Is tap water safe?
- Thread starter Nathan2585
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I saw 2 really good posts.... "I used distilled from Walmart" good advice here.... "when was the last time you saw someone change the filter in the glacier machine?" This is a great point. I decided to give this glacier water a try one time. While the water was running I could smell chlorine in it, obviously not rodi. I checked the tds the next day and it was over 200. It was plain tap water.....
Water is the single largest ingredient in a reef tank and everything depends on its quality and its stability.
Tap water changes, a storm blows through and treatment methods and chemical additions change, or one shift operator does things differently than the next. Or Joe Contractor digs up the water main down the street and causes a cross connection with the parallel sanitary sewer line, happens all the time. Or your neighbor has a hose stuck in a tree well or horse trough and the water gets shut off for some reason and fertilizer or worse gets sucked back in the line.
The point is you have absolutely zero control over the tap water quality and it can change without notice. You could be making up a batch of new water and not even know it.
A reef quality RO/DI system will cost you about $140 at places like Spectrapure, Buckeye Hydro or PurelyH2o and pay for itself many times over. You can even add a drinking water kit for around $60 and get the best of both worlds, RO/DI for the reef and great tasting, safe RO only water for drinking, cooking and the ice maker.
If you can't afford a system then the advice to use distilled water is the next best thing. The purple cap bottles at WalMart get good reviews and are cheap as far as purchased water goes, not the nickel a gallon you can make your own for but less than a dollar.
Tap water changes, a storm blows through and treatment methods and chemical additions change, or one shift operator does things differently than the next. Or Joe Contractor digs up the water main down the street and causes a cross connection with the parallel sanitary sewer line, happens all the time. Or your neighbor has a hose stuck in a tree well or horse trough and the water gets shut off for some reason and fertilizer or worse gets sucked back in the line.
The point is you have absolutely zero control over the tap water quality and it can change without notice. You could be making up a batch of new water and not even know it.
A reef quality RO/DI system will cost you about $140 at places like Spectrapure, Buckeye Hydro or PurelyH2o and pay for itself many times over. You can even add a drinking water kit for around $60 and get the best of both worlds, RO/DI for the reef and great tasting, safe RO only water for drinking, cooking and the ice maker.
If you can't afford a system then the advice to use distilled water is the next best thing. The purple cap bottles at WalMart get good reviews and are cheap as far as purchased water goes, not the nickel a gallon you can make your own for but less than a dollar.
There are plenty of other things in trap water that will not be removed with conditioner as well. Calcium, alkalinity, phosphate, nitrate, heavy metals, fluoride, sediment etc. Look at Paul B's writing on how zinc is added to his water supply occasionally to prevent corrosion in the NYC water system and the problems it has caused him. I know for a fact that the alk in my tap water is 14dkh. This would certainly cause plenty of issues by itself when mixing fresh saltwater that's designed to be mixed with 0.
The greatest chance for effects to tankwater calcium and alkalinity levels comes from the use of tap water or spring water (neither of which I recommend for reef aquaria). In a recent article describing concerns with the use of*tap water in reef aquaria, I showed that water from municipal water supplies can range from 0 to 93 ppm calcium and 0 to 5.5 meq/L alkalinity. Obviously, tap water with close to zero calcium and alkalinity will not appreciably impact the calcium and alkalinity balance. At the extremes, however, these values can have a large impact.
-Randy Holmes Farley
The greatest chance for effects to tankwater calcium and alkalinity levels comes from the use of tap water or spring water (neither of which I recommend for reef aquaria). In a recent article describing concerns with the use of*tap water in reef aquaria, I showed that water from municipal water supplies can range from 0 to 93 ppm calcium and 0 to 5.5 meq/L alkalinity. Obviously, tap water with close to zero calcium and alkalinity will not appreciably impact the calcium and alkalinity balance. At the extremes, however, these values can have a large impact.
-Randy Holmes Farley
ETORRES477
Active Member
Its all about the water quality in this hobby. Listen to others who have advised to get a RODI system before you act, if you not you will regret it later and probably quit. All you need is this BRS 4 Stage Value RO/DI System - 75GPD - Bulk Reef Supply
vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
Depends on the tap water. I've used it in fish tanks for over 30 years but ours is better than most. I knew the LFS that I bought from used it. I also know that I am in the minority of aquarist who use it, so statistically you are safer with RO/DI.
You guys make this to hard.
Answer:
FOWRL- Fish ONLY TANK, YES, you can use tap water, most don't care about what it looks like, they like the fish. Can they slowly over time move over to corals and RO water, absolutely.
REEF TANK- YES, you need to use RO water. Beaslbob will argue the point, but not many others will. Its easier, much easier and less headaches with RO and corals.
Answer:
FOWRL- Fish ONLY TANK, YES, you can use tap water, most don't care about what it looks like, they like the fish. Can they slowly over time move over to corals and RO water, absolutely.
REEF TANK- YES, you need to use RO water. Beaslbob will argue the point, but not many others will. Its easier, much easier and less headaches with RO and corals.
vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
Mine is a reef tank.
Would you consider it good advice to tell people to use treated tap water?
vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
No, I would not recommend it unless it was someone in my area where I know that it is OK.
tyler1503
2500 Club Member
People are too quick to judge. They (that's a general statement, I'm not accusing anyone of anything here) read online that some guy somewhere had an algae bloom and because he's either too lazy or too stupid to actually figure out what the root problem is, he blames tap water. He posts this online. Someone reads it and tells their friend. The friend then posts it online on a different forum. Then 20 people there read it. They tell 5 friends each. The 100 friends then post it online and it goes around in a big cycle. By the time joe blow reads it, the story had been changed from "****, after using tap water for a few years i have a small tuft of algae on my glass" to "I know a guy who read that some guys, friends, uncles, half brothers, nieces ex boyfriend splashed a drop of tap water in his and the whole thing exploded killing thousands. Don't do it man"
Yes tap water can be used and yes it can be used successfully. Some of the most beautiful tanks I've see seen have been tap water, prime and Red Sea coral pro salt.
Truth is (and this is fact, not my opinion, not my experience. Just plain old fact. It IS this way.) tap water can be used.
Is the best thing to use? No.
Does it have the consistency most people want? Generally not.
Will people say they told you so if you use it and something goes wrong? Yes.
Are there better alternatives out there? Yes.
But is it possible to have a nice looking, healthy, colourful tank? Definitely.
Would I recommend it? Well, even though it can be done successfully and after everything I just said. No I wouldn't. Unless for whatever you can't have RO or RODI.
Sorry about the rant. It's hard to stop when I get started lol.
Yes tap water can be used and yes it can be used successfully. Some of the most beautiful tanks I've see seen have been tap water, prime and Red Sea coral pro salt.
Truth is (and this is fact, not my opinion, not my experience. Just plain old fact. It IS this way.) tap water can be used.
Is the best thing to use? No.
Does it have the consistency most people want? Generally not.
Will people say they told you so if you use it and something goes wrong? Yes.
Are there better alternatives out there? Yes.
But is it possible to have a nice looking, healthy, colourful tank? Definitely.
Would I recommend it? Well, even though it can be done successfully and after everything I just said. No I wouldn't. Unless for whatever you can't have RO or RODI.
Sorry about the rant. It's hard to stop when I get started lol.
jordan banks
unregistered
There is quite a few of us all over oklahoma that use treated tap water for reefs. I do my tank has been set up for two years. My rodi unit is on it way in the mail now. Long term use of tap water in reef is not recommended. I can wait to see my coral really take off when I start using rodi water.
Daniel@R2R
Living the Reef Life
So...summing up your rant would be this: 
I made the mistake of trusting filtered water (my tap water run through a Kold-Steril filtration system), and I lived to regret it. I thought I was finding a happy medium between tap water and what was recommended (RODI). The algae outbreak I had was something I wouldn't even want in a FOWLR. Please learn from MY experience... I use RODI now and won't ever go back.
I made the mistake of trusting filtered water (my tap water run through a Kold-Steril filtration system), and I lived to regret it. I thought I was finding a happy medium between tap water and what was recommended (RODI). The algae outbreak I had was something I wouldn't even want in a FOWLR. Please learn from MY experience... I use RODI now and won't ever go back.
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hybridazn
Acro killer.....
I used tap water in my sps reefs for about 6 years. It helped that my tds is only 80 out of the tap. I never had any type of a algae outbreak either. I really only switched to rodi because I had a system and decided to hook it up finally 2 years ago.
tyler1503
2500 Club Member
So...summing up your rant would be this:
I made the mistake of trusting filtered water (my tap water run through a Kold-Steril filtration system), and I lived to regret it. I thought I was finding a happy medium between tap water and what was recommended (RODI). The algae outbreak I had was something I wouldn't even want in a FOWLR. Please learn from MY experience... I use RODI now and won't ever go back.
Yea pretty much lol.
I've used tap water for about 2 years now and have only had a single out break of algae, but that wasn't the tap waters fault. I was sold bad light tubes.
I continued doing water changes (with tap water) and it cleared up eventually. That's enough first hand experience for me to say my tap water is ok. After all, I got over a GHA outbreak while using it, instead of it making matters worse.
I fill my bucket up to the 5 gal mark, run a small internal filter and add a water Ager/ treatment overnight. I then fill the filter with carbon for another night, then on the 3rd day I add the salt. I'm considering running poly filter with/instead of carbon so I can see what colour it changes to.
mcarroll
10K Club member
Thing is you can read the same kind of horror stories from people using RODI water....cuz sometimes "stuff happens".
People do make tap water work, clearly, but it complicates things and cramps what else you can do with your water.
If you are GOING to use tap water, at least have a good idea what you are dealing with.
Get a copy of your city water report and look at that first. You should at least be able to see the typical nitrate levels. Phosphates are considered a "food additive", conveniently to Big Ag, so isn't even tested for. Get your tap water tested for phosphates. Ask your water department if they ever use phosphate treatments, ammonia treatments, etc and if you are close enough to the application site for it to impact you. If you're at the end of the line those things may never be detectable, but it's worth asking and the folks at the water department are always happy to talk about stuff like this IME.. Have a good plan for dealing with chloramines if your water has them. Chlorine water is bad enough, but can even be added directly to the tank in small quantities....chloramines, on the other hand, are REALLY nasty in all manner of biological ways. Much nastier. FYI, there are some brands of salt that mix a dechlorinator right in the salt mix...maybe worth looking into.
That should prepare you for water changes, at least.
Problem is, you still need top-off water and water to mix with additives like kalk or two-part. Tap water is no good for either one, depending on your cirumstance. You'll never mix kalk or calcium chloride properly with it to be sure. How do you folks using tap water handle these needs?
$0.02
-Matt
People do make tap water work, clearly, but it complicates things and cramps what else you can do with your water.
If you are GOING to use tap water, at least have a good idea what you are dealing with.
Get a copy of your city water report and look at that first. You should at least be able to see the typical nitrate levels. Phosphates are considered a "food additive", conveniently to Big Ag, so isn't even tested for. Get your tap water tested for phosphates. Ask your water department if they ever use phosphate treatments, ammonia treatments, etc and if you are close enough to the application site for it to impact you. If you're at the end of the line those things may never be detectable, but it's worth asking and the folks at the water department are always happy to talk about stuff like this IME.
. Have a good plan for dealing with chloramines if your water has them. Chlorine water is bad enough, but can even be added directly to the tank in small quantities....chloramines, on the other hand, are REALLY nasty in all manner of biological ways. Much nastier. FYI, there are some brands of salt that mix a dechlorinator right in the salt mix...maybe worth looking into.That should prepare you for water changes, at least.
Problem is, you still need top-off water and water to mix with additives like kalk or two-part. Tap water is no good for either one, depending on your cirumstance. You'll never mix kalk or calcium chloride properly with it to be sure. How do you folks using tap water handle these needs?
$0.02
-Matt
For the first 15 years I used treated tap water. I was the Operations Manager of the water company and knew its quality since I had direct control of it. They sold the utility to the City and the quality and more importantly stability changed. What used to be deep well water was now a blend or well and surface water and you never knew what the blend or its outcome would be. The pH, alkalinity, TDS and make up changed. The biggest change was the organics present in the surface water that had not been in the well water.
Needless to say my tanks suffered, FOWLR as well as Reef. Algaes appeared where there was none before, water became cloudy and had a smell and on and on. It was no longer stable, some days during low demands it was straight well water, by Friday as usage went up they would introduce surface water etc. Not worth risking the hundreds of dollars I had invested in fish and corals at the time (this was around 1982) so I started using RO only water from a local water and ice store. The TDS dropped from 800+ down to an average of 17-20 which was pretty good and the tanks improved. By 1985 I invested in my first RO system of my own and that TDS dropped to around 13-15. I soon added DI and it was 0 and the tanks never looked better. Today and 6 RO/DI systems later I would never even consider tap water again, even if I was the Manager like before. That hundreds of dollars in inhabitants became thousands of dollars and $140 is a tiny investment to help ensure they live a long life.
Needless to say my tanks suffered, FOWLR as well as Reef. Algaes appeared where there was none before, water became cloudy and had a smell and on and on. It was no longer stable, some days during low demands it was straight well water, by Friday as usage went up they would introduce surface water etc. Not worth risking the hundreds of dollars I had invested in fish and corals at the time (this was around 1982) so I started using RO only water from a local water and ice store. The TDS dropped from 800+ down to an average of 17-20 which was pretty good and the tanks improved. By 1985 I invested in my first RO system of my own and that TDS dropped to around 13-15. I soon added DI and it was 0 and the tanks never looked better. Today and 6 RO/DI systems later I would never even consider tap water again, even if I was the Manager like before. That hundreds of dollars in inhabitants became thousands of dollars and $140 is a tiny investment to help ensure they live a long life.
mcarroll
10K Club member
RODI systems don't maintain themselves, failures and wear can be hard to detect, stuff happens and people are lazy. There isn't much more to report. It's the best solution, not a perfect solution.
If you really want to read anecdotes, there are tons of people who've traced their algae and cyano oubreaks to a malfunctioning/neglected RODI system (whether they owned it or someone else). Some of the same kinds of water events AZ mentions can pass through an RODI filter if it's not prepared for it. Even chloramines can cause issues through an RODI filter. (From reading....never had this happen to my knowledge...but I don't monitor my RODI water for anything other than TDS.)
Knowing your source water to the best of your ability is undoubtedly the best first step.
Buying an RODI system (or at least RODI water) is still the best second step.
-Matt
If you really want to read anecdotes, there are tons of people who've traced their algae and cyano oubreaks to a malfunctioning/neglected RODI system (whether they owned it or someone else). Some of the same kinds of water events AZ mentions can pass through an RODI filter if it's not prepared for it. Even chloramines can cause issues through an RODI filter. (From reading....never had this happen to my knowledge...but I don't monitor my RODI water for anything other than TDS.)
Knowing your source water to the best of your ability is undoubtedly the best first step.
Buying an RODI system (or at least RODI water) is still the best second step.
-Matt
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