Water Help!

Hey guys,

Well i got the tank fixed and about to move to the next stage of getting this set up. Next thing i need help with is what type of water to use. I know RO/DI is the BEST water but lets say that is not an option(i have a mustang with subs in the trunk and just no room to be jugging water around and dont have an easy way to hook up a home ro/di due to the setup of my house), i need help deciding between two other choices.

I live in San Antonio Texas where we have VERY VERY hard water due to our water source being a limestone aquifer. Now I have a water softener attached and i can use that water also.

I tested the water and the water softener removes almost all of the general hardness but leaves the carbonate hardness. so do i go with tap water that is high in general and carbonate hardness or the soft water that has very little general hardness but still high in carbonate hardness.

The tank will be a live rock, fish tanks for a while then later down the road i will had a very few live coral.

Thanks for the inputs guys.

-ray

 

Get your own RO/DI and won't have to lug water around
I would not be using anything else at home if you have a water softener.

 

the water softener has a shut off value so i can by pass it if i ever want hard water. i do it when i water the grass.

I had a fresh water discus tank that need soft water so i used it then but on the reef tank i wasnt sure if they did better with soft or hard water.

if they need hard water i can turn off the softener when im needing it for the tank.

 

they need clean water with no copper, chlorine, chloramines, hard metals, or other contaminates. it does not matter if your water is hard, the salt mixes have all the "hardness" you need. they make RODI units that simply screw on and off of your faucet... do you have a faucet?

 

ok well the softner gets rid of most of that. and its alot better than tap.

I guess the real question is do reef tanks do better with general hard water or general soft water. cause i know the fresh water tanks i was doing needed soft water. and the chliclid tanks i have done in the past needed hard water.

 

if you go with any regular water, i think youre gonna have big time problems as annie said. too many "extras" in regular water that RO gets rid of. personally i wouldnt gamble with the amount that you will be investing in your tank,

 

Thanks for the replies but RO/DI is not an option right now. as i said in the opening post i already know RO/DI is the best choice but sorry i only have two choices. I have seen tanks that have worked on tap water here in san antonio.


So i just wanted to know whether the soft water would be a step up or step down, since its already here and can be used or not used with a turn of a valve.

 

i hope all works out well for you agent.

 

thanks for all the help guys!...guess im just gonna go with the soft water since the salt mix has the hardness in it. already.

gonna start filling it up today!!!!

 

Do you have a link for one of these? Im a noob to the salt water world myself. So far I have been buying distilled water and that is getting old. I have my 80g tank open so I get alot of evaporation. I was wanting to get something set-up at my house where I could just turn the sink on fill some jugs with water and top the tank of. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

Take this unit for example http://www.aquariumpros.com/p-KEN00945,ROas.html
Can I just hook my hose up to it and turn it on and it will produce 10 gallons of water that I can top off my tank with?