oh no I used tap water......

[omgsaltwat]

I have set up a 125gal tank with tap water, before I found this message board. I was giong by what the lfs guy told me ( I know big mistake). However my tank just fininshed its cycle and I have 140lbs of ls and 120lbs of live rock I have also ordered my clean up crew. My question is when I do water changes I will use ro water will this fix my mistake or should I do something else. If the water changes will work how much and how often should I do it.

:help:

 

[tatoush]

you're fine....it is better if you do your water changes with RO because it will cut down on algae growth and increased phosphate levels. As far as the water in the tank don't worry about it just check all your levels before adding any livestock. As far as water changes, I would do 20% water changes for the first few months and keep an eye on it. If you see things are fine you can bump it down to 10%. Hope this helps.
Lev

 

[fraggle_a]

One of the biggest problems with tap water is chlorene.
Fortunatly for us, chlorene dissipates rapidly from water once its exposed to air.
Other minerals in the water could potentialy cause issues, but unless your local water company is really bad, they arnt in a strong enough consentration to cause any problems.
Infact, some of the minerals in your tap water is beneficial to your aquatics, and rocks. Maybe not the fish, but again, its not strong enough to cause consern.

 

[turningtim]

No worries just do WCs with RO and you should be good to go!
I agree with 20% to start and just keep testing until you're comfortable with consistant readings, Then move down to 5%-10% range.
JMO
Tim

 

[partsman]

Originally Posted by OMGsaltwat
I have set up a 125gal tank with tap water, before I found this message board. I was giong by what the lfs guy told me ( I know big mistake). However my tank just fininshed its cycle and I have 140lbs of ls and 120lbs of live rock I have also ordered my clean up crew. My question is when I do water changes I will use ro water will this fix my mistake or should I do something else. If the water changes will work how much and how often should I do it.

:help:

i'm sure you dechlorined the water first before adding any items so just make your water changes with ro water in the future . while your tank is cycling try and keep your lights off as much as possible as not to promote any algae growth now.
the biggest problem with tap water is the sulfates and phosphates that will feed algae.
their are a few good phosfate removers on the market, one being" phos buster pro" that i find to be very stable and extremly easy to use.
water changes ..... 20 % per month for least for the first couple of months and then i would monitor your paramaters and cut back to 15 or 10 % a month if all readings are stable.
saves a little $ but usually never happens ...lol
10% per month is a goal not reached very often - especially if your keepng a lot of fish.
goooood luck and get a good test kit also .
spare no expense here also - it's their life in your hands now.
Michael