Is tap water ok for...

[Flyride95]

Hello everyone. Im new to saltwater so im sorry in advance. My question is can I use tap water when first constructing the tank and then letting it cycle for a month and it be ok? And if not then where can I get ro/di water from or saltwater?

[Kristy]

Some folks prefer to do it that way (with tap water) so it's probably ok, especially if you are going to go through a full cycle anyway. When you are ready to get RO/DI there are several local fish stores that sell it by the gallon (salted or otherwise). I know we bought from Aquarium Designs when we were new to the hobby and again recently during an emergency. We also have bought water from that Windmill place in the parking lots of HEBs.

[alton]

Depends where your tap water comes from and if you have tested it for anything? When I worked off of West Avenue and IH10 the tap water there was not the greatest, Nitrates where at 10ppm.

[ktipp]

Welcome. When I started in May '12, I heard it was okay and i also heard that it was not okay by experienced reefers and LFS's.

Based on what I learned, if budget is not a problem and the tank is small enough for you to get water from the LFS without making too many trips, that would be the way to go.

If you decide to use tap water, add Prime or any product that removes Chlorine, Chloramine, etc.

I also added Microbacter7 to help cycle.


Good luck,
KT

[ktipp]

Flyride95, are you doing a FOWLR or Reef?

[Flyride95]

Right now I'm making a fowlr at first. Only because I'm moving in 6 months but after I move reef all the way. And thank you for yOur input everyone.

[Big_Pun]

I started my 150g reef with tap water and prime. the key is a good dechlorinator, prime also does a lot more. I also ran gfo and a good carbon then changed them after 3 weeks. if you use all live rock from a established system or a good store, it also reduces "cycle" I have had no problems setting up tanks this way. I'll be setting one up later today exactly this way and will have fish in it in next couple days.

"Prime® also contains a binder which renders ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate non-toxic. It is very important to understand how those two functions work together. All dechlorinators operate through a chemical process known as reduction. In this process, toxic dissolved chlorine gas (Cl2) is converted into non-toxic chloride ions (Cl-). The reduction process also breaks the bonds between chlorine and nitrogen atoms in the chloramine molecule (NH2Cl), freeing the chlorine atoms and replacing them with hydrogen (H) to create ammonia (NH3)."