Softened water?

[Dearth]

Yesterday I helped a friend setup a 14 gallon bio cube from Petland for salt water use we got him sand I gave him 2 rocks I wasn't using and gave him 25 gallons of my stand by salt water. Now we are just letting his tank cycle but I have a question. He can't afford a RO RO/DI unit due to cost atm and while I can make up his salt water for him he was wondering about using tap water that's been softened?

He is on well water not city water and uses water softener and his question is would it be safe to use softened water to make salt water? I know that some people use tap water with no issues but will softened water from a well do damage?

In the mean time I will make his water when I do a batch for myself any help or comments is appreciated.

[whatcaneyedo]

He could buy filtered water in those 5 gal jugs and then he wouldn't have to worry. I think it costs $2 at those refill stations. Or send him my way and I'll do it for $1. My experience with well water is that it generally has a lot of dissolved minerals in it. For instance the city water from my tap has about 110ppm TDS while my father who is on well water near Quesnel is over 400ppm TDS. I lack the testing equipment and the desire to find out what all of that is. Instead I decided a long time ago to just use RO/DI filtered water and eliminate the risk so that I would know exactly what was going into my tank.

[craigwmiller]

When I setup my first salt water (JBJ 12 Gallon) I was set on running it on tap water. Heck, I had been using tap water with my fresh water tanks for a couple decades with no problem...

Well, in my experience, it was not cool to do that (I had algae in all the wrong places BIG and FAST), and so within 6 weeks I had a RO/DI system running in my basement (<$300 all in from aquasafecanada). I had contemplated buying water and hauling it around, but after a quick discussion with my spine it wasn't going to happen :lol: And I also bought a water cooler/heater at the same time, and we now use the RO water for drinking/cooking/etc which is far more healthy also!

(Edmonton's water is about 170-210 TDS)


Not really a direct answer, but my experience -- for salt water I won't use anything but 0 TDS water again. (if you are buying from a LFS or otherwise, make sure to test the TDS of it too before you buy ;)

[Dearth]

Had lunch with my friend today he is going to save up for a RO system until then I will provide him with th water

[canadianbudz604]

Some people have no problems what so ever using tap water but I suppose how clean the water is. I wonder what it reads on the tds meter in Prince George. Last time we checked here in surrey it was 10ppm. Buying 5g jugs from the store isn't that bad when u just have a small nano. Also it will help ur friend learn to make his own saltwater. The culligan water we by from Safeway reads 3ppm.

[gobytron]

http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/ro-aptwp/Aquarium+Pharmaceuticals+Tap+Water+Filter.html

This will get the job done.
Been using one for years and I know a few other reefers who use it without any unusual algae issues.