What type of water or filtering do you use?

[mark]

Just wondering what type of filtering people use (or don't use).

[milesj250]

just tap water. i have to truck it in.

[ElGuappo]

Just tap water sometimes dechlorinater but my salt has one in it . i also premake my water and store at room temp.

[Myka]

RO/DI for me. Once you go RO/DI you never go back!

[Whatigot]

Originally Posted by Myka

RO/DI for me. Once you go RO/DI you never go back!

hahaha...
yeah, cuz you just dropped 200-500 bucks on the RO/DI unit...lol...

[kwirky]

I'd say from firsthand experience that using calgary tapwater for marine can create some challenges. I've found most people using tapwater end up with a calcium of around 300-400 ppm and a dkh sky high at 10-13 dKH (from testing water for people at the store). It makes acclimating things from systems using RO/DI more time consuming and sometimes more difficult; it also causes a small amount of preciptation in the tank thus affecting water clarity.

the hidden toxicity of tapwater is never really an issue with calgary water because we have pretty clean water and I've never really seen problems with nitrates during spring. I just thing going RO/DI helps with alkalinity and calcium ballancing and chemicals like prime affect protein skimmers.

Anybody have information on prime detoxifying ammonia? I read somewhere that ammonia testkits will still read there's ammonia because it's converted to "ammonium" or something. It's non-toxic but can cause people to still think there's ammonia in their system and end up taking unessessary measures. Haven't been able to find much info on this. anybody have a link?

[bigmac]

I started out with tap water (fairly clean in Calgary, right?); then switched to buying RO water with UV sterilization from Superstore (pain in the butt). But I still can't help but wonder how often they service their water system.
I am now currently awaiting the delivery of a booster pump for my new RO/DI system (as my water pressure is a measly 30 psi). I look forward to making sure I have the best water possible.

[fkshiu]

Originally Posted by kwirky

Anybody have information on prime detoxifying ammonia? I read somewhere that ammonia testkits will still read there's ammonia because it's converted to "ammonium" or something. It's non-toxic but can cause people to still think there's ammonia in their system and end up taking unessessary measures. Haven't been able to find much info on this. anybody have a link?

That's correct. Seachem's website - which has a lot of other useful information BTW - talks all about it.

[super7]

The water in N. Delta is pretty good, so I use tap water. I do test the water before putting it into my reef. I use a DI for water changes but not for top up.

[JHG]

Ro/di.