Tap Water

I have been reading a lot and a lot of articles recommend using RO water. Is it not safe to use tap water? I don't know if the extra chems in city water is bad for reefs, but it is beneficial for FW plants.

Would I be able to raise corals on Tap Water or am I stuck to RO only? Are there any risks?

 

The biggest problem is the extra minerals,phosphates, and even sometimes copper. You will have alot of problems with algae, etc. RO/DI is the way to go. They are not that expensive, reletively speaking in this hobby. Around 100 to 150 will get you one that will work just fine. Old addage, Pay now, or pay later!!!

 

I made the mistake of trying tap water when I started... major algae issues. As soon as I switched to RO/DI the algae situation improved. Trust all those articles... use RO/DI. I have limited experience but wouldn't go back after seeing the difference.

M

 

I used tap, terrible... On another note quikrete sand a month in with RO and i'm still good (now that I blocked the window). Still learning but what i've learned is this ... If its cheap, dont bother

 

well i have used tap without any problems of algae or anything.. but i upgraded to RO just to have better quality.. i would still recommend ro.

 

It really depends on your water. There are people on here that use it with no issues and have seen no difference between ro and tap. Just make sure you treat it and you should be fine depending upon the initial water quality. I use tap my self and never really saw any issues. I think if you use tap and a phosphate reactor there is no difference.

 

RO/DI water is the ideal solution, anything else is risky and could cause problems (but won't necessarily). There are lots of risks to using tap water, if you have any copper plumbing it could leech into the water and kill inverts, if your city changes the chemicals they're using to process the water it could cause problems, like people have said it can cause algae issues if the water contains phosphates or nitrates.
It works great for some people but they're still running a risk of their source water changing at some point. With RO/DI you are running with the purest source water possible which gives you the best chance of success keeping sensitive marine fish/coral.

 

Tap water is inconsistent at best, it can change day to day or hour to hour. An RO/DI is a wise i vestment and jus ta drop in the bucket compared to the cost of our lighting, pumps, corals and rock. Remember the single largest ingredient in a reef system is by far water, so its wise to use the best you possibly can since a reef tank is a closed environment and concentrates everything you put in it over time.