tap water or not?

[LostinWater]

If you're thinking about doing an RO unit, then go for it. It will be VERY helpful in the long run. I second that option.

[Meengineer0128]

If you're thinking about doing an RO unit, then go for it. It will be VERY helpful in the long run. I second that option.

+100000000000 It will pay for itself in Top offs

[19jeffro83]

Your plumbing in you house is soldered copper buddy. I build houses for a living. It's copper. Mains are galvanized but crack open your wall and take a looksy.

[Bill Nye]

I don't know where you live man, but there is no copper in my water. Unless you live in a house built before 1970, you don't have to worry about copper in the water. As far as TDS and microbes go, this is what you have to worry about!!!! You will not be able to eliminate all TDS or microbes with conditioners.

 

Don't dish on him man, he is just trying to find a economical way to solve a problem. Nothing wrong with asking.

 

This is misleading imo. I had an internship back in my hay day with the water commission in a town up here in Rhode Island mapping all the water lines. Most of the pipes that bring water to houses in this town were installed between 1900 and 1945. These pipes were mostly made of copper. You really dont know whats going on in your towns water system and to me its not worth it. You spend a 1000 bucks on a tank but you cant spend 125 dollars on an RO unit to make sure your investment is safe. Doesn't make sense to me.

[19jeffro83]

And the PVC your referring to is a drain not a suply. "pex" is a plastic used in supplies as a cheaper alternative and started coming around in recent years.

 

And r/o wins!!!!!!!! By a mile!!

[Meengineer0128]

This is misleading imo. I had an internship back in my hay day with the water commission in a town up here in Rhode Island mapping all the water lines. Most of the pipes that bring water to houses in this town were installed between 1900 and 1945. These pipes were mostly made of copper. You really dont know whats going on in your towns water system and to me its not worth it. You spend a 1000 bucks on a tank but you cant spend 125 dollars on an RO unit to make sure your investment is safe. Doesn't make sense to me.

 

Three years ago I was one of the design engineers in Chicagos rehab of its water main system. We replaced 800 miles of piping in the chicagoland area with Cast Iron pipe. You are correct, pipes installed before the 70's were all copper.

 

 

 

And the PVC your referring to is a drain not a suply. "pex" is a plastic used in supplies as a cheaper alternative and started coming around in recent years.

 

And r/o wins!!!!!!!! By a mile!!

 

 

I could take a picture of the sch. 80 PVC coming out of the ground in my basement if you would like. I think I can tell the difference between a drain and a supply!!!!!! Oh, and as far as the smell thing, I lived in Edison for 3 years before I moved into NYC, so don't take offense, lol.

[19jeffro83]

And almost all supplies in your home after the mains are copper. Go to the hd lowes and go the plumbing dept. And see what you see not even an arguement you are misslead. Trust me I've been building custom home in nj for 10 years and we are no third world state.

 

Yeah Edison does stink. Lol

 

I'm in tomsriver not to bad here only smell is the ocean and bay.

 

 

3/4 inch suplieoff the street into my home built in 89

 

Sorry for the hijack Florida.

[Bill Nye]

Three years ago I was one of the design engineers in Chicagos rehab of its water main system. We replaced 800 miles of piping in the chicagoland area with Cast Iron pipe. You are correct, pipes installed before the 70's were all copper.

 

 

This is pretty much what I was saying. Just because your house is brand new doesnt mean that the pipes that feed the water to your house are anywhere near new. Another thing is alot of crap accumulates in pipes as they age as im sure you know. When a large amount water is drawn from the system (fighting a fire etc) all the pipes will get stripped of the inner coating of crap and come straight to your house. I guess what im saying is theres too many variables that are out of your control. For me, the amount of time, effort and money I dedicate to my tank makes it too valuable to risk it on something that is cheap and easy to control.

[DulcyDoll]

I used to use distilled, I was paranoid about things in my tap water messing with my tank. I tested my tap (well) water for phosphate, nitrate and copper...tested fine. Since using it I have not see a difference from the distilled. No algae growth that wasn't there before, and my corals/inverts/fish are doing wonderfully.

 

But, my brother tried topping off with tap one time at his house and in a couple days it was covered in red algae..It really depends on your water.

[beau13]

I live in Southern California and I have been using city water straight out of the tap ever since I started my tank and I haven't had any problems. No algae problems and my corals are growing like crazy (crazy considering the stock PC lighting). I think a lot of it depends on where you live, but for me it was about the convenience of not having to drive a long way for Catalina water and about not having the money for a RO system. I have favia, xenia, mushrooms, zoas, goniopora, torch, and frogspawn that are doing great.

[Meengineer0128]

This is pretty much what I was saying. Just because your house is brand new doesnt mean that the pipes that feed the water to your house are anywhere near new. Another thing is alot of crap accumulates in pipes as they age as im sure you know. When a large amount water is drawn from the system (fighting a fire etc) all the pipes will get stripped of the inner coating of crap and come straight to your house. I guess what im saying is theres too many variables that are out of your control. For me, the amount of time, effort and money I dedicate to my tank makes it too valuable to risk it on something that is cheap and easy to control.

 

+1

 

And almost all supplies in your home after the mains are copper. Go to the hd lowes and go the plumbing dept. And see what you see not even an arguement you are misslead. Trust me I've been building custom home in nj for 10 years and we are no third world state.

 

Yeah Edison does stink. Lol

 

I'm in tomsriver not to bad here only smell is the ocean and bay.

 

 

3/4 inch suplieoff the street into my home built in 89

 

Sorry for the hijack Florida.

 

Yeah, sorry dude for the hijack.

 

Toms River. Isn't that a Shore town, lol? Your water does suck, lol.

[StevieT]

Maybe mentioned maybe not

 

 

$2000+ in corals/livestock/tank/equipment/investment/reputation/time

 

let's risk it to save $1.00 every water change

[19jeffro83]

I live on the bay and sleazeside is three mins away. It's a shore town. And I def do not drink the water. There's a cancer cluster here lol so yeah it's jersey but it doesn't smell like Edison.

[MiamiAquaculture]

For large systems.

[StevieT]

I live in Southern California and I have been using city water straight out of the tap ever since I started my tank and I haven't had any problems. No algae problems and my corals are growing like crazy (crazy considering the stock PC lighting). I think a lot of it depends on where you live, but for me it was about the convenience of not having to drive a long way for Catalina water and about not having the money for a RO system. I have favia, xenia, mushrooms, zoas, goniopora, torch, and frogspawn that are doing great.

 

No offense but you started March 2nd 2010 from a thread here asking about a clown fish not eating. I wouldn't call that a lot of experience to say that tap water is OK to use.

[19jeffro83]

+1 to Stevie T lol. Not much of a sucsess storie to prove a case on.

[Pickle010]

Maybe mentioned maybe not

 

 

$2000+ in corals/livestock/tank/equipment/investment/reputation/time

 

let's risk it to save $1.00 every water change

 

 

+1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

 

Just isn't worth the risk.

 

A lot of people here with young tanks claiming tap isn't a problem - I'm sorry but a few months on tap =/= success.

[19jeffro83]

Anyone with a tank 1-2 years old that only uses tap?

[Degener8]

Why is this even a debate.. and why do people keep going on and on with the huge threads explaining the evils of this.

 

DO A DAM SEARCH FFS!!

 

no i did not read the entire thread its the same thread that has been tossed around ALL forums since their inception. (basically)

[Dizzle21]

ya it may be able to get by with tap and your reef will look like ####. by a rodi unit! or be like me and spend $5 at the LFS to get 10 gallons of rodi water. i do 2g changes every 5 days. so cost me $5 a month. well worth it.... imo

[Tinytank]

Man the mob is out on this one.

 

OP as I am sure you see, some people are going to say go for it while others don't think it is worth the risk. It is obviously up to you, but if you can get your water tested, and live close enough to a LFS in case of emergency it isn't a huge risk.

 

 

Not a 2 year success story, but this tank has been up 7 months today (suck phone picture). I upgraded from a year old tank, and have only ever used tap. I run a skimmer, carbon, Chemi-pure, purigen, and have a large macro fuge. No nuisance algae growth in the display at all.

 

[Dizzle21]

thanks guys.. cuz of this thread i just placed an order on a spectrapure rodi unit so i dont have to goto the lfs any more..

[Pickle010]

thanks guys.. cuz of this thread i just placed an order on a spectrapure rodi unit so i dont have to goto the lfs any more..

 

 

That's the way to go.... if you have the space set up a large tub for the fresh rodi - I keep around 50 gallons on hand all the time. I may have a greater need once I have my larger system going then I'll upgrade to another 50 gallons. I use a rubbermaid storage bin... as long as it doesn't get any direct sun light it will hold up just fine. Mine is going on 3 years old.

 

The only problem with tap that I see is it is inconsistent. Even if it ready low on a tds you don't know what you are really getting unless you send a sample off to a lab and pay to have a complete analysis done. Water districts and cities add stuff to tap and more often then not when I see a crappy tank that is having problems the root of the issue is the water.

 

I have a well and on the tds is registers lower then bottled water... I still don't trust it though.

[FishOnTheBrainCoral]

Anyone on here that has said RO/DI is not necessary has been on N-R about a year or less......what does that tell you.

I will admit. I too didn't believe at first until the "new tank" algae blooms never stopped coming & I couldn't keep an SPS alive. then RO/DI & TDS meter. I found that I don't have a algae problem & my SPS are still alive. NOW I BELIEVE!

 

Anyone one who thinks their water has no copper in it is a dumb a$$! check your local water report they are required to post publicly. Havn't seen one without copper yet. Tells everything from copper to caffeine & Vicodin.

 

BTW my local water is great. When I make a batch of water I check TDS from tap just for S & G's and it it typically in the 40-60 TDS range..excellent for tap. However It will from time to time be near 250. So the safety of not getting that 250 day in my tank at water change is worth it in its self.

[coolwaters]

tap water is transferred though COPPER pipes and has chlorine to prevent algae and bacteria growth in the pipes.