| Reef Builders Forums » Saltwater Aquariums » New to the Hobby (Getting Started/Setting Up) » What is so bad about tap water |
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| New to the Hobby (Getting Started/Setting Up) Think you can upgrade to saltwater? Your probably very confused, but remember ask questions and you'll get your answers on here! |
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01-31-2007, 07:32 AM
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 What is so bad about tap water I have started on a quest to find out why I have to use RO/DI for top off water. Not that I am not willing to do this, I am just curious as to why I am doing this. No one has ever given me a real reason other than I am just not supposed to do it.  |
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01-31-2007, 07:53 AM
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| well all water is different, it really depends on your area and what’s in your water for the specific reasons. All "city water" has lots of chemicals in it because at one point it was waste water (yeah the stuff in the toilet) .. so things like chlorine and other chemicals are added to make it safe for drinking for us .. unfortunately some corals and fish are highly sensitive to these chemicals we add in. Also lots of city pipes and homes have copper based pipes .. that copper does leave deposits in the water as well and we know that those are harmful to invertebrates. I know my water was very high in phosphate (something we want to limit in an enclosed system) and over time my phosphate levels kept going up. So I got a phosphate reactor to counteract it but I was still going through a horrible algae and diatom bloom. Since I have started using ro-di (got a system from purelyh20.com 7 months ago) I have noticed a lot less bad algae (hair algae) and diatoms. I know corals are a lot more sensitive to correct water parameters than fish .. so if your doing a FOLWR (Fish Only With Live Rock) you should be ok .. |
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01-31-2007, 08:01 AM
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| Thanks for the info I only have LR and snails/crabs at this point and was just wondering what the fuss was about tap water. we are actually on ground water here, but you still get chlorine and copper piping. I will stick with the RO/DI to be safe, but was just curious as to what was the potential problems with tap. I guessed the chlorine could be an issue, but wouldn't have thought about the copper pipe. We actually used copper based anti-fowling paint on marine monitoring equipment here at work (before they were outlawed) so you think I would have thought of that. |
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01-31-2007, 08:12 AM
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| There are just alot of nasty things in the ground/well/city water that are not in seawater .. cheers |
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01-31-2007, 09:10 AM
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| Copper is something also that you REALLY want to be careful with. Copper will kill an entire tank if it is high enough in concentration. Try testing your water for copper content and try to keep it to a minimum if non-existant. Chlorine, and Chloromine are two other things that have to be gotten rid of in regular water. |
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