Tap Water Conditioner

[kengaroo]

Is it okay to use tap water with tap water conditioners? Is there a pros and cons with using this?
If it is not good to use this, would a tap water filter be better than buying distilled water? Also do I need to add additives to reconstitute reverse osmosis to the filtered water afterwards for a FOWLR tank?

 

[brolik1]

Originally Posted by kengaroo
Is it okay to use tap water with tap water conditioners? Is there a pros and cons with using this?
If it is not good to use this, would a tap water filter be better than buying distilled water? Also do I need to add additives to reconstitute reverse osmosis to the filtered water afterwards for a FOWLR tank?
Its okay to use tap water as long as the water from where you are isnt really high in chloramine, chlorine, ammo, nitrates, and phosphates. I would prefer Amquel plus to use as water conditioner, and I wouldnt use distilled water.... get the polar spring or deer park jugs.

 

[ktsdad]

Originally Posted by kengaroo
Is it okay to use tap water with tap water conditioners? Is there a pros and cons with using this?
If it is not good to use this, would a tap water filter be better than buying distilled water? Also do I need to add additives to reconstitute reverse osmosis to the filtered water afterwards for a FOWLR tank?
The conditioner will not take out the nitrates or phosphates that may be in the tap water, which are the biggest culprits of causing unwanted algea breakouts in any saltwater tank.
Distilled is better than tap, but can be costly.
No you don't need to add anything to RO/DI water to use it for any kind of tank!
You wouldn't want to! Using water filtered thru a RO/DI unit is the best for your tank!
Good luck!

 

[fishieness]

Originally Posted by brolik1
Its okay to use tap water as long as the water from where you are isnt really high in chloramine, chlorine, ammo, nitrates, and phosphates. I would prefer Amquel plus to use as water conditioner, and I wouldnt use distilled water.... get the polar spring or deer park jugs.
no offence, but i disagree. There are so many ions, heavey metals, and chemicals in tap water that a simple conditioner wont take out.
polar spring water is not filtered. At least it doesnt say on the jugs. is it natural? yes..... but there can still be tons of stuff in it that you dont want in your tank.
if you use anything form a juge, use R/O, D/I, or dilstilled water.
or better yes, buy your own RO or DI system. If you dont have a big tank, then you can get the aquarium pharasuiticals DI system that i have. It removes 97.7% of ions and such. RO removes about 80% which is why an RO and DI system are often used together. The DI system needs to be replaces more than the RO membrane, but if you ahve a small tank, i ordered mine off-line for about 30 bucks.

 

[fishieness]

one mroe thing, dont think that your water would be good jsut because it is from a well.....i thought the same thing, but well water is sometimes worse. There was a guy on here who finaly buckled down and got an RO system even though he didnt think he needed it because he had well water. well..... by the time the membrane was used up, it would stick to a magnet.

 

[leafer]

Hey fishie can you send me an e mail as to where you got your di unit from. I checked the BIG auction site and can only find one for between $180 and $2,600.
Thanks

 

[fishieness]

sorry, against the rules. Most places i have checked have them at that price. Type aquarium pharmasuiticals de-ionization filter (that is probably spelled wrong however, i suck at spelling, but google will help you out) into google and youll probably get a few places. Since i only ahve small tanks, its worked well.

 

[brolik1]

Originally Posted by brolik1
Its okay to use tap water as long as the water from where you are isnt really high in chloramine, chlorine, ammo, nitrates, and phosphates. I would prefer Amquel plus to use as water conditioner, and I wouldnt use distilled water.... get the polar spring or deer park jugs.
I know what you mean about the tap water,but if you see what i said in the first and second line, I agree with you 100%. The distilled water I dont recommend it because 3 my LFS doesnt. one of them has a t.v show on fox5 his name is marc marrone, the other store is owned by a chemist at N.Y.U, and the other has been doing it for 30 years. So if they tell me not to use something........ I wont.

 

[ktsdad]

Please ask them why they don't recommend distilled and post their answer so we all can benefit from their wisdom.

Thanks

 

[fishieness]

Originally Posted by ktsdad
Please ask them why they don't recommend distilled and post their answer so we all can benefit from their wisdom.

Thanks
please do. distilled water is basicaly the condensation that evaporates from boiling water...... and since H2O has a lower boiling point than any of the heavy metals or other additives in the water, it is super pure. i know it is bad for freshwater (as is DI water) because it is too pure i had though. The densities are off if you jsut have it is fresh water with no salt.

 

[mikeyjer]

If you don't want to purchase a unit to filter your water. Just go buy water at wal-mart's water machine. That's what I do.... :happyfish

 

[1journeyman]

I'm a huge believer in learning from the mistakes of others and myself to prevent further mistakes.
Anyone remember DDT? I think the same thing happens in an aquarium if you use tap water (in relation to heavy metals). You might be ok for years, but eventually your tank, livestock, substrate, etc. will become saturated by the metals you have been slowly adding to the tank. No conditioner can remove metal.