Tap water to cycle a tank?

[DarkHorseMBA]

Hello everyone,
Ordered the dry rock this AM, and went by the LFS to pick up salt mix, sand and what not. I was talking to the manager of the store, and getting some pointers from him on setting up my tank and the hobby in general. The guy surprised me with a bit of info, he said that I should use tap water in my salt mix to cycle the tank. Since I was going to do massive water changes there was no use in putting the money and effort into RO water. AFTER the tank was cycled I could optionally use RO water for top offs and water changes.

The guy was super helpful, and seem to know his stuff.
I planned to use RO from the get go, but starting with tap would be so much easier.
What do you guy think of tap water for cycling?

BTW...
I'm in San Antonio, on city water, if that helps.

DarkHorse.

[ErikH]

I used tap for a long time, however.....

There are many metals and minerals in our tap water which is not advisable to add to a SW fish tank. A wise man once told me "We want as large a buffer for our system stability that we can have" and I have to say I agree.

[Reefer4ever]

I would not use tap water at all! Only RO/DI!

[Big_Pun]

there is no prob using prime and cycling tank with tap, I've done it before with no I'll affects. this was brand new tank dry rock new sand. I've seen others do this as well

[Reefer4ever]

I have never heard of this.

[Big_Pun]

I have never heard of this.

how long have been in this hobby

[Mr Cob]

Yeah I have done it before too....it was so easy to just throw the hose in the tank and wait for her to fill up....HOWEVER....I think it's worth starting with RO/DI. Both large systems that I have done this with had micro algae problems that lasted well beyond the cyano cycle period....whether it was cause of the tap water or not is another story I guess. But by starting with good RO/DI I could have ruled out the water if I still had micro algae problems.

But....that's just my experience. Up to you.

[Reefer4ever]

how long have been in this hobby

A year as of October 20 but I started looking at forums and the internet about six months before then. I am only 14 years old so I am sure some of you have been in this hobby longer than I have been alive.

[ErikH]

I used tap out of the hose to help fill my 200, but most of it was from my 75 with my 100g rubbermaid sump.

I did use tap for over a year, skimmerless, on a SPS tank. San Antonio tap ain't turribul (Charles Barkley voice) but it's not the best. It's always best to err on the side of caution.

[cbianco]

Guess it just depends on the risk your willing to run/take.

There are people here on the forum use tap water for top offs and water changes but would be "out-casts" if they admitted to it. As Erik said earlier, "San Antonio tap water ain't terrible" but it isn't anything to write home about either! Lol.

Pick your poison, excess money or possible contaminates.

Christopher :)

[Gseclipse02]

i can say that a lot of the tanks we have set up we generally start up with tap water.... most times its not really possible to bring 100+ gallons of water


AI am only 14 years old .

this explains alot sorry if my post ever came off as mean :)

[Roo&Lis]

Starting with tap sets a bad trend imo

[tony]

the only absolute in this hobby, is there are no absolutes

a lot depends on the water quality, size of the tank, etc . . .

[tiger_eyed1]

Just note that any impurities in the tap water will be absorbed by the rock, only to be leached back into the water over the year(s). Compare the TDS coming out your tap to what comes out your RO/DI. What are the results? Remember that the water will evaporate; the impurities stay behind unless removed. Guess where the impurities are being stored over the years.
In my opinion, the cost of using RO is far less that your time and pain of resolving the potential consequences of using tap.
I guess the question we should have asked is, how big is the tank and what do you plan to keep? For a fish only, not so bad to use tap and water conditioner for cycle. If you plan to keep reef, I’d only use RO/DI.

[DarkHorseMBA]

The tank is 75G, reef. Since it's my first reef tank I'll stick to RO water. I can get RO from HEB, Windmill, until I figure out my RO unit.

[neogenix]

I started off with water from Walmart actually, it was really easy to go in at like midnight and fill up a few buckets as they have usually 2 of those water machines in the back. You don't have to worry about shoving coins in or anything, just full yer buckets up, and go to the register... what was more complicated was getting 20G of water into a 350Z...