change over night, and create a nightmare for your tank.
it is so not worth the troubles ever. It is smarter to just go RO and save yourself problems.
The Dino's are very very toxic to a tank and very difficult to rid of.
My first time doing salt I started with tap and conditioner. In the long run this lead to a huge huge problem. 50% water changes and 20% on average never resolved my cyano and hair algae problems. My tank was so saturated with something that no matter how many changes I did. My nitrates were high...my algae was always reappearing ...and cyano would always appear .. i lost a lot of time and money with this.
Now that I am more informed vs back then. My current tank is a night and day difference...
I am so against TAP....its not worth the gamble. Some people have good municipal supply. But it can change over night, and create a nightmare for your tank.
it is so not worth the troubles ever. It is smarter to just go RO and save yourself problems.
which water parameters do you check regularly?
@Ace & toe
what kind of RO unit would i need to support a 20 gallon tank? i change 3-4 gallons a week. how do they get installed and how often to replace it's media?
IMO get the cheapest RO/DI unit you can that at least has some positive reviews. It is more the filters, media, and how many stages your running though that makes a good RO unit vs the brand, they all look and work pretty much the same. I am personally not up on brands of RO units, one of those items you buy once and never really worry about it again. I paid $400 for a Seachem Pinnicle+ unit but I am the type to buy the more expensive just to be safe. I know there are many good units that run in the $150 range though, hopefully someone else will chime in with good links for you.
As far as how they work, well, I went to super simple route and just screw on the intake right to my bathroom sink faucet and have the waste water go down the drain, RO/DI unit sits to the side of the sink and good water goes into a 32G Brute trashcan. Most people hard mount them by screwing them to a piece of plywood then screwing that to the wall.
As far as media, I change out the prefilters, carbon block, and DI resin every 6 months and the RO membrane every 12 months, but I go through a lot more water than you would, about 50G a week myself. I buy a "kit" from www.bulkreefsupply.com that has the filters and DI resin in a package that runs around $30. It depends on how much water your making but most filters tell you they are good for "x,xxx" amount of gallons.
As far as how they work, well, I went to super simple route and just screw on the intake right to my bathroom sink faucet and have the waste water go down the drain, RO/DI unit sits to the side of the sink and good water goes into a 32G Brute trashcan. Most people hard mount them by screwing them to a piece of plywood then screwing that to the wall.
As far as media, I change out the prefilters, carbon block, and DI resin every 6 months and the RO membrane every 12 months, but I go through a lot more water than you would, about 50G a week myself. I buy a "kit" from www.bulkreefsupply.com that has the filters and DI resin in a package that runs around $30. It depends on how much water your making but most filters tell you they are good for "x,xxx" amount of gallons.
I agree with Ace in that any unit (for the most part) will do. Some are designed a bit better, with better connections, etc. Brands I have seen or used and liked:
www.airwaterice.com --I am currently using a modified version of their Typhoon III
www.purelyh2o.com
www.spectrapure.com--expensive, but guaranteed to be the best
www.buckeyefieldsupply.com--great place for the best sediment cartridges, other than spectrapure
www.bulkreefsupply.com--great place for cheapest membrane prices
www.thefilterguys.biz--great place for the cheapest semiconductor-grade resins other than spectrapure.
The cheapest decent units can be had at bulkreefsupply. However, I tend to prefer to buy my filters at a number of different places--I basically piece them together. My setup uses, in order: .2 micron pleated sediment cartridges to prolong all other filter life; .5 micron 8,000 gallon rated carbon cartridge; .6 micron 20000 gallon rated carbon cartridge; Dow Filmtek 75 gpd 98%+ rejection reverse osmosis membrane; 1 canister of semiconductor-grade resin (better than normal nuclear grade--to 18 megohm resistivity); a final 1/2 semiconductor resin 1/2 specialized phosphate adsorption resin cartridge. Besides spectrapure, who can be a bit inflated price-wise, no other place carries evey single one of these items. So I tend to go to BRS for membranes, filterguys for resins, and buckeye for sediment and carbon cartridges (sometimes thefilterguys for carbon also--they carry the same ones).
www.airwaterice.com --I am currently using a modified version of their Typhoon III
www.purelyh2o.com
www.spectrapure.com--expensive, but guaranteed to be the best
www.buckeyefieldsupply.com--great place for the best sediment cartridges, other than spectrapure
www.bulkreefsupply.com--great place for cheapest membrane prices
www.thefilterguys.biz--great place for the cheapest semiconductor-grade resins other than spectrapure.
The cheapest decent units can be had at bulkreefsupply. However, I tend to prefer to buy my filters at a number of different places--I basically piece them together. My setup uses, in order: .2 micron pleated sediment cartridges to prolong all other filter life; .5 micron 8,000 gallon rated carbon cartridge; .6 micron 20000 gallon rated carbon cartridge; Dow Filmtek 75 gpd 98%+ rejection reverse osmosis membrane; 1 canister of semiconductor-grade resin (better than normal nuclear grade--to 18 megohm resistivity); a final 1/2 semiconductor resin 1/2 specialized phosphate adsorption resin cartridge. Besides spectrapure, who can be a bit inflated price-wise, no other place carries evey single one of these items. So I tend to go to BRS for membranes, filterguys for resins, and buckeye for sediment and carbon cartridges (sometimes thefilterguys for carbon also--they carry the same ones).
