Ok so firstly I am not new to having reef tanks before any one bites my head off.
I have always been of the mind set that using Ro water and mixing your own saltwater is the way to go as you know exactly what your putting into the tank. I know a few people locally who do run their tanks without ever having made salt water mix and simply using the saltwater straight from the tap (our toilets here run on salt water) so we always have a semi filtered supply.
The massive problem I am facing with my new tank is that 1. Fresh water rates here are high so making my own Rodi using the unit I have is insanely costly. 2. I have the facility of having our local water treatment plant give me the RO water free but I have never asked for such a large amount of water and I would have to spend around 4 hours and 4/5 trips carrying around 125L of water per trip (going to kill my already ****** back). And that is IF my LTP agrees to give me over 500 litres of RODI
So my question is not if I should but if it is feasible to use saltwater from my tap (not fresh tapwater and mix it with salt) to fill/start the cycle and then slowly do weekly water changes to get good salt mix in?
In a perfect world I would love and want to do it 100% fresh mix but its a massive undertaking, not impossible but I think that would be a little cheeky on my part asking them for so much when i usually take around 100L every two weeks for water changes with my previous tank.
All views are appreciated both negative and positive. Bare in mind the salt water is pulled directly from the sea filtered at the plant and then sent to our toilets.
I have always been of the mind set that using Ro water and mixing your own saltwater is the way to go as you know exactly what your putting into the tank. I know a few people locally who do run their tanks without ever having made salt water mix and simply using the saltwater straight from the tap (our toilets here run on salt water) so we always have a semi filtered supply.
The massive problem I am facing with my new tank is that 1. Fresh water rates here are high so making my own Rodi using the unit I have is insanely costly. 2. I have the facility of having our local water treatment plant give me the RO water free but I have never asked for such a large amount of water and I would have to spend around 4 hours and 4/5 trips carrying around 125L of water per trip (going to kill my already ****** back). And that is IF my LTP agrees to give me over 500 litres of RODI
So my question is not if I should but if it is feasible to use saltwater from my tap (not fresh tapwater and mix it with salt) to fill/start the cycle and then slowly do weekly water changes to get good salt mix in?
In a perfect world I would love and want to do it 100% fresh mix but its a massive undertaking, not impossible but I think that would be a little cheeky on my part asking them for so much when i usually take around 100L every two weeks for water changes with my previous tank.
All views are appreciated both negative and positive. Bare in mind the salt water is pulled directly from the sea filtered at the plant and then sent to our toilets.