De-Chloranator

[treble]

I got this De-Chloranator at the LFS that says it removes all heavy metals, could this be my answer to using tap water? or should I go spend $.50 on some more RO water?

 

[mlm]

Get the RO water. It is nat only the heavy metales but tap water can have nitrate and phosphates also.

 

[predator]

I'd stick with the ro.Tap is pretty nast when it comes to tanks.

 

[kris walker]

For replacing evaporated water, I hold the tap flag if the tap is of good quality. BUT odds are that it isn't. You can get several test kits to find out though. As mentioned, phosphates are often a problem in city water. And there are typically more problems with well water.
I use RO water because my tap water has too much phosphate. If the phosphates were low, I would pass it through a britta filter to remove any possible heavy metals (the filter does not remove phosphate IME).
For major water changes, I would use RO. BUT, be careful of RO water. Both suppliers of RO for me have phosphate levels between 0.2-0.3 ppm. Luckily I have a shallow nutrient-rich reef tank!
sam

 

[treble]

Cool, thanks guys. I'll try and test for phosphates

 

[guppie]

You know I have been useing tap water for as long as I can remember, but I have changed my thinking, I set up a reef tank about 6 months ago and was useing tap water and I was haveing all kinds of algee problems, started to use DI water and the problems went away, I think I am hooked, now the problem is I got to start useing it in the other two tanks, I am trying to figure out how many jugs I need to keep around, the lfs is only 5 minutes away, and its only 30 cents a gallon. I think that is the way to go now. Good Luck

 

[justinl]

Just out of curiosity, how did your corals deal with the tap water. I too always used tap water and noticed that my polyps and corals weren't as healthy as they should be.
I just switched to DI water and was wondering what kind of results you had.

 

[vkesu]

The only difference I ever noticed with tap water was the algae. I have a clean up crew of about 10 snails, 20 hermits, two stars and I don't have any trouble at all any longer w/my tap water. My corals have been doing great. I ALWAYS use amquel in all water though.

 

[treble]

Extra replys are always welcome! Thanks a billion I am going to test phosphate.

 

[burnnspy]

Adding tap water to a reef is foolish business.
BurnNSpy