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How many use tap water for their tank?
- Thread starter davidrupe
- Start date
i work at petco, does that make me evil 
jackie
Non-member
I used straight tap water when I first set up my tank 1 1/2yrs. ago, on the advice from an LFS (who still cringes when I remind him I have a DSB
). Told him I had a well and he said I should be OK, and all you need is an emperor. Ha, big problems down the road, my tank was a 'swampy' mess of algae, cyno, phosphates, silicates, you name it I had it. Luckily I found RC, took me 2 months to get the tank straight.
). Told him I had a well and he said I should be OK, and all you need is an emperor. Ha, big problems down the road, my tank was a 'swampy' mess of algae, cyno, phosphates, silicates, you name it I had it. Luckily I found RC, took me 2 months to get the tank straight.
Matt L.
Non-member
Time Delayed Responses
Before I answer your question about metals, I need to ask: what is the source of the tap water that you are using? The caveat to a RO/DI system being as close to mandatory as you can get is that some water supplies have reef-acceptable water quality. In those instances, an RO/DI unit would be unnecessary although wise as backup. If you are on a water system that has unnacceptable reef quality water, such as our MWRA water, then it is easier for me to give an answer because I know what is in your water. I will assume that you are using MWRA water.
As an aside here, I think in your dream to use your tap water, you are forgetting one of the greatest obstacles that still stands in your way: chloramines. Recall, not only are chloramines toxic to your reef inhabitants, but if you use those poor solutions like sodium thiosulfate, you are exposing your reef inhabitants to ammonia. The only time a reef should be exposed to ammonia is during a cycle, and not much will survive the ammonia.
But back to the metals. As with all toxicology, there is a large greay area. Fortunately, copper toxicity to invertebrates doesn't have much of a grey area from the hobbyist vanatge point. According to a recent study by Dr. Ron, copper was demonstrated to preculde survival of invertebrates at a concentration of 0.1ppm or greater (see Table 1, positive control). The copper concentration in natural sea water is 0.000254ppm, so we can say that a concentration between 0 and 0.000254ppm is okay. But what happens between 0.000254ppm and 0.1ppm? Well, if you go back to the study by Dr. Ron, survivial clearly decreases. So what are we to do with such a large grey area? Unfortunately for you, the copper level in MWRA water is often much higher than 0.1ppm, so I think it is fairly safe to say that the copper level, in addition to the chloramine level, makes MWRA water unacceptable,
Matt
Okay,davidrupe said:
Before I answer your question about metals, I need to ask: what is the source of the tap water that you are using? The caveat to a RO/DI system being as close to mandatory as you can get is that some water supplies have reef-acceptable water quality. In those instances, an RO/DI unit would be unnecessary although wise as backup. If you are on a water system that has unnacceptable reef quality water, such as our MWRA water, then it is easier for me to give an answer because I know what is in your water. I will assume that you are using MWRA water.
As an aside here, I think in your dream to use your tap water, you are forgetting one of the greatest obstacles that still stands in your way: chloramines. Recall, not only are chloramines toxic to your reef inhabitants, but if you use those poor solutions like sodium thiosulfate, you are exposing your reef inhabitants to ammonia. The only time a reef should be exposed to ammonia is during a cycle, and not much will survive the ammonia.
But back to the metals. As with all toxicology, there is a large greay area. Fortunately, copper toxicity to invertebrates doesn't have much of a grey area from the hobbyist vanatge point. According to a recent study by Dr. Ron, copper was demonstrated to preculde survival of invertebrates at a concentration of 0.1ppm or greater (see Table 1, positive control). The copper concentration in natural sea water is 0.000254ppm, so we can say that a concentration between 0 and 0.000254ppm is okay. But what happens between 0.000254ppm and 0.1ppm? Well, if you go back to the study by Dr. Ron, survivial clearly decreases. So what are we to do with such a large grey area? Unfortunately for you, the copper level in MWRA water is often much higher than 0.1ppm, so I think it is fairly safe to say that the copper level, in addition to the chloramine level, makes MWRA water unacceptable,
I don't think you want to even approach the solubility of metals in solution in your reef tank. While I can't give you a definite answer (perhaps Dr. Randy can), copper can far exceed the lethal concentration to fish, let alone invertebrates, before precipitating,davidrupe said:
Matt
Clam Man
x reefer
davidrupe my house is 6 years old you are welcome to come buy and just look at my pre filter the filter is white in 3 months it is a rust color it must be the old pipes in town. lowell water can not be much better its a big town.bottom line is buying a ro for a hundred dollars worth the problems using tap water will cause yes,and by the time you buy all the additives to purify the water how much have you saved and what if it does not clean the water good enough.
did you ever have your town water tested.
did you ever have your town water tested.
Points taken. Sometimes you need a kick in the rear, ya know. I have read a lot that leads me to believe that my tank will most likely be better off in the long run if I switch to RO/DI water. Ok, so can you get the RO without the DI? 2 min away is a nice RO suppply unit. 25c / gal.
I don't know where you live Dave, but water quality changes throughout the year. In the spring they add one group of chemicals to lower the bacteria, other times of the year I get iron in the water to the point where you can see it. My prefilter has visable iron particles, not really bad, but what else is in there. 99% of the water in the taps now have MTBE from the gasoline, as well as a number of different organic(not the good kind) of chemicals. There probably are places where you could safely use tap water with no problems, however I don't want to be the test case.
Bad water will impact your whole tank, and if it is a toxic effect you will spend a bunch on meds trying to figure it out. Just my opinion.
Bad water will impact your whole tank, and if it is a toxic effect you will spend a bunch on meds trying to figure it out. Just my opinion.
TheUltimateNoob
TheUltimateNoob
you can get ro/di at AA for .20/gal.
I have detailed what I consider to be the risks of tap water in this article:
Tap Water in Reef Aquaria
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2004/chem.htm
My biggest concern is the risk of copper. A carbon filer will kill off chloramine, but leave ammonia that comes from breaking down the chloramine. When my DI filter was recently shot, the odor of ammonia was quite strong from broken down chloramine.
Tap Water in Reef Aquaria
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2004/chem.htm
My biggest concern is the risk of copper. A carbon filer will kill off chloramine, but leave ammonia that comes from breaking down the chloramine. When my DI filter was recently shot, the odor of ammonia was quite strong from broken down chloramine.
reefsmurf
Non-member
Well I think I'm like the only one here who has used tap water for the last few years - and luckily have not had any disasters. I don't think there's any real question about the benefits of RODI, I've been planning to get one for a while but I was on a 'if it ain't broke don't fix it path' and 'boy I'm broke path.' Having said that I finally picked up a RODI unit and was excited to try it out last night - and then of course now I don't have the faucet adaptor quite right and so I'll have to make a trip to home depot. (My fish are rolling their eyes in disgust)
So scratch me off the tap water user list
........now if this damn thing only had a DI bypass switch so *I* could get some clean water.
So scratch me off the tap water user list
........now if this damn thing only had a DI bypass switch so *I* could get some clean water.Similar threads
