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tap water or not?


floridian reefer

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what do you mean by crashed?

 

since it was succesful for 2-3 years, do you think something else could of caused it to suddenly crash?

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Even if it hadn't crashed he still has some crazy GHA goin on. Can we make it part of the terms and conditions for signing up on the site that you MUST use RO/DI?

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AZDesertRat

That is one of the problems with using tap water, you never know if it was the water or not :huh:

Using RO/DI takes the question of the water quality out of the picture.

Chances are the contaminants concentrating over that 2-3 year period was a contributing factor though, many contaminants are cumulative meaning they don't go away or get removed with water changes.

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BLoCkCliMbeR
For less than $150-$200 you can provide that consistency and keep not only your tank but even your family safe with RO and RO/DI water.

 

look where i get to move to, yeah im buyin an RO unit from nasa if i can afford it....

 

http://www.tftptf.com/

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Hello reef experts.

 

I'm a noob here starting a 15 gallon. I am planning to do 2 gallon water change per week. Since a ro/di place is pretty far, my bedroom space limitation and i dont have the money for a ro/di unit, i would only be able to bring back 10 gallon of water per trip. Would my tank work if I do 1 gallon ro/di 1 gallon tap? since this way my ro/di will last me longer (about 2 and half months) and my soft corals will get enough minerals from the tap water, since i need to dose if i use ro/di water only?

 

Thanks for your help

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Hello reef experts.

 

I'm a noob here starting a 15 gallon. I am planning to do 2 gallon water change per week. Since a ro/di place is pretty far, my bedroom space limitation and i dont have the money for a ro/di unit, i would only be able to bring back 10 gallon of water per trip. Would my tank work if I do 1 gallon ro/di 1 gallon tap? since this way my ro/di will last me longer (about 2 and half months) and my soft corals will get enough minerals from the tap water, since i need to dose if i use ro/di water only?

 

Thanks for your help

 

I say no. RO/DI only.

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Possible to elaborate more on your opinion?

 

 

What's the point of putting nice clean water in your tank every wek if you are going to supplement it with crap? Kind of negates the purpose of the RO/DI to begin with.

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I only agree with your opinion to a certain extant. I agree that comparing to ro/di water and all the other supplement products, tap water seems like crap. However I do believe that people used to keep amazing reefs in the old days when all these products is not as popular or didn't exist. Are you saying all the nano reefs back then are crap since they use mostly tap water?

 

Second of all, please note I did not try to argue whether pure ro/di water is cleaner or better than pure tap water, I think thats self evident enough. What I'm honestly trying to ask here is wether i can keep a nano reef successful if I use half ro/di water plus half tap. I mean sure if i had the money i would buy the best product out there. But without the fund 1/2 ro/di 1/2 tap seems to me logically justified and workable.

 

Thank you for replying

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AZDesertRat

No one can answer truthfully as we have no idea what your tap water source or quality is. You probably don't even know so the odds are stacked against you. I personally have kept saltwater systems for over 30 years and specifically reefs for the last 20+ years and started out with tap water in the beginning.

The difference is night and day when using RO/DI vs tap. Things like nuisance algae and unexplained blloms and deaths are a thing of the past. I feel it is irresponsible to even think about keeping a reef with tap water. water is the single largest ingredient in the reef system and everything revilves around its quality. Owning a RO/DI is cheap insurance. It costs me less than 5 cents a gallon to make RO/DI water and that includes replacement filters and resins so why would I even think about tap water?

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Are you saying all the nano reefs back then are crap since they use mostly tap water?

 

 

In the old days nano reefs did not exist. It was thought to be impossible.

 

It's the advancement in practices - using LR, better salt and frequent water changes with quality water that made keeping our reefs possible.

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No one can answer truthfully as we have no idea what your tap water source or quality is. You probably don't even know so the odds are stacked against you. I personally have kept saltwater systems for over 30 years and specifically reefs for the last 20+ years and started out with tap water in the beginning.

The difference is night and day when using RO/DI vs tap. Things like nuisance algae and unexplained blloms and deaths are a thing of the past. I feel it is irresponsible to even think about keeping a reef with tap water. water is the single largest ingredient in the reef system and everything revilves around its quality. Owning a RO/DI is cheap insurance. It costs me less than 5 cents a gallon to make RO/DI water and that includes replacement filters and resins so why would I even think about tap water?

 

Excellent point, However it seems to me you are comparing between a tap water only tank vs ro/di only tank. However in a 1/2 ro/di and 1/2 tap situation I'm still not sure why it will not work. Since the potential pollutant is half or diluted by the ro/di water and majority of them are taken by carbon filter.

 

I do understand in a long run a ro/di is 1000000X better however I can only work with what I got. Though I sound like a pain in the ass but as a university student with very low dow to play around with, a ro/di system is just not possible right now.

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In the old days nano reefs did not exist. It was thought to be impossible.

 

It's the advancement in practices - using LR, better salt and frequent water changes with quality water that made keeping our reefs possible.

 

Thanks for the info on nano reef history

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AZDesertRat

Mnay contaminants are cumulative and do not get removed by carbon or water changes. If you never put it in there it never has the chance to accumulate.

Sounds like you are going to do as you please regardless of the good advice you have been given by many here so let us know how the algae farm is doing in a few months. We have all been there or else we would not be giving the advice we do.

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