Tap WATA (water)

[crossxfire2]

So, I know for a fact that I would be much more successful at keeping anemones using ro/di water, but I simply cannot afford it... but, by using tap water, what should I do to make sure the water is healthy enough for an anemone to thrive? Maybe, run carbon, etc?

[hobogato]

its gonna get alot more expensive if you have to keep replacing those anemones :wink_smile:

[tony]

can you afford not to?

i ran tapwater for the better part of 5 or 6 months and cant begin to count the problems i had because of it. namely the eleventy billion different algaes that flourished because of high phosphates

[erebus]

I agree with tony. I switched to tap water about 2 months ago and I have never had so much algaes on my glass. I use to clean it maybe once a week now to make it look the same I have to clean ever other day. Everything in my tank is doing fine and growing but my maintenance went through the roof! As soon as I can afford it I will be buying a ro/di system.

If you still decide to use tap all I add to it is "Prime".

[coraline79]

I have never ran anything but the evil tap in any tank I have ever owned. The algea you speak of is non existant, and my coral/fish generally thrive. I only have one saltwater, and it has been up for about 4.5 months, so maybe the problems are still to come, but all my chemistry is in range. I do have 4 freshwater tanks ranging from 10-60 gallons, and they have all been up for years on tap. one of them has been up since 1988.

[tony]

i never checked it vs tap water but the windmill water outlets in shopping centers worked for me on a nano once. walmart also has culligan dispensers in their stores. not sure what size tank you have but toting 5-10 gallons isnt that bad at $.25/gallon, at least til you save up for a RO unit

[aquasport24]

go to about.com and you will find a cheap and easy DIY REVERSE OSMOSIES FILTER. It takes a pvc pipe ,some end cap , filter bag and carbon and you will have a RO water.

[cpreefguy]

Or go to the windmill machines in front of HEB and get RO water. I used to do that before I invested in an RO/DI unit, great investment, dont use tap if you dont have to ;)

[erikharrison]

I have never ran anything but the evil tap in any tank I have ever owned. The algea you speak of is non existant, and my coral/fish generally thrive. I only have one saltwater, and it has been up for about 4.5 months, so maybe the problems are still to come, but all my chemistry is in range. I do have 4 freshwater tanks ranging from 10-60 gallons, and they have all been up for years on tap. one of them has been up since 1988.

Same here. Everyone that comes over and sees my tank is always kind of suprised when I tell them that I only run tap. I do have some SPS, but not too much. I haven't had any problems, but I am WAY overkill on my LiveRock and Live Sand. I have about 90 lbs in my display of sand and around 150lb of LR in there with it. In my fuge is another 30 lbs of LR and 60 lbs of sand. I do use an ATO which is 10g, so some stuff does evaporate. I also skim with an overrated skimmer. I haven't had any issues yet, and I have yet to figure out why.

[RayAllen]

There are a few on Maast that run tap and do not have problems. I have a water refining system on my entire home and a RO unit with UV under the kitchen sink so Im good to go.

[bronck83]

You can get distilled water from HEB/Wal-Mart for like $0.95 a gallon if you have a small tank. Look on ebay for RO/DI systems...they have new ones for under $150...6 stage with pressure tank.

[RayAllen]

When ever you do have the cash avoid buying from aquarium related stores. They will charge you way to much. By from water filtration companies. Like this for example

http://www.thefilterguys.biz/ro_di_systems.htm

$124 is a good deal to have a basic RO/DI system and that can be saved up relatively quickly

[blueboy]

please don't take offense, but if you can't afford RO water, i think you might be in the wrong hobby. seriously, what's in your tank that didn't cost more than a few gallons of RO water? i'm not trying to preach or anything, but perhaps it's that you'd prefer to spend on a fish or coral? if so, i'd say your priorities for your tank are in the wrong order, and that your days are numbered. better to have few inhabitants in a nice system with adequate equipment, than an inadequate system full of suffering inhabitants! trust me, in the end, it's the only way to go!

[Bill S]

Dittos the above. I've been in this hobby for 35 years. RO/DI is one of the BEST discoveries for reef tanks. I just switched out my filters 2 weeks ago, and can already see the difference.

BTW, most phosphate kits will NOT detect all phosphates. It may show zero, but isn't zero.

I bought both of my units from: www.aquasafecanada.com (http://www.aquasafecanada.com). His best deals are on ebay, though.

A final note on anemones. Your best bet is to ALWAYS purchase clones/aquacultured ones. You will have a lot more success that way. I occasionally have Rose BTAs. Mine are now at least 3 years old.

[captexas]

There are traces of lots of stuff found in our tapwater. Be nice to have a comparison to the saltwater where most of our fish/corals are collected from. Check out this link on the SAWS site -

http://www.saws.org/our%5Fwater/waterquality/Report/charts.shtml

[captexas]

Here's info from another page of the SAWS website.

Contaminants that may be present in source water include:

Microbiological contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations and wildlife. Cryptosporidium is an example of a microbiological contaminant affecting surface water sources.
Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals which can be naturally-occurring or result from urban stormwater runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining or farming;
Pesticides and herbicides, which may have a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban stormwater runoff and residential uses;
Organic chemical contaminants which are by-products of industrial processes and petroleum production and can also come from gas stations, urban stormwater runoff and septic systems and;
Radioactive contaminants, which can be naturally occurring or the result of oil and gas production and mining activities.

[erebus]

As soon as Christmas is over I plan on buying one is there any difference in the cheap ones you can buy on ebay?

[blueboy]

that's were i got mine, it's a great unit. i believe it was water general?

[bronck83]

just search "ro/di" on ebay, almost all of them are under $150, or you can spend $400 for a "name-brand"

[crossxfire2]

please don't take offense, but if you can't afford RO water, i think you might be in the wrong hobby. seriously, what's in your tank that didn't cost more than a few gallons of RO water? i'm not trying to preach or anything, but perhaps it's that you'd prefer to spend on a fish or coral? if so, i'd say your priorities for your tank are in the wrong order, and that your days are numbered. better to have few inhabitants in a nice system with adequate equipment, than an inadequate system full of suffering inhabitants! trust me, in the end, it's the only way to go!


Well, the plan was to get one anemone... I acutally have had great success with SW fish for 2 years now..but anyway, thank you for pointing me in the right direction. I guess I was stupid when it came to that. Before I buy any sensitive inverts like that, I will start using ro water first for water changes. I do a 20% water change at least twice a month. I have a 55 gallon. How many water changes do you think I should perform before the water really starts becoming ro/di? Did that make any sense?

[crossxfire2]

Same here. Everyone that comes over and sees my tank is always kind of suprised when I tell them that I only run tap. I do have some SPS, but not too much. I haven't had any problems, but I am WAY overkill on my LiveRock and Live Sand. I have about 90 lbs in my display of sand and around 150lb of LR in there with it. In my fuge is another 30 lbs of LR and 60 lbs of sand. I do use an ATO which is 10g, so some stuff does evaporate. I also skim with an overrated skimmer. I haven't had any issues yet, and I have yet to figure out why.

I think you just explained yourself Erik, haha!

[Bill S]

Seriously, Erik. Buy an RO/DI unit! You do EVERYTHING else right... why not the water? A decent RO/DI unit is $100...

As for the other questions. Big water changes are also my mantra. 2-3x a month, 5-10 gallons on my 55, and 37 gallons on my 215. Water changes are cheap...

[apedroza]

Buy an RO/DI!!!!! It's is well worth it. Especially if you want you critters to be happy!!!

[RayAllen]

Here's info from another page of the SAWS website.

Contaminants that may be present in source water include:

Microbiological contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations and wildlife. Cryptosporidium is an example of a microbiological contaminant affecting surface water sources.
Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals which can be naturally-occurring or result from urban stormwater runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining or farming;
Pesticides and herbicides, which may have a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban stormwater runoff and residential uses;
Organic chemical contaminants which are by-products of industrial processes and petroleum production and can also come from gas stations, urban stormwater runoff and septic systems and;
Radioactive contaminants, which can be naturally occurring or the result of oil and gas production and mining activities.

When we had the water refining company out to pitch us the sale of our water refining unit/softner/RO systems they tested the water. It was disgusting learning what we had been drinking and it made perfect since why we had water spots on everything........

[crossxfire2]

EW! Well I'm glad that you got your water softner!

[Bill S]

Before I bought my first RO/DI unit, I wondered why I couldn't get my nitrates to reduce. Then I tested our SAWS tap water, and found around 10ppm of nitrates!

[erikharrison]

I have one, just haven't bought all of the filters! I really don't know where to start. I think I'll have to order a new one, since I have no idea what is what.

[hobogato]

take a pic of what you have and post it - im sure we could figure out what the parts are.

[Bill S]

Erik, if the membrane has not been properly pickled, it's likely toast. At that point, you may be better off ordering a whole new one. I got one that was used, a Coralife piece of junk, and I ended up spending more fixing it than I did buying new!

[captexas]

Erik -
A new RO membrane is only like $40 if yours really needs replacing. The other filters (sediment/carbon/DI) aren't that much. Check out one of our past sponsors www.buckeyefieldsupply.com (http://www.buckeyefieldsupply.com) . I haven't ordered from them, but I've heard good things from other Maast members.

[caferacermike]

I was going to say Buckeye.

The units on Ebay are junk. The filters ARE crup!. I bought a nice second hand unit and bought new filters from Ebay, cost me $100 for 3 complete sets. Bargain, h-e double hockey sticks no. I was getting 75TDS out of my final water. It was seriously funny reading the bunk they wrote on the filters in broken stop engrish. Garbage.

For the SAME money I could have bought GENUINE DOW FILMTECH from Buckeye. I bought yet another second hand unit, even with used Dow membranes and slightly used DI resin I got 000TDS from the same source.

IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE.

Buckeye sells an economy unit for about $125 75GPD with GENUINE FILMTECH membranes and high quality DI resins. That beats ANY $99 Ebay special everyday.

[caferacermike]

Oh and I'm sure Russ from Buckeye will chime in any moment, not an official sponsor of the site but the guy finds time to visit us and straighten out our messes with RO units here at MAAST. Show me one Ebay retailer that has ever walked us through our issues.

I wholeheartedly plan to replace the 4 spun/carbon filters, 3 100GPD DOW RO membranes and 3 huge canisters of DI resin from them before I fill the 400g tank.

[mattymalcolm]

i used tap water in the past and had an algae bloom all my water turned green and killed a bunch of stuff and also i got crazy hair algae. River city charges a $1 for a 5 gallon for di water thats the best bet if you dont have a ro di. Purley h2o has good deals on ro di units.

[Bill S]

Mike, I hear you. HOWEVER, I've used the guys at www.aquasafecanada.com (http://www.aquasafecanada.com) for several years, with OUTSTANDING support AND good quality products. Is he slightly more expensive than the others? Yup. But his filters, components, membranes and SUPPORT are very good.

I'm also surprised that Russ from Buckeye hasn't chimed in. Their support is just plain outstanding, and if I were buying again, I'd certainly consider going there.

[crossxfire2]

So the buckeye would definatly be the way to go?

[erikharrison]

I got it from Michael. I think he sent me all of the specs but I deleted them. :( The 15th, I'll hopefully have recovered from all of this Christmas spending :whew:

[demodiki]

I just got the Value system from Buckeye after struggling with the $99 Ebay special for 3 years...I don't know why I put myself through all that heart ache. I think it came to something like $138 shipped.

Great product.

[razermouse]

I bought my RO/DI unitt from one of our members- Marc Levenson (www.melevsreef.com (http://www.melevsreef.com)). It was an easy install. My thought process was that if I use a product endorsed by a guy with a killer reef system like his, I couldn't go wrong.

I was buying water premade from Aquarium Designs for changes to my 28 gallon. The other nice benefit from the unit is having high quality drinking water for my family.

[BuckeyeHydro]

Have we been a sponsor for that long? Yeow!