I'm in the process of setting up my first reef tank, and I am wondering if I can get away with using tap water instead of RODI water.
I live in Colorado, which means I'm at the top of the watershed, and the tap water quality seems generally quite good. Using API tests, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all at undetectable levels, carbonate hardness (kH) is 1-2 degrees, general hardness (GH) is 3-4 degrees, and pH is around 7.4-7.6. I use tap on all my freshwater tanks without much of a problem. I have no idea what calcium, magnesium, and phosphate are.
I think I'll buy more tests (e.g. calcium, magnesium, and phosphate) and a salt mix, mix up some saltwater with the tap, and test it. If everything looks good I'll probably try using tap for the time being. I'm hopeful that the low initial alkalinity will mean the mixed saltwater will be pretty low. I use seachem prime as a dechlorinator.
The only things I'm worried about missing are copper and silicon. Local water quality reports say that the 90th percentile for copper measurements done in the water district was ~0.1 mg/L. This seems somewhat high. However, I've been keeping dwarf shrimp and pagaoda snails for years in this tap water which seems to indicate that the copper levels aren't too bad? For silicates I have no idea. My freshwater tanks all get diatoms when they first start up, but they clear like normal as the tank ages same as any other tank.
For reference, I only plan on keeping soft corals and LPS in this first tank.
I live in Colorado, which means I'm at the top of the watershed, and the tap water quality seems generally quite good. Using API tests, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all at undetectable levels, carbonate hardness (kH) is 1-2 degrees, general hardness (GH) is 3-4 degrees, and pH is around 7.4-7.6. I use tap on all my freshwater tanks without much of a problem. I have no idea what calcium, magnesium, and phosphate are.
I think I'll buy more tests (e.g. calcium, magnesium, and phosphate) and a salt mix, mix up some saltwater with the tap, and test it. If everything looks good I'll probably try using tap for the time being. I'm hopeful that the low initial alkalinity will mean the mixed saltwater will be pretty low. I use seachem prime as a dechlorinator.
The only things I'm worried about missing are copper and silicon. Local water quality reports say that the 90th percentile for copper measurements done in the water district was ~0.1 mg/L. This seems somewhat high. However, I've been keeping dwarf shrimp and pagaoda snails for years in this tap water which seems to indicate that the copper levels aren't too bad? For silicates I have no idea. My freshwater tanks all get diatoms when they first start up, but they clear like normal as the tank ages same as any other tank.
For reference, I only plan on keeping soft corals and LPS in this first tank.