Our whole sand rinse thread is built on that question
tap doesn't sterilize our massive surface area rinses, its too brief of a rinse. the physical act of rinsing kills and removes more bacteria than the brief exposure to the low chlorine in the water
the rough dislodging associated with cleaning is the destruction to bac, and that's whether we're using salt, fresh water or tap.
ive plate counted and ran microbiological testing on extensive surfaces using various washes and rinses, including tap hot and cold, and have seen it placed in a lab among other cleaners in a beef processing plant's micro lab. tap is filthy, its a contributor of bacteria to a sample unless we're getting the tap as first drip out of the plant.
there are massive amnts of bio slicks that prevent the chlorine in its duration from affecting that sponge filter. old school fw aquarists and reefers do not fear the tap
you know that little black o ring not changed routinely on a faucet when you take off the directional nozzle? as bad as a toilet... though different biota (usually, not always) *and that's with no direct feeding, hot vs cold tap, all those years. nobody ever fed them raw ammonia or carbon for feed, yet they still attained some....hmmm
the little o ring never gets more sterilized as time goes on, the little black o ring gets worse, to the point its making people sick in some cases.
that's a fair example of a surface always in contact w tap that is not sterile
