water question, sorry for posting so much..

[sicklids]

i live in Oklahoma, so my water is very hard. lots of calcium and lime in the water, is this a good or a bad thing? i read alot of stuff talking about calcium being good so i was just wondering.

[yote]

Even though the waters got calcium in it,Its also got things that could cause you all kinds of nightmares.Stuff like copper,nitrates,phosphates and such.
It'd be safer for your tank to either use RO/DI or distelled water.

[sicklids]

i see. the water we have in my town comes from a natural spring, but its ran through a "refinery type system". i know its really hard alkaline water.

[yote]

Our local water is the same.But theres really no way of knowing what the water companys putting in it.So I use the RO water that wal-mart sales.Its 33 cents a gallon,which aint bad for a weeks supply of 25 gallons.20 for water changes,and 5 for top off.

[sicklids]

sounds like a plan to me, think i will just do the same.

[Piggy]

Ro/DI water is better for your tank. At least you have a better idea of what's in it.

[Bifferwine]

Most LFS will sell RODI water too. Mine sells it for cheaper than Walmart or the grocery stores do. If you have a large system, it does pay off to buy yourself an RODI unit eventually.

[Doc]

I would get used to using RO water. It is the best for your tank. Regardless of how good you think your local water supply is, unless it is RO water, your tank will likely suffer from using the local water supply.

My LFS gives loyal customers free RO water. I probably lug 60 gallons of free water around each week. It would be worth checking out your LFS

-Doc