water

[DavidA717]

if RO-DI water is not available, what is the next best kind of water? is tap water alright after you remove chlorine and chloromine? is spring water ok? distilled?

 

[RigoSharon]

well,.. i use tap water after declorination, here we have good quality on tap water..

 

[bobby]

DI water is ok to. You can go to walmart and get ro out of the machine for .33 a gal but you have to bring oyur own cantainers, or you can get di water in gal jugs for .65 a gal. I would never use tap water it can put alot of heavy metals in your tank along with phosphates and nitrates. Most LFS's sell ro water and already mixed saltwater. My LFS sells RO for .69 and pre mixed for .99.

 

[yote]

Im with Bobby.I use the RO water from wally world most of the time.But use distilled some to.

 

[NewbReefer]

I agree with bobby, if you have access to RO/DI, DI, RO water i would use it tell you can afford to get a RO/DI filter, everyones tap water is different and usually contains nitrates and other toxins that you dont want in your tank.

 

[DavidA717]

true, but if you add water conditioner that removes Chlorine, Chloromine, and Ammonia and also detoxifies Nitrate and Nitrites. is that good enough to use on the tap?

The kind of conditioner i have is "Prime" freshwater & saltwater. made by seachem

 

[NewbReefer]

I would think it would be ok and would be alot better than straight tap water but i would still look into eventually getting a RO/DI unit or buy water by the gallon. there are other things in tap water that you dont want in your tank. and that way your not having to dose every time you add water.

 

[yote]

David,
Before you use tap water,get one of those reports from your water company.
According to the water quality report I just got,My tap water has 0.17ppm copper and 2.8ppb of lead.Those 2 right there are enough to convince me to get the water for my tanks else where.

 

[Doc]

Hmmm, my last message did not seem to post. I will try again.

Prime is an OK product. I have treated tap water with Prime before when I have "dipped" my fish. It seems to work in the short term. I would not trust putting any chemicals in my tank that I don't have to put in. If you are in a total pinch and you need to top off your tank, use it. Long term, you really need to use RO water. Your LFS should have an RO unit, or else, what do they use to care for their tanks? Good Luck.

-Dr Marco :sfish:

 

[bobby]

I would only use tap when in a pinch and walmart is too close for me to ever be in a pinch:D. Its cheap enough there at .33 why not use it.

 

[DavidA717]

i went to wal mart today to look for Deionized water and didnt see it, all i saw was distilled, drinking, and spring water? how good is distilled?

 

[bobby]

Distilled is DI water I do belive. Id what for someone else to say the same though. They should have had a RO machine there also if they dont most grocery stores have it.

 

[DavidA717]

oh wow, so you can use distilled? i never knew that since i was told to stay away from it for freshwater tanks

 

[bobby]

I believe but like I said wait for someone to back me up here I might be wrong.
I think its the jug I pick up sometime but its been awhile since I got the gal jug.

 

[CrypticAnimal]

Still ,that would have to be a big pinch, I trust doing that with my fresh water tanks(tap water) ,but I dont have as much to risk..I suggest E-bay you can find good deals on ro/di units..I paid 79.00 for mine..New

 

[yote]

I filled my 55 and 30 both with distilled.Use distilled for topoffs,and get to RO water out the machine for water changes.
I've been getting 10 gallons a week of the distilled,and 15 of the RO.

 

[fishbait]

oh wow, so you can use distilled? i never knew that since i was told to stay away from it for freshwater tanks[/QUOT

i think the only time you wouldn't want to use it in a freshwater tank is if you had a planted tank. the plants actually need all of the gunk that the ro/di process takes out. i have actually saw conditioners that add phosphates etc. back to the ro water for planted tanks. kinda defeats the purpose of ro huh?
the great value water that i buy from wally world says distilled water on the label. but, if you read the fine print it say processed by reverse osmosis, distillation, microfiltration, ozonation

 

[DavidA717]

oh sweet, thanks guys

 

[Bifferwine]

You also might want to be aware that most tap water conditioners will mess with protein skimmers big time, so if you do choose to use tap water and condition it with some sort of chemical, you may have to turn your skimmer off for a couple days.