Cons of Tap Water

[shon982]

yes very true, all good points

 

just had another thought, got no idea if its possible.

just a hypothetical...

using rainwater that has been in a rainwater tank that has been sitting there for a few months?

would that have any positive or negative effects?

[lramagos]

I live just outside Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and we have very good water. There is no water shortage here. I've tested the hell out of it, and I can't find anything wrong with it and I have been using it for about a year without any problems. No algae outbreaks. I just add a drop of seachem prime for every gallon I add to top off.

[Mr. Fosi]

using rainwater that has been in a rainwater tank that has been sitting there for a few months?

would that have any positive or negative effects?

 

Could have quite a few, especially if the particulates in it come from an urban area.

 

- jaked pH (high or low)

- copious TDS

- metals

 

The list goes on.

[BLoCkCliMbeR]

Could have quite a few, especially if the particulates in it come from an urban area.

 

- jaked pH (high or low)

- copious TDS

- metals

 

The list goes on.

yeah smog sucks....makes me want a bigger car.....just use RO and be done with it dude....so much easier than trying to justify the use of tap water in your area....

 

dont you got school to teach fosi?

[Mr. Fosi]

dont you got school to teach fosi?

 

No, I go to school to get my doctorate.

 

Though I do have to teach to support myself and my family.

[Phixion]

The con to 99% of tap water sources is the unknown.

 

Unknown to whom though??? To the general public, maybe so if they don't bother to read up or check into it. But you can ALWAYS find out rather quickly the source (your water distributor always knows the source) if you call up or check out the water quality reports for your community. Every water providor has these by law, even soon even bottled water companies will be required to have water quality reports for their sources that they bottle from.

 

I had to argue that as I work in the water (and utilities) industry and know how readily this info actually is.

[Mr. Fosi]

Unknown to whom though??? To the general public, maybe so if they don't bother to read up or check into it.

 

Well... Kinda.

 

Unless you know someone down at the waterworks that is willing to pass you the results of each of the daily tests, you don't know what is in your water at any given hour.

[AZDesertRat]

The problem with the reports publsihed by the Utility are they are historical, usually its last years data before it is released, and its an average of all their sources listing highs, lows and averages. My Utility used 32 deep wells and 2 surface water treatment plants so you would get the average of all the wells that were tested in that period, and not all are since they are on different testing or compliance sampling schedules, listing the high, low and average during that compliane year. Never mind the water is distributed over several hundred square miles and not all wells reach all corners of the system, or the wells closest to my home were not tested this year since they are on a 3 year testing cycle in a 9 year monitoring schedule.

Its a crap shoot.

My plant could change hour to hour since we were at the end of a long canal system and depended not only on the surface water from the lakes and rivers but also the wells dumping into it between the lake and our plant. if the plants upstream of me raised production more wells were started so I would have water at the end of the line. If a storm blew up plants would slow production and all the crud ened up at the end of the canal before being dumped into the wash downstream so the canal did not overflow. The short version is water changes and a good RO/DI takes those changes out of the equation. Consistency is what its all about.

[Kanglee00]

Unknown to whom though??? To the general public, maybe so if they don't bother to read up or check into it. But you can ALWAYS find out rather quickly the source (your water distributor always knows the source) if you call up or check out the water quality reports for your community. Every water providor has these by law, even soon even bottled water companies will be required to have water quality reports for their sources that they bottle from.

 

I had to argue that as I work in the water (and utilities) industry and know how readily this info actually is.

 

I found a copy of my water quality report but I have no idea how to interpret the data.

[AZDesertRat]

Basically it lists all contaminants tested for during that reporting period. It will also list the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level (for Drinking Water not a reef system), the high and low ranges they detected and if it was within compliance. They are a good rough guide but not always useful.

 

It may not show things like we like to know such as TDS, hardness, or whether they use chlorine dioxide, free chlorine or chloramines for residual disinfectant. Things such as TDS and hardness are considered asthetics by the EPA and not a health risk so they do not have to be tested and reported.

[Mr. Fosi]

Probably won't mention PO4 either.

[Phixion]

Well... Kinda.

 

Unless you know someone down at the waterworks that is willing to pass you the results of each of the daily tests, you don't know what is in your water at any given hour.

 

Gosh, even I can't access daily results. But I meant annual reports that most usually mail out to their customers. Sorry Fosi, I should have clarified that.

 

Something I've noticed though is that some of the readings aren't in the same format we're used to. Like where I work at thy measure alk, in ppm that is... Not sure how it translates to meq/L or dKH. And lastly, some places test for things others don't (of items NOT required to be tested for by the EPA). I know the reports on what's tested differs from where I work to where I live at.

[AZDesertRat]

There is a big difference in the testing and reporting requirements for surface water or groundwater under the influence of surface water (wells close to and influenced by a lake, recharge wells or river) versus groundwater. Some contaminants get tested only once in a deep well system and may never have to be tested again if its not present or suspected during the initial "new source approval". Treated surface water though requires more stringent testing, some merely for process control to help optimize chemical additions and pH adjustments and others are required by the EPA for compliance. Even in a surface water plant not everything is tested for every day, month or even year, some like wells are only required every 3 or 4 years.

 

The point is you never know from one day to the next what you are getting. It most certainly is potable or drinking water quality but it probably is not reef quality. When you consider the hundreds or thousands of dollars you have invested in corals and critters its not worth the risk. I won't even use tap water in a fish only system, why should my fish deserve any less than my corals?

[Mr. Fosi]

Like where I work at thy measure alk, in ppm that is... Not sure how it translates to meq/L or dKH.

 

http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/AlkConv.php

[Phixion]

Fosi to the rescue!

[force]

All I know is that I used tap water on my very first tank around 5-6 years back and red algae grew everywhere within a 6 months span. I had to tore down that tank and I started to run RO water...and I haven't seen that issue for around 5 years now.

[MillerLite]

Simply..I think the small amount of water needed to run the nanos easily justifies not using tap water for your tank. If you dont have a RO/DI unit, you can easily go to the store and get RO or distilled water which should be sufficient to start your tank with. Then after that, a small amount for water changes weekly is easily purchased as needed. When you get to larger tanks, the first fill can be a big PITA without a water unit. Then the issue of tapwater becomes more important as some people like to do an initial fill with tapwater.

[SpankythePyro]

If you are on city water it is a no go

 

Well Water is a different story, while not as good as RO/DI it is better than city in the respect that it doesn't usually have any copper, chlorine, chloramines, flurodie, and other additives. Be sure to test these though.

 

I am on well water that contains no copper, silicates, chlorine, chloramines, or phosphates. However it does have more Nitrates than RO/DI. I do not use it for my tank though.

[AZDesertRat]

Half the water utilities in the country use well water, thats not a valid statement. City water is often wel water. Wells can be high in nitrates, silicates, iron, arsenic, lead, sediments or particulates and any number of contaminants. It makes no difference, RO/DI is the way to go period.

[ribbie]

I just got a nice frag off a local reefer who's been running city tap water for the past 2.5 years no problem. The people who had the tank before them also ran tap. I didn't think it was possible but seeing their tank was living proof that it is in fact possible.

 

I guess ultimately it depends on the water quality and like so many people before me mentioned it's an unknown variable.

[SpankythePyro]

Half the water utilities in the country use well water, thats not a valid statement. City water is often wel water. Wells can be high in nitrates, silicates, iron, arsenic, lead, sediments or particulates and any number of contaminants. It makes no difference, RO/DI is the way to go period.

 

Sure it is. I have tested my well water for everything you have listed but arsenic and lead. The water utilities also add stuff to it, that is why you don't want to use it. And most utilities actually use ground water/running water that has gone through an expediated well process, only in the wheat belt are aquifers used heavy by commercial entities, and thats because they have the one of the largest aquifers in the world.

 

Additionally my well is heavily clay lined, and I do not live in areas of pollution (no farms/industries). I have great water quality from my well, with the exception of a few bit of nitrates

 

Do I use it for my tank? No, I'm just making a statment.

[AZDesertRat]

Most of the Southwest is on wells, Phoenix and the surrounding cities still use hundreds of them.

I used to drill wells for a living and later equipped them. It is not a valid statement. Water is water regardless if it came out of a well, stream or canal. You need to filter it by RO/DI before reef use no matter where it came from, its a matter of consistency.

 

Nitrates in your well are indicators or either farm runoff or a septic system close by or both, I would watch them closely.

 

Clays tend to cause particulates and suspended solids and normally are not good water bearing substrate since they are tightly bound or dense. I'll bet if you used a 0.5 micron prefilter it would soon build up on the surface.

[SpankythePyro]

Don't worry , and yea that area would have to be on wells. The consistency issue is because ppl get lazy and do not test their water each and every time they do a water change.

 

Its all about where you are, of course I'm going to have Nitrates and particulate matter, even the best natural filter would not remove them all. Hence why we have to use RO/DI.

 

I'm plainly saying if you are going to use tapwater, do not use city tap water, use well tap water. And if you use it don't expect anything great to happen.

[Phixion]

What surprises me is when people can do it with success off the tap water here in LA!! I had to have the guy with said tank top off from his tap while I was watching for definite proof! He said he never tested TDS because he'd rather not know and thought it would jinx him, maybe so... But living a couple cities over and being in the industry, I know for a fact his tap was between 200 and 300 TDS... And LA water no less which sources mainly from MWD (a mix of the California Aquaduct and the Colorado River) along with underground well water from the local aquafer water table.

[Nick's Reef]

well water works fine, both my uncles ( my dad's brother's) have kept tanks and used well water. One had a really nice 72 bowfront that was as simple as could be, natural filtration no sump, just hob filters. He used well water and io.