alge help.....seriously

tur4k

tur4k

Member
The problem with using tap water isn't what it will do today, but what it will do a year from now. Most of the people replying to this thread are reef keepers and would never use tap water because the nutrients alone could cause serious damage to corals. Fish are more hardy than corals. Tap water probably isn't going to kill your fish, but pretty much all of the bad stuff in tap water isn't removed by evaporation. Over time stuff like heavy metals can build up in you tank by replacing evaporation with tap water.
You may be thinking that most people with fresh water fish use tap water. This is correct, but the ocean is vast and the contents of the water is pretty rock solid. Fresh water environments are much much smaller and have a much larger variance in their content of dissolved solids. Fresh water fish have evolved to cope with water that is not ideal. Salt water fish are more sensitive.
You can use tap water if you want. It's your tank, but there are better ways to promote algae growth. Over feeding should do the trick. You could also add small amounts of liquid miracle grow. Personally, I wouldn't use tap water even in a fish only environment. You just don't know what is in it and even relatively harmless stuff can build up over time. A year from now your fish could be swimming in a puddle of fluoride.
 
tur4k

tur4k

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/388455/alge-help-seriously/20#post_3426689
Detoxify is not the same thing as remove, sweetheart. :D
Detoxifying a chemical/metal is when the detoxifying agent binds to the element/chemical and makes it unusable for other atoms/molecules to bind to it. Eventually, the atomic bond that it created during the detox is broken, freeing up the chemical/metal later on. This, of course has the exception of a few chemicals like chlorine and chloramines. Technically, you don't have to use a chlorine detoxifier at all, if you let the water sit with an open top and a small pump for 24 hours before use. Just a little FYI. XD
This is true for chlorine, but a lot of treatment plants use chloramine instead of chlorine. Chloramine doesn't dissipate on it's own like chlorine. My dad nuked his freshwater fish when the local municipality switched from chlorine to chloramine.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by tur4k http:///t/388455/alge-help-seriously/40#post_3426747
This is true for chlorine, but a lot of treatment plants use chloramine instead of chlorine. Chloramine doesn't dissipate on it's own like chlorine. My dad nuked his freshwater fish when the local municipality switched from chlorine to chloramine.
Very true, glad you cleared that point up.
My argument is that whatever heavy metals, chemicals etc. that the tap water could add to the tank, the macroalgae and hair algae will take it in their tissues, where you can easily harvest it from the system.
I'm not sure about floride. I'll check a few things really quick and get back with yah on that one.
 
tur4k

tur4k

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/388455/alge-help-seriously/40#post_3426752
Very true, glad you cleared that point up.
My argument is that whatever heavy metals, chemicals etc. that the tap water could add to the tank, the macroalgae and hair algae will take it in their tissues, where you can easily harvest it from the system.
I'm not sure about floride. I'll check a few things really quick and get back with yah on that one.
He probably isn't going to be harvesting his algae. He wants a tank over run with algae. Either way, he's is much better off buying some flake/pellet food and going to town fattening up his fish. Algae will absorb some stuff that's bad, but I'm sure there is a lot of stuff in tap water that isn't pulled ot by algae. My TDS meter reads 170 after a sediment block and carbon filter. Who knows what is in his.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
So, after doing some quick googling, Reverse Osmosis definitely removes fluoride from the freshwater.
I can't find any literature as of yet stating that algae removes fluoride from water. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, just that I can't find lit about it.
I did find this: http://www.fluoride-journal.com/00-33-2/332-55.pdf which states that fluoride damages some algal cells in high enough concentration.
Then there's this that says it "kind of does" but the only algae they used was a freshwater algae, spyrogyra lol http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389406007990
From what I've read on the subject, fluoride seems to only be toxic to freshwater and marine algaes at a pH of less than 7.0. Toxicity of Fluoride to algal cells seems to be highly pH dependent.
 
morgan175

morgan175

Member
i don't know if i'm right but in marine animals the water is absorbed through the skin and used unlike freshwater were they have a no absorbtion. Read this in one of my books, but can't quote. Therefore, go with what's best for your fish.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Just a side note on removal and detoxify, when you use a product like prime to detoxify ammonia which it does, you will still read ammonia when you test for it. it detoxifies the ammonia it does not remove it
Quote:
Detoxify is not the same thing as remove, sweetheart. :D
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by morgan175 http:///t/388455/alge-help-seriously/40#post_3426851
i don't know if i'm right but in marine animals the water is absorbed through the skin and used unlike freshwater were they have a no absorbtion. Read this in one of my books, but can't quote. Therefore, go with what's best for your fish.
Read the same thing, can't remember where it was either.
 
rainbow grouper

rainbow grouper

Active Member
O.k can i just say something me and my mum have NEVER used RO water we use/d rainwater and never any problems because of the rainwater itself and when i say rainwater i mean rainwater straight from the sky. Water-butts are great and not that expensive which means none of this tap versus RO business just water evaporated straight from the sea and falling down to earth.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
With rain water, you have to worry about acidic rain, low pH values and chemicals that may have condensed in the atmosphere and is present in the rainwater. If you store rain water, you also have to worry about contaminants in your system. Usually, people who use rain water still push their water through a filtration system, even before they drink it. Also, make sure your rain water system doesn't use any metals, such as brass, because brass leaches copper into the water.
There's tons of stuff to look out for. If you don't know it already too - distilled water sometimes has elevated levels of copper in it if the pipes and condensers they use is made out of copper. Too many free copper ions in the water, lol. If it's distilled using steel or other types of metal... or if the system uses brass valves to control the flow of water, you still have to look out for copper. lol!!!
RO membranes if not used, can cause a rise in TDS and contaminate your "pure" water. Carbon filters can be exhausted and DI resins can be exhausted if not monitored properly, and phosphate can leach into the system. There are tons of stuff that you have to look out for when you deal with RO units and membranes. But, a properly maintained unit, I believe, produces the absolute best quality of water that you can put in your tank.
Tap water has all kinds of chemicals added to it to make it "safe" for humans to drink, such as chlorine, chloramines, fluoride, ... not to mention, calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, lead (depending), arsenic, and so on and so forth. That doesn't include all of the other contaminates like nitrate and phosphate that we definitely don't want in our aquariums.
Bottled water isn't regulated by the government, in fact, most bottled water companies don't filter their water, and just get it out of the tap. As long as the water comply's with the cities ordanances and can pass basic tests, it can be sold as "filtered water." So that bottle of water you are drinking, 80%(I estimate) of the time, came out of the tap. Sorry to disappoint!
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As a side note, even in hydroponic, aquaponic and aeroponic applications, most serious growers prefer using RO/DI water as their source water, and then adding their fertilizers to it so they know exactly what their plants are getting in the exact ratios that they want them in.
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/388455/alge-help-seriously/40#post_3426952
Bottled water isn't regulated by the government, in fact, most bottled water companies don't filter their water, and just get it out of the tap. As long as the water comply's with the cities ordanances and can pass basic tests, it can be sold as "filtered water." So that bottle of water you are drinking, 80%(I estimate) of the time, came out of the tap. Sorry to disappoint!
Yup, the water we sell at my job is bottle tap water. I brought my handheld TDS meter to work and tested it... It's bottled locally.
 
jacobsdad09

jacobsdad09

Member
wow i went to conn and got a tonnnnn of feed back lots of good info...after thinking about it i think that my best bet is to start w tap water and every time i do a top off or water changes(maybe a 5050 blend) ill use distilled water or if im by my lfs i get some ro water but i know that water has plenty of stuff in it but the part if forgot to mention was that my fatherinlaw is the water commisner intown lol so i can find out any info i need on the water
 
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