Make-Up Water

[ChelseaBidwell]

Hi guys! I am new here and new to the saltwater aquarium hobby. I am pretty experienced and successful with freshwater. But this is all new to me. We just bought everything needed to start our 80 gallon saltwater aquarium. And we are going to build our sump this weekend. I've been reading a lot about how tap water is unsafe for the livestock in the aquarium. I am wanting to go ahead and start my cycling process when I finish the sump and have come across an article explaining how to shock tap water with chlorine and then dechlorinate it. Once I have done that, I have to filter it with activated carbon to rid of any metals that may have been in my tap water and it says I need to make sure all of the essential nutrients are present. I have purchased a dechlorinator that also removes all copper, iron, ect. My question is, how do I make sure that my make-up water has all the nutrients my livestock will need? I am doing this because I cannot get a RO/DI unit at the moment since I have spent well over $4,000 to start this tank. I want to start the cycling process and make sure I am cycling with water that is sufficient for the life of my future fish/corals. Has anyone done this and been successful or is there an easier way to do this besides buying pre-mixed water? Any help would be great! Thank you!

 

[Tastee]

Hi, lovely to hear from a new reefer and I wish you success in your journey. I was a FW aquarist that jumped into the reef hobby myself just under 2 years ago.

I initially filled my tank with tap water treated with Prime and had no issues during the cycle. My water supply (Sydney Australia) is pretty good however. TDS is 70-110 but I haven’t analysed the contents. Certainly no Chloramine. After that however I changed with RODI. Initially bought from the LFS and then after 6 months I bought my own RODI and setup a water station which I have used ever since. I was ok with various elements being introduced initially but as my tank matured and stabilised wanted much more control and certainty as to what went in. H2O evaporates, pretty much nothing else does and simply builds up over time if you keep adding it.

I can’t recommend treated tap water long term I’m sorry - simply to many undesirables to put into your tank.

I understand the expense however I would recommend your next investment be your own RODI. Apart from the trouble of shipping RO from the LFS you will have confidence in your supply. Until then I would buy RO/RODI from the LFS.

I also recommend your next investment after an RODI is an ATO of some description. This is the most important element of the tank to give you stability.

If you are planning to keep corals then number 3 is a dosing system for Alk, Ca, Mg and various trace elements.

As I said good luck and I look forward to seeing pics of the tank!

When mine was first setup.

2 weeks ago.