adding tapwater=ALGAE GROWTH??

[tyh]

just wondering, does adding tap water to top out in a 10gal nano cause algae growth???

 

 

also, there's some brownish stuff in my tank. some floats momentarily in the water with one end attached to a LR. is this algae?? think it only appeared when i use tap water to top up.

[Crakeur]

tap water can have lots of bad things in it. You are better off picking up distilled water from a drug store or ro water from your lfs (if they'll sell it to you). The algae bloom could be a result of the tap water.

[printerdown01]

I don't think tap will cause a brown algae out-break in a tank (not saying it isn't possible, I just haven't heard of or seen any evidence of it). However, it will add phosphates to the tank. These levels will slowly accumulate until you end up with a massive hair algae out break that will take forever to go away! Not to mention that tap has all kinds of chemicals in it which probably aren't good for your reef anyway! Go with RO/DI water and you will be much happier in the end!

[tyh]

what's DI water and how to u get it?

[tinyreef]

tyh,

 

just get a 5-gallon bottle of distilled water from your local drinking water company. for a nano that's a lot.

 

heck, i get two bottles every couple of weeks for my larger tanks for makeup water. :*( $$$

 

DI=deionized water btw

 

there's a very helpful post on abbreviations in the advanced forum and a copy in the general forum, i believe.

[tyh]

so if i use distilled water, my tank will be free from diatoms?

[Brianc_4]

Not necessarily. It basically comes down to this. If you use tap water you may or may not be adding all sorts of things you don't want in your tank...heavy metals, copper, phosphates...etc etc. If you use rodi water, these nasty things will have been removed and give you a much better chance at a succesful tank. Some LFS will sell there rodi water for about 50 cents a gallon. You can also buy a rodi filter for about 150 dollars. Or you can use distilled water(NOT spring water..distilled) bought from your local supermarket for about a buck a gallon. Call the company that makes the distilled water to make sure they don't use copper in the distillation process. So, buy rodi, make rodi, or buy distilled. Don't use tap water, everyone likes to talk about lights, filtration,refugiums, etc....but isn't the most important thing in your tank water quality??

Hope this helps...Good luck;)

[printerdown01]

MOST but not all supermarkets (at least in california) will sell either RO/DI or RO water!! The trick is to read the labels, carefully... If you do I'm sure you will be pleasently surprised to find that you can pick the stuff up next time you have to make a milk run