Tap water reef tank

Hello, in the process of setting up a new tank (prob my 5th in the past 15 years) and really don't want to use an RO unit. I did have one on my last 125g reef but always had trouble maintaining ca and alk. So I got to thinking that it does not make much sense to deplete the water of these things just to add them back again (often with frustration) if there are any PO4 or N3 issues one would think that macro algea (which I always grow as my primary filtration) and the sand bed would deal with just fine. I mean EVERY DAY you add much more of those nutrients via food additions that you would ever find in 2-3 gallons of tap water lost to evaporation. I thus tend to think that tap water is not the evil that people make it out to be, often these individuals don't realize that it takes 6-12 months for a tank to mature to the point that algea growth stalls and thus blame their source water for the excess nutrients! To realize how absurd that is just take your standard amount of daily evap replacement water and add your daily tank feedings to it. Talk about nutrient soup. The primary component of the disolved solids in our tap water out here is CA!!!! You see it build up on your shower head and then filter it off!

Also if one is concerned about "toxic metals" (oooohhh scary sounding) then be advised that our tap water PH is too high in most cases to release them from pipes. I think the decision to use a RO unit is an emotional reaction more than anything else. I will let everyone know how my reef works out without one so just follow this thread!

Ohhh and also just wanted to mention that the chemical constituents of our ocean water is the sum of our "ATO" tap water rivers flowing into them for billions of years...

In Farmington they add certain chemicals to treat the water at different times of the year. Some of them cause a brown stinky slime algae to grow. If you've ever had an issue like that that gets worst every time you top off then you know how important the RO is. My nano in Bountiful is done only with tap water. However that is about to change. My levels are off and I cant seam to get them back in control. So Ill start hauling water to Bountiful to see if I can get them to level out.

There are many reasons to use RO water. Coming around saying its a "VOODOO" type of thing is both ridiculous and possibly dangerous. There are many hobiest that get cynao growth that gets out of control, Change from tap to RO and greatly improve there tanks.
There are many ways to maintain a tank. No one thing is the magic bullet and NO ONE has the only way to do it.

Welcome SumpCrab.

You said you had trouble maintaining Alk and Ca in a previous reef aquarium. I'd like to hear more about those difficulties to see if we can help.

I agree that it seems a little silly to remove the good components of tap water, Alk, Ca, Mg, etc., only to later add them back in. You will find that your concept is already accepted here in the WMAS. Many of us have done this with no problems. Though as was stated, we take a risk when we use tap water for long periods like a year or more. From time to time tap water has chemicals that wouldn't harm humans, but do affect coral and fish.

When using tapwater, there is a simple trick to getting it cleaner very inexpensively, while leaving the good stuff. In 5 gallons of tap water, simply stir in a little less than a tablespoon of Kalkwasser/Pickling Lime/Calcium Hydroxide powder, let it settle for a few hours and use the resulting clear water. Kalkwasser combines with some of the impurities causing them to precipitate out of solution.

Have you heard of Kold-Steril http://www.poly-bio-marine.com. This system uses a filter media that cleans the tap water of harmful impurities. I know of a beautiful 180 gal reef tank that has used this system of water purification for 9 years. The unique advantage of this system is that it leaves the major elements of Alk, Ca, Mg, etc. in the purified water and produces absolutely no waste water.

Speaking of waste water, did you know that the waste water that RO units send down the drain is actually needed by the sewage treatment plants? Every gallon of good water sent into the pipes, means one less gallon of tap water that needs to be added back into the process at the sewage treatment plant.

Hope this helps.
Just for the fun of showing off my friends tank in Centerville, here's a pic from that 180 using Kold-Steril purified water.



Edited by Mark Peterson - October 29 2010 at 8:41am

I wouldn't chance using tap water for top off, because I don't do enough water changes. But I almost always use 100% tap water, treated with Prime, when I setup a new tank and sometimes when I do water changes.

I agree with Dion. Coming on here and spouting off at the mouth that we are idiots for using RO water is DUMB!

Go ahead and run your tank with tap water. Then come back on here asking us how to fix your problems. We will all gladly help to save your tank at that point.

On my first tank I used tap water. I lived in Draper and we had to have the city pump water up to us in Suncrest. The water was pretty darn "clean". It didn't have many nutrients in it but man it caused issues for me for months! Go ahead and ask Mark about his trip from Bountiful to Draper to come save my tank. You can't test what metals are in the water, whether they come from your pipes or not. Majority of cities add Fluoride to their water also. That can't be good for a tank.

Also, do you know what the alkalinity is made up of in tap water? Does tap water have high amounts of Borate? If so, you will read a high alk when really the alkalinity will be low. That could become very dangerous for your tank and its' inhabitants.

Algae and the sand bed CAN NOT remove some minerals or heavy metals. Sure for the first 6 months you might not see any issues but them WHAM you add some more tap water and hit the toxic level of something that has just been building up in your tank. But don't worry, your algae will "take care of it."

You weren't having issues keeping Ca and Alk in balance because of using RO water. You probably weren't dosing properly and your Magnesium was probably too low.

Do you know that low Mg will make it almost impossible to keep Ca and Alk in range?

I suggest you ask questions and study about how chemistry works in a reef before jumping on RO water and telling people they are dumb for removing all this "good" stuff.

I will gladly continue to remove all that "good" stuff so that I can have pure water going into my tank. Feeding my fish and dumping tap water in my tank are two different concepts. My fish eat the food then poop it out. The poop and other left over food feeds my corals. Tap water won't feed either of them, but it will probably feed your algae.

I used to use  tap and my tank did fine. Then I came across a cheap RO unit on KSL and now I use RO and it does fine. One difference that I did notice is that I used to have a brown film that covered the glass unless I cleaned it off every day. Now I find myself grabbing the magfloat about one a week. Also Im definatly no water chemistry expert, but most salt companies do have a chemist or two working for them making sure that their product does have the right amount of trace elements for a sucessful reef, and as far as I know, they do recommend mixing their salt with RO. Anyway, welcome to the club sumpcrab. You seem pretty passionate about your theory, so keep us updated on how things go

Lewy wrote: While on the topic of tab water.  what would happen if you used soft water?

Jeffs_little_ocean wrote: Lewy wrote: While on the topic of tab water.  what would happen if you used soft water?   Your crabs and snails wont hafta use as much shampoo to get their hair clean