TAP or RO LET'S VOTE

spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
We are RO/DI users for all our SW and FW tanks. People used to keep SW and FW tanks without RO units before those became more available for users. It's not impossible to keep an amazing tank without one, just depends on how your water tests and what export mechanics you use.
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
IME you can successfully use tapwater, I did it for years. it is not ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but it is possible. the problem being many small problems tend to occurr more often with the use of less pure water. especially city water as often contaminants include copper which as we know is very harmfull to invertabretes. Also often small problems tend to become bigger or harder to correct. such as, its hard to reduce nitrates when your top off water and water change water already has 10 ppm nitrate, every top off pollutes your tank more.
if your incoming water has a elevated phosphates you're generally going to be cursed with algae. and its a losing battle if your feeding it with every top off or water change.
IMO Ro/DI units are worth every penny you spend on them.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by Rotarymagic
http:///forum/post/2889365
This poll has to be a joke... I'd like to know for the people that voted tap how long they've been keeping tanks and their success lol..
I'm sorry you feel this poll is a joke, I meant it as a serious question. I am 6 months into sw and am still learning...I have gotten a LOT of excellent advice from this site, and really just wanted to know what everyone did in this situation...
I would like to thank everyone for participating....I WILL BE purchasing an ro/di unit.
 
jp30338

jp30338

Member
I have tried both tap water and RO/DI water in my 125g aggressive fowlr set-up, running a 20k 175w metal halide pendant, with a heavy bio-load (porc puffer, radiata lion, emporer snapper, snake eel, blonde naso, choc. chip star, black spine urchin, some snail that was attached to the urchin that wouldn't come off, and a few mushroom corals). The only difference I have noticed is that with tap water I do tens to get more diatoms on my substrate, other than that NO difference, in fact if I do get a small patch of hair algae it never lasts more than a few days before its dead and gone.
 
U

usirchchris

Guest
Originally Posted by Rotarymagic
http:///forum/post/2889384
Do you keep corals? also post some FTS, I'm curious to see a "successful" longterm tapwater tank.
No reef, fish only here...I always forget to add that. If I had a reef I probably would buy an RO unit. My nitrates on my aggressive tank are probably around 80 or more at times. On my peaceful tank they hover right around 20. I have tested my city tap water for nitrates before adding any salt and it does not register any. I am in the midst of a move at the moment...it will probably be a few weeks before I can get any FTS.
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
If you want to see if there is a benifit from using an RO/DI unit go to your local water provider and request a water quality report. If you are on a private well you will need to sample the water yourself and send it in to a lab. When I first started my tank I used Tap water and I researched our water quality extensively and found that it was almost as pure as you could get and even using an RO system would not reduce the amount of impurities significantly according to my local water quality expert. Since then I have moved to another town and our local water supply comes from a set of lakes and resorvoirs in the mountains. Our water quality is pretty good for part of the year but during the spring and summer it is loaded with impurities due to runoff or at least that is what I have been told by the locals and I have seen reports in the local paper about water quality issues. Due to this varying water quality I chose to purchase bottled water and my next major investment will be an RO unit.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
My husband used tap for 17 years. When I first met him is was topping off his tank STRAIGHT FROM THE HOSE *faints*. I moved in with my RO/DI unit.
 
flower1459

flower1459

Member
We used tap water for about 10 years. My father, until recently because of annoying badgering by me and our great LFS owner who backed me up, absolutely refused to buy a unit because tap water worked "just fine." We just purchased a RODI unit about 2 months ago. The 90gal FOWLR has already improved a TON since switching over after doing some large water changes. Nitrates went down, diatom blooms went down, the water actually looks clearer, and the fish we've had for years are looking a lot healthier/colorful. Smartest badgering I ever did - just ask my father now, it's his tank really (so he thinks
) and this past Christmas he raved about how well it was doing with the new water to everyone who was at the house with the new addition of the RODI that HE
decided to buy.
My only frustration is trying to get our 180 filled up.... it's taking foreeeever
(so it seems).
 
ca161406

ca161406

Member
start off: RODI
top offs: tap with API marine conditioner
water changes: half and half
we do have a giant carbon filter on our indoor water line though. it gets replaced every month
 
t316

t316

Active Member
Originally Posted by Flower1459
http:///forum/post/2889842
We used tap water for about 10 years. My father, until recently because of annoying badgering by me and our great LFS owner who backed me up, absolutely refused to buy a unit because tap water worked "just fine." We just purchased a RODI unit about 2 months ago. The 90gal FOWLR has already improved a TON since switching over after doing some large water changes. Nitrates went down, diatom blooms went down, the water actually looks clearer, and the fish we've had for years are looking a lot healthier/colorful. Smartest badgering I ever did - just ask my father now, it's his tank really (so he thinks
) and this past Christmas he raved about how well it was doing with the new water to everyone who was at the house with the new addition of the RODI that HE
decided to buy.
My only frustration is trying to get our 180 filled up.... it's taking foreeeever
(so it seems).
Good post....

Clearly shows that many of those that don't use it, don't have anything for comparison
They just rave about how it's not necessary, yet don't know what they are missing.
 
rotarymagic

rotarymagic

Active Member

Originally Posted by kjr_trig
http:///forum/post/2889425
Well I know SrFisher has been keeping SW for over 30 years, all with tap, including his 240 gallon reef tank now and his 3 FO, the man kept a Moorish Idol for 10 years in one. I kept an Achilles Tang for 5 years with tap in South Carolina.
I use RO/DI, but only because the water here in Zona is so high on TDS, around 800 certain times of year. I really dislike the inconvenience of RO/DI....If you are keeping fish, most tap water is just fine if treated and aged, if you are keeping a reef, RO/DI is probably wise, but not needed in all cases.
As Bob Fenner said in his book..."There is a far too common trend in the hobby to blame everything on source water"
I'm not blaming everything on the source water, but why would one not want to get off to a CLEAN start.. its less complicated.. in the case of algae or diatoms it removes one possible culprit from the start. Its other peoples money though, if they want to roll dice on their tanks... that's their deal not mine. Using tap on a reef makes about as much sense as running regular (87 octane) on a high compression motor that calls for 93. Why risk it?
 
t316

t316

Active Member
Originally Posted by Rotarymagic
http:///forum/post/2890100
I'm not blaming everything on the source water, but why would one not want to get off to a CLEAN start.. its less complicated.. in the case of algae or diatoms it removes one possible culprit from the start. Its other peoples money though, if they want to roll dice on their tanks... that's their deal not mine. Using tap on a reef makes about as much sense as running regular (87 octane) on a high compression motor that calls for 93. Why risk it?
Good analogy...but I see it more like trying to run 87 octane...in a DIESEL engine...
 
rotarymagic

rotarymagic

Active Member
Originally Posted by T316
http:///forum/post/2890102
Good analogy...but I see it more like trying to run 87 octane...in a DIESEL engine...

well that would take out the motor right away... the detonation from the 87 will slowly (or quickly lol) knock/ping the motor to death.
 
anonome

anonome

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
http:///forum/post/2889417
I suppose it depends on what you want. If you just want a box of water with fish in it I'd say go ahead use tap water. If on the other hand you enjoy the colors and beauty of an aquarium full of life with corals and other invertbrates, then I would say using purified water would probably be a good investment.
Personally I'm partial to reef tanks.
Read through all the responses, and honestly couldn't have said it better. I used tap for years in my freshwater tank and couldn't for the life of me understand why I had hair algae all over the place when I was dilligent in water changes etc. I tested my source water prior to starting my first saltwater tank and just about screamed......227ppm!!! of junk, and they want us to drink this.....UGH!!
This is why I had not a hesitate moment in purchasing my RO/DI unit for the saltwater tank, and now for the freshwater tank. Oh, and by the way, after about 6 months of using RO/DI water only for the freshwater tank the hair algae dissappeared.
I wouldn't go any other way. My tank is a 125g reef tank and is spotless of nuisance algae. I honestly have to say that the RO/DI unit is the first purchase a hobbiest should buy.
 
silverdak

silverdak

Active Member
I get my RO from the store, no way I am spending $300+ on a unit for a 14G tank haha
for a FOWLR tank i dont see why you couldn't get away with tap water, that or I have heard people running it through a britta (sp?) and saying its the same as RO lol
 
anonome

anonome

Active Member
Originally Posted by SilverDak
http:///forum/post/2890142
I get my RO from the store, no way I am spending $300+ on a unit for a 14G tank haha
for a FOWLR tank i dont see why you couldn't get away with tap water, that or I have heard people running it through a britta (sp?) and saying its the same as RO lol
Why do you say that it costs so much? Mine was 98.99 plus shipping from the well known auction house and does 100g per day. It honestly doesn't have to be very expensive, just look around, and replace your filters.
 
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