TAP TAP TAP: Come on be honest....TAP Water?

[RJKain-777]

I used tap water in my ATO for my quarantine tank, but only because I had to pack my bags and catch a flight 2 weeks ago.

 

[brandon429]

there are really only two types of reefers. those who do want to rinse their sandbed in tap water a few times, and those that don't.

 

[vlangel]

I have used tap water in the past for many years. Eventually I bought an rodi but all the cartridges are so crapped up that I let both the discharge and filtered water fill my brute, so it's basically tap again, ha ha!

 

[muggle reefer]

I am like some others on here, I only use tap water for things like clean up. I rinse my fresh carbon or phosgard in tap a second before putting in tank, I probably should not I guess but always have. I have never put tap water directly in my tank beyond a few drops from clean up of skimmer or something like that.

 

[living_tribunal]

It all depends on what comprises the 'TDS' is in your tap water. If its a metal - it could be a problem - If its calcium - or magnesium - it makes no difference. because the concentration is still extremely small. Now - I would not use tap water in a system where I wasn't doing water changes.... Then again - I use RODI - anyway...

True but not worth the risk by any means unless you spend the time and money to determine what's going in your tank. If you can afford that then you can afford a $60 RO/DI unit.

 

[HaveFishWillTravel]

The only thing I have to deal with in my water is low GH and KH for my freshwater fish. In the Pacific Northwest, our water is crystal clear. No Chlorine, no chemicals of any kind. Pristine water. I have to add Calcium to the freshwater tanks. No lie.
It is so beautiful here. I just went for a walk in the misty rain. It was so refreshing and absolutely gorgeous. Seattle is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I swear to God. That’s why we try so hard to protect it and everyone thinks we are crazy Liberals or some people call us Socialists which we are not. We just love our environment and want to keep it safe and pure. If you’ve seen it and lived here, you would feel the same way. I don’t eat anything that has been grown using pesticides. I grow a lot of my own food and it’s all organic. I have been eating all organic for 20 years before it came into vogue. I feel so badly for our planet. We really need to take care of Mother Earth. Stay safe and take care. JL

I just wanted to add that I do use RO water. I sort of forgot the question because the point I was trying to make was that in some places tap water may be safe for your tank. I have tested my water and researched what my water company says is in it. Surprisingly, there is no Chlorine at all. Not even the gas they typically add to make it taste better. I do use RO for water changes and for top off and to rinse my buckets before I use them and honestly for everything in my saltwater tank except for rinsing everything after a water change. For that I use the hose or tap water from the kitchen sink. I also use RO for my two smaller freshwater tanks. For my big freshwater tank, I filter tap water with a 20 micron drinking water filter and I let the water run a bit before I use it because I have observed ‘black or brown’ crud coming out of the tap. No idea what it is. Like others, I don’t want to risk it.

 

[Brooke24]

ways to use tap water in reefing effectively:


-washing out your old filter media, no it doesnt sterilize it. Ask microbiologists, or hospital workers. or lab techs who work with bacteria, if rubbing tap water across surfaces accomplishes sterilization-and those are flat metal surfaces not even factoring true retentive surface area which we use exclusively in filtration. tap rinsing harms nothing, and is free, and dislodges floc. Bacteria come out of your tap, into your lemonade, you are drinking nitrifiers and mixed aerobes and pipe slough with every gulp.
If tap water was a sterilizing agent you wouldn't be drinking a hundred thousand live generalized aerobes per glass made

tap water is suppressive agreed, but not a sterilizing agent we should not fear it as we do


rinsing your old filter material in tap water inoculates bacteria into it while if flushes away scums, ironic.

-washing out your filthy sandbed so we can install it clean and unwreck your tank. tap is all we use for rinsing in the sand rinse thread, if you try and rinse w salt or RO you run out too soon, input half-rinsed sand, and kill your tank. tap rinsed to perfection= 36 pages of after pics beauty we have collected all in one thread. does rinsing sand in tap water remove the bacteria off sand? nobody has bothered to test to know, we all have an opinion though and what type of test kit we use determines that opinion. We never needed the sandbed bacteria, the other half of the sand rinse jobs on file are full instant bed removal it was only live rock bacteria we preserve. Some people manage sandbeds without rinsing, that's fine. if you want to see what post-rinsing looks like, we have five years straight on file and its all tap water earned.

-prepping a large tank cycle with tap water is fine and allows a full water change at the end, to export all the nitrogen species, replaced with clean water for the reefing go. saves us from having to make up 120 gallons x 2 the first round can be expendable tap, dechlor bottle bac and feed. Nobody has tested whether or not tap harms bottle bac; since we dose bottled bacteria initially into the water vs originate with it on surfaces I would dechlor in this case. there are careful ways we can cycle with new clean water and not arrive full of nitrate, but starting with tap + heavy feed means we can drive bacteria into surfaces very fast then swap it all out at the end

Ok lol I was worried- I’m cycling right now and found my salinity at 1.030!!!!!! I took out a bunch of water and changed it into tap, because I didn’t have time to make that much rodi

 

[brandon429]

No harm, that range won’t hurt your bacteria either and it’s ok to switch some dechlor + tap and salt in, harmless. As you edge toward finish last water change can be sw and the next one too that’ll put the clean water back in time for corals and algae precision

 

[Brooke24]

No harm, that range won’t hurt your bacteria either and it’s ok to switch some dechlor + tap and salt in, harmless. As you edge toward finish last water change can be sw and the next one too that’ll put the clean water back in time for corals and algae precision

Definitely. I have a question- I have no fish, nothing in my tank besides bacteria. My salinity is too low. 1.021. Can I add salt directly to my tank? Like I said, it’s cycling with ammonia and bacteria currently. No socks or Skimmer. I

 

[brandon429]

When that happens to mine I just mix up some strong sw in a sep container let it dissolve for several mins then add, better than salt to the tank.


I know online sources mention ideal cycling params and salinity and careful settings but the truth is a cycling chart sets the timeframe for completion at max. The usual time it will take even with variation is however long the directions say on the bottle, those companies have researched well

You can’t harm the bacteria into taking longer than a cycling chart shows, so customize away as needed.


I know many posts say they’ve taken longer than thirty days to cycle, but the cycle nerds dont believe them. .25 means zero / safe zone to some viewers. To others, its a signal for sheer panic.

 

[Brooke24]

When that happens to mine I just mix up some strong sw in a sep container let it dissolve for several mins then add, better than salt to the tank.


I know online sources mention ideal cycling params and salinity and careful settings but the truth is a cycling chart sets the timeframe for completion at max. You can’t harm the bacteria into taking longer than a cycling chart shows, so customize away as needed.
I know many posts say they’ve taken longer than thirty days to cycle, but the cycle nerds dont believe them.

Lol, okay, thank you!! I just made a thread post and someone said it’s fine so I added a little bit, then seen your comment. Even if I make it to 1.024 I’m good. Thank you so much!!!

 

[Rubberfrog]

No. Because I've never lived anywhere with good water.

 

[DaddyFish]

My tap water had 10x the Federal recommended levels of chloramines when I started in saltwater. Trying to determine what invisible force was killing shortly after water changes, I killed two tanks over and over and over. It was a very expensive and sad lesson to learn. I have yet to find a test kit/strip/whatever that's reasonably priced for testing chloramines.

My eventual solution was to install both a whole house filtration system with double carbon block filters, add a 3-stage filtration ahead of my RO with double carbon block filters, and finally hit it one more time with carbon block just ahead of the RO membrane. Shortly after I did all that my regional private water company adjusted the system and you could use my tap water (after the whole house system) straight in a tank with minimal TDS and no real impact on livestock.

That's how life goes!

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

I live in an area with large limestone pockets in the ground and I have well water. My water is very hard, with sulphur, with a pH of about 8.5 straight out of the tap. I use it just like it is for all of my freshwater tanks and it does beautifully, both for cichlids and planted tanks..... But for saltwater I still buy RODI water from my LFS. I've occasionally topped off with bottled fresh distilled water in an emergency, but never tap

 

[chaoticreefer]

Yes, of course, I have used tap water for filling and water changes. I think 99% of us can admit to that. I used it back in 1999 when I first started before I found Reefs.org (pre-RC and R2R) and it's chat room. Maybe for 6 months or less. My LFS never hinted anything about RO/DI.

 

[HomebroodExotics]

Yea I use it. I figure if I can breed a ton of freshwater fish in my tap water it’ll be fine for a reef. Combined with no water changes so I’m not affecting stability if my tap water changes dramatically. So far so good.

 

[ssunthar]

Quick question, what about washing hands or other things using tap water and using it right away in the tank... will it have a bad impact to the fish, corals and other animals?

 

[Trey]

For the (relatively) inexpensive cost of an RODI unit, why use tap water?
We invest so much money, and more importantly time into our hobby, it seems it would behoove anyone to start with the best quality of water possible..

After all isn’t reefkeeping really more “water keeping” than anything?

 

[Tamberav]

I use tap for my TTM tanks with prime and it has no negative effects I can see. Copperband, China wrasse, leopard wrassand so on are doing fine.

I figure if it’s good enough for my FW fish then it is good enough for saltwater ones.

It has chloramine but has been fine. I can’t say every persons tap would be fine.

I know that’s not the same as a reef tank but saves making a lot of water for TTM.

 

[vlangel]

Quick question, what about washing hands or other things using tap water and using it right away in the tank... will it have a bad impact to the fish, corals and other animals?

I have used tap water for my reef for years. I did set up an rodi unit about 6 years ago but have not changed the filters for years. I run both hoses (the filtered and the discharge water) in my brute can to make my seawater. I cannot say that all tap water is ok nor can I say that all reef animals will thrive in tap. All I can say is my reef has done very well with tap water and 'not really filtered' rodi water.