Dechlorination question

[louti]

Yes, there are just so many factors that go into it, water source, salt, additives, types of food, feeding schedule, etc. I agree that many people just blame the water even though they aren't really sure. In my experience though, I used nothing but RO for a year or so and had virtually no algae. Now I have moved and started using tap again and I have significantly more.

 

[kittle]

thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[mkroher]

The main reason we can't use tap water straight out of the faucet is because it contains chlorine. Chlorine will kill the beneficial bacteria in our tanks. This is why they sell products to dechlorinate the water.
... but yes, there are other bad things in tap water.

 

[cranberry]

Actually, the chlorine can be aired off... it's the chloramines that are a problem.
A growing concern with tap is the medications that are showing up in areas.

 

[rickybutler]

can you use like a brita water filter or other such products that turn tap into "drinking water" instead of an expensive RO DI?

 

[tank a holic]

filtered tap water is better that regular tap water so yes you can use a brita filter
and yes a brita filter is cheaper than ro/di unit
however the ro/di unit will clean your water to 0 TDS where the brita filter (depending on your source water) will get it to about 30 TDS
and you'll go through twenty plus filters in the brita befoer you go through 1 in the RO/DI
in short the ro/di's cheaper and more reliable in the long run

 

[shrimpy brains]

Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3193291
But here's the deal..... we say don't use it because of potential algae problems, yet there are just as many people out there who have algae issues that use RO/DI.
I don't use tap on a day to day basis because I don't want to continously put conditioners in my tank.
My tap TDS is 450.
I agree that algae may be caused by a # of issues. I was just giving an example where I was 100%(well 99ish) sure the water source was to blame.