RO Water vs Tap Water (Edmonton)

[Nano]

Originally Posted by reefwars

if you must use tap water be sure to use prime when mixing new salt batches and top off water
welcome to te hobby any questions just shoot

I use prime in my tap water and my parameters are great, not perfect but darn close, I do use a tap filter to for heavy particles, but theres obviously as said still trace nutrients and elements in the water, ro di is nice, but its realy your call in the end, you can also use bottled water the distilled kind with no added nutrients, for usually 30-50 cents per gallon

[mike31154]

Your city should have water reports available on line. These will list all the good & nasty stuff in there & at what levels. Obviously it is drinkable, but when running a marine system, especially if you're looking at getting some corals & invertebrates such as anemones, RODI is definitely a worthwhile investment. I ran my tank for a couple of years with treated tap water before switching to RODI water. There's no doubt in my mind my tank is looking better every year since using pure water for changes, top up etc. Tap water here in Vernon runs upwards of 210 TDS. That's a lot of extra stuff, mostly not needed or beneficial, going into the tank, live rock, sand, livestock etc.

Being able to produce my own pure water has other benefits. I use RO water for coffee, tea, some cooking, wine making, beer making, mixing with gatorade for sports and so on. My daughter & partner also take advantage & I supply them with a jug full every so often. A month or so ago we were on a boil water notice, but since I had the RO system, I was able to get drinkable water through it without having to boil. Whenever I'm in the store now & watch folks buying cases of water in plastic bottles, I just smile and am thankful I invested a couple hundred bucks in a RODI system 3 years ago. It's more than paid for itself.

[MKLKT]

I looked at the acceptable amounts of trace elements for the local water here and the problem was that the amounts are enough that if in your tank would/could be a problem. Like nitrates are allowed up to 40ppm, etc. I only have a deionizer but it's nice being able to know which compounds are in your water, as I only do water changes every 4-6 months and it's about 30% max. When I do my parameters check it's exactly what I expect it to be because I know how much dosing I've done with pure water as a base.

[phyto4life]

I use nothing but tap water @ 170 ppm


difenately if you can afford rodi go with it, as using tap water is imo more for someone that can identify problems and solve them fast. There is no room for error using tap water and 1 extra fish or coral that requires feeding/poo's can throw things out of whack in a hurry. Not to mention the fish's growth etc

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by phyto4life

I use nothing but tap water @ 170 ppm


difenately if you can afford rodi go with it, as using tap water is imo more for someone that can identify problems and solve them fast. There is no room for error using tap water and 1 extra fish or coral that requires feeding/poo's can throw things out of whack in a hurry. Not to mention the fish's growth etc

Wouldn't even consider it in a reef tank, trace elements like copper from your house pipes will slowly build up in the tank and eventually absorbed in the live rock poisoning your invertebrates etc..

My local water (GVRD) is around 12-15 ppm and I use strictly DI

[SpruceGruve]

Originally Posted by Bryan

Wouldn't even consider it in a reef tank, trace elements like copper from your house pipes will slowly build up in the tank and eventually absorbed in the live rock poisoning your invertebrates etc..

My local water (GVRD) is around 12-15 ppm and I use strictly DI

this makes complete sense.

also i live by edmonton.
im not a salt guy,im a freshwater guy, and even with freshwater i need to use RO water to get certain fish to spawn.
not to mention you live in edmonton, your water is 7.8 and HARD.
some fish just wont do well in our city water

[Aquattro]

Well here's the thing. Lots of people use tap water and get away with it, with some degree of success. We measure success in reef tanks generally by the growth of the corals. My tank, for instance, now has thousands of dollars worth of successful coral growth and color...

Now what if something happens to suddenly contaminate my water supply? Cracked main taking in sewage or toxins? Contaminated tap water for a 40% water change could potentially wipe out my entire tank of coral. That would effectively end my participation in the hobby, forcing me to sell all my gear for next to nothing because I'm so depressed looking at the empty dead tank. I would lose thousands of dollars and it would take months to part it all out. THAT would be a waste of time and money.
Spending $200 or less on a RO unit could avoid the scenario above. To me, it seems like a pretty good insurance policy.

Will conditioned tap water work? Yup. Will it work every single time for the duration of my keeping a reef tank? Don't know....