MikeG
Non-member
And we all know how good the towns are about telling you about contamination right? You are luckiy if it is a few days later. An RO/DI could help prevent a crash so to me it is worth it.
What problems did you have when using tap water?
- Thread starter Kungfukid
- Start date
And we all know how good the towns are about telling you about contamination right? You are luckiy if it is a few days later. An RO/DI could help prevent a crash so to me it is worth it.
Matt W
Chemist
MikeG says it best. Water quality from city feed varies seasonally, if there is work being done on your water main, big rain, drought, etc. And unless you are in the know, a chemist that tests the water every time prior to use, imho tap water is not worth the possible headaches or tank crash.
I am in charge of monitoring the water quality at a GMP manufacturing facility in Burlington. I can tell you that while the water is generally of good quality, it is not consistant.
Consistent water quality matters greatly.
jselzler1
Non-member
What about well water? I have mine tested bi-annually after it has passed through in-house filtration system and it is consistent. My in house filter purpose is to remove arsenic present in well water among other things. Arsenic becomes a non-traceable value after filtering.
I could post test results & you guys could tell me if acceptable or not. I am a beginner @understanding water chemistry needs of a reef tank. Can't wait until the september meeting.
I could post test results & you guys could tell me if acceptable or not. I am a beginner @understanding water chemistry needs of a reef tank. Can't wait until the september meeting.
Matt W
Chemist
I'd Love to have a look. While I am new to reef keeping, I got into reef keeping because of the chemistry. In fact, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of "Methods of Seawater Analysis, Third Edition
Copyright © 1999 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH; Editor(s): Klaus Grasshoff, Klaus Kremling, Manfred Ehrhardt"
Copyright © 1999 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH; Editor(s): Klaus Grasshoff, Klaus Kremling, Manfred Ehrhardt"
SteveDola
Good Tings
Ive had plenty of dealings with the water authority...I wouldnt trust anyone associated with that department to regulate my water.
it is obvious that alot of folks want to use tap...easier...cheaper. What do they know...I've been using tap forever without any issues. There's a reason all the experts and experienced reefers tell you to use rodi. It produces 0 tds water as your base. It's when you post later on in the forum and say....Help, I don't know why I'm having a hair algae outbreak...or I don't know why I have cyno or dino all over my sand and rock. All my water specs are fine. Now you know this could be reason why....off the soap box::
dannyp02908
Non-member
hair algae = free food for my yellow and kole tang.
dannyp02908
Non-member
Haha stitch. I'm going to respectfully disagree. I had hair algae once a long time ago ( I used uncured dead rock). It was nasty and everywhere. 1 week after a yellow tang, not a trace. I would call that on command. My buddy had nasty hair algae (very poor husbandry) and a tomini tang cleared it in 2 days. That's on command. I do give my tangs nori though. Just nothing else for them to graze.
SteveDola
Good Tings
Algea is not what I enjoy looking at in my tank.
Corals, fish. inverts---> yes
Green Hair ALgea is ugly and annoying to look at in my opinion. Ill feed Nori than to look at H.A. because of a phosphate problem from using tap water.
There are plenty of people that have battled H.A. problems and tried tangs with no solution to their problem. Even if a tang eats the H.A., youre only masking the systemic problem not treating the cause.
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dannyp02908
Non-member
I agree that hair algae is not attractive to look at. I don't have any. My tank is crystal clear. My phos test 2 weeks ago was 0 (api kit so take with a grain of salt) and I don't run GFO. I may have a little high nitrates (around 20) but I have an LPS dominate tank. They like a little dirty water.
Busted out the Hanna Phosphate checker and tested my Lowell tap water. I had tested it once a couple of years ago and new it was high, but couldn't remember. It reads 2.13. Quite ridiculous. I couldn't imagine the repercussions of using my tap water daily. I would have to assume crazy cyano and algae outbreaks and I don't think my sps or any corals would care for it very much. Plus it smells like bleach
dannyp02908
Non-member
are the people that are concerned about phosphates in tap using a refugium? Is it not true that in order for your refugium to consume nitrate, there has to be some phosphate present as well since the plant will need both? If I recall correctly, 3 things needed for plant growth: carbon, Nitrogen, Phos.
dannyp02908
Non-member
another question, since coralline is an algae, does it not require some phosphate for growth?
Low phosphate as a problem in a reef tank is pretty much unheard of. Hobbiest test kits (and even hanna checkers) are only so accurate and only go so low. Phosphate needs to be incredibly low to cause a problem, and we are contstantly importing it via food.
Phosphate is good at becoming a limiting factor for most nusiance algae when it's down to about .015 or less. .015 will test as 0 on most test kits.
I suspect the thinking that algae needs phosphate to grow in a refugim is more extrapolated from the thinking behind carbon dosing than anything we are likely to encounter in the hobby. (nitrate can/may become a limiting factor with carbon dosing, hence the common practice of running GFO with carbon dosing to keep the phosphate down. While in theory it could work the other way around with phoshpate becoming the limiting factor, in reality it is very very unlikely that would ever happen.
Also on another note, when talking about tap water in reef tanks of course importing phosphate and or nitrate can cause headaches, we shouldn't forget to consider some of the other stuff that RODI removes such as heavy metals and other toxins that we don't normally monitor, and often don't have the abiliity to monitor, in our tanks. Whatever comes in with that tap water is going to get concentrated over time (as water evaporates and we replace it with top off water) so that what may be harmless now, might cause unexplainable and potentially very significant problems in a year or two when it has built up to a harmful level.
Phosphate is good at becoming a limiting factor for most nusiance algae when it's down to about .015 or less. .015 will test as 0 on most test kits.
I suspect the thinking that algae needs phosphate to grow in a refugim is more extrapolated from the thinking behind carbon dosing than anything we are likely to encounter in the hobby. (nitrate can/may become a limiting factor with carbon dosing, hence the common practice of running GFO with carbon dosing to keep the phosphate down. While in theory it could work the other way around with phoshpate becoming the limiting factor, in reality it is very very unlikely that would ever happen.
Also on another note, when talking about tap water in reef tanks of course importing phosphate and or nitrate can cause headaches, we shouldn't forget to consider some of the other stuff that RODI removes such as heavy metals and other toxins that we don't normally monitor, and often don't have the abiliity to monitor, in our tanks. Whatever comes in with that tap water is going to get concentrated over time (as water evaporates and we replace it with top off water) so that what may be harmless now, might cause unexplainable and potentially very significant problems in a year or two when it has built up to a harmful level.
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jselzler1
Non-member
My well water test results prior to adding a salt mix? Consistent year to year. All units MG/L (= ppm) Good enough?
Coliform Bacteria - absent
Arsenic - <0.01
Calcium - 16.7
Copper - <0.01
Iron - <0.01
Lead - <0.001
Magnesium - 8.6
Manganese - <0.005
Potassium - <1.0
Sodium - 8.8
Alkalinity - 75
Ammonia - <0.1
Chloride - 10.7
Chlorine - <0.02
Fluoride - <0.1
Hardness - 77
Nitrate - <0.05
Nitrite - <0.01
pH - 7.7
sediment - negative
sulfate - 10.3
Coliform Bacteria - absent
Arsenic - <0.01
Calcium - 16.7
Copper - <0.01
Iron - <0.01
Lead - <0.001
Magnesium - 8.6
Manganese - <0.005
Potassium - <1.0
Sodium - 8.8
Alkalinity - 75
Ammonia - <0.1
Chloride - 10.7
Chlorine - <0.02
Fluoride - <0.1
Hardness - 77
Nitrate - <0.05
Nitrite - <0.01
pH - 7.7
sediment - negative
sulfate - 10.3
