Tap water use.... Does anyone use treated tap water?

[Mr Cob]

low level review...

I used San Antonio tap for a year or two when I first started the hobby and ALWAYS had algae issues and difficulty keeping SPS (could obviously be because I was new), but when I switched to RO/DI, the algae problems left and SPS began to look purdy.

I guess for me, using RO/DI just rules out one source if things go bad or it at least limits the possibility of some potential problems. I can think of several people that have successfully used tap water on a reef....but they also had a few battles and they had to keep a strict water change schedule.

[roscozman]

Let me fist ask you what kind of corals are you keeping. That might make some difference.

[Jeff]

if you have sps or lps use rodi but for softies and planted macro tanks use tap. i ran a tank for a year using only tap water and very few fish in a planted macro tank and was very sucessful.

[TXSea]

if you have sps or lps use rodi but for softies and planted macro tanks use tap. i ran a tank for a year using only tap water and very few fish in a planted macro tank and was very sucessful.

I just have a couple of softies and one LPS. I already decided to not screw myself over by going cheap on the water. I've been very patient in setting up my tank and don't want to risk all the work because I wanted to save a little money. I may look into my own RO/DI unit down the road but for now I only spend 5 bucks a week roughly changing the water.

[hobogato]

jeff! nice to see you around i agree, for the best color and growth on sps, tap wont cut it. i use tap (run thru a carbon filter to remove chlorine) now and have used it on a mixed reef tank. everything lived and everything but the sps thrived. i also did not have a skimmer on that tank, so i am sure that had something to do with the less than perfect conditions for the sps as well