can lr be cured w/ tap water?

[pnkflydlvr]

ok. so i definitely know that a tank should have ro/di water in it. does lr need this also when curing? i have mine set up in a 31 gallon rubbermaid tub with a powerhead, heater, and skimmer. the water in my area has 0 nitrates/ nitrites. would it be ok to use tap water? thanks.

 

[robdog696]

Yes. RO/DI is nice to use whenever you can, but not absolutely necessary. You might get some diatom blooms on your lr, so you'll want to weigh the risk of dealing with diatoms. But, personally, my cleanup crew decimated my diatoms when I added the lr to my 150 and I haven't seen any in several months. As long as you are able to maintain temp and salinity your rock with have minimal die-off and good bacteria growth.

 

[gmann1139]

Rob's assuming you have decent quality tap water. I know mine has measurable levels of copper, so using it would probably cause additional die-off on the rock, as well as absorption of the copper into the rock.
Last time I cured LR, I used a lot of 'waste' water from WC. Because you're basically trying to induce a cycle, having NO2 and NO3 isn't going to hurt, in fact, it might help the cycle along.

 

[aztec reef]

The ONLY time Tap water should be used, is at the very begining (like in ur case) However, you're better of using distiled or drinking water,(from local grocery store) 5g is less than $2.00 and you'll take the safe aproach... Tap water can have many impurities/metals.phosphates,copper, ect... which is not a good idea to have in measurerable amounts in a reef or any tank where water quality is a must....
Using Tap water Once at the begining is alright, but u don't want to get into bad habits, If use it all the time u will be in for constant algeal lossing battles...the more tap u use the more inpure/out of whack your water chem will be...thus fueling the algea blooms..
Having said that: If u were in Oregon you might get away with using Tap, As one of my colegues has been using it for years. although he has a FOWL tank.. which is like comparing oranges to apples.