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Coral Vue Hydros

Topping Off


BlueCrab722

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BlueCrab722

Ok, just a plain and stupid question....I was wondering if it was okay to tap off with tap water then use a conditioner?

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thats a bad idea. i don't let tap water touch anything that would ever find it's way into one of my tanks. It's full of all kinds of terrible things.

RO/DI is the only way to go!

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Chupacabras

Another problem with topping with tap is when your water evaporates, it leaves behind all the minerals that harden your water; when you add tap you introduce more minerals which in turn will increase your hardness.

 

Just isn't a good idea to top off with tap... if you do large water changes regularly it probably doesn't matter too much but it's a bad idea in either planted or reefs.

 

Not to mention there are just a lot of stuff that isn't good for your reef in tap water. It's best to strictly use RO/DI water for everything involving your reef.

 

Edit: By hardness I mean total dissolved solids.

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burtbollinger
well, my tank is a FOWLR, so does that make a difference?

 

Um...you asked, and you're getting accurate answers, yet it still seems like you wanna use tap water.

 

Period, point blank...DO NOT use tap water in your tank, EVER, for anything, even mixing chemicals.

 

This goes for FOWLR too. Even if it didnt matter, youre setting yourself up and teaching yourself bad habits...start getting into the routine of going to get your water, its the price you pay.

 

Go to the store, buy a bottle of RO drinking water if you must...just no tap water.

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yankeereefer

another option is using distilled water -

 

I was paying $.64 /gallon from wal-mart until I found that my grocery store had an RO dispensor that, if you brought your own jug was $.50 / gallon

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Chupacabras

No tank should be topped off with tap water.

 

You can get away with topping off a freshwater tropical that way since those fish can generally handle the hardness changes but with anything at all sensitive (like salt water fish, discus, injecting CO2 etc) you don't want to be inadvertantly raising your gH, kH and therefore pH by using your hard tap water.

 

Could you do it? Probably but eventually it will catch up with you in a wild pH swing that you don't expect.

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you guys may have had some bad experiences for whatever reason with tapwater, but my father's used tapwater in everyone of his tanks (75g, 165g, 12g) and i've used tapwater in my 24g AP. i've had no problems what-so-ever as long as i conditioned it before i added salt. so i guess i may have gotten a little more algae than normal, but so? i like hermet crabs and snails anyways. in the end, do what you want i guess. in the end it'll just be you and your tank. everyone says everything. good or bad.

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you guys may have had some bad experiences for whatever reason with tapwater, but my father's used tapwater in everyone of his tanks (75g, 165g, 12g) and i've used tapwater in my 24g AP. i've had no problems what-so-ever as long as i conditioned it before i added salt. so i guess i may have gotten a little more algae than normal, but so? i like hermet crabs and snails anyways. in the end, do what you want i guess. in the end it'll just be you and your tank. everyone says everything. good or bad.

 

 

Everyone in every area has different tapwater. For some people tap water may be fine for anything, and in some areas you wouldnt' want to use it at all. Why not talk to other reefers in your area or your lfs and see what they think of the tapwater and what they are using in their reefs.

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Don't forget the horror of older homes with copper pipes!

 

Just because some people get away with it doesn't mean it should be recommended. I'm in Canada and our water here is pristine, but I still use RO. Not worth the risk/trouble.

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Chupacabras

Topping off with tap water will increase your TDS and eventually your pH. Using tap for water changes may not hurt you depending on your source but topping off with it is a recipe for disaster as all the stuff in tap water will build up until you have a tank crash.

 

Evaporated water is pure, leaving behind all the elements that were in your source water... it's just a matter of time before the additional solids in tap effect your tank.

 

Do what you want though, my advice is scientifically sound but it's your option on whether you want to follow it.

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