Tap water for added nitrate and phosphate.

chicago · Nov 2, 2019

ok.. so I was going through some threads about ultra low nutrients ect.. some are adding in phoshate and nitrate .. if that is the case is there an arguement to be made to simply add a gallon or two of top off from the tap.. assuming it has been sitting for a few days.. no chlorine and has low silicates, good tap water. ? I am just thinking back to the days when in the 80's and 90's we began with using RODI water to remove the phosphates to prevent algae growth...

Crabs McJones · Nov 2, 2019

You're also forgetting about heavy metals though. Copper and lead are running rampant in our water these days. I would look into these products here. @HotRocks and myself have successfully used these to keep nutrients up during our fallow periods.

NeoNitro - Balanced Nitrogen Supplement

Used in conjunction with MICROBACTER7 and REEF BIOFUEL or KATALYST, enables natural phosphorus uptake to take place in systems with inadequate nitrogen content, lowering phosphate concentration without the use of chemical filtration media and without resorting to polluting the system with...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

NeoPhos - Balanced Phosphorus Supplement

Used in conjunction with MICROBACTER7 and REEF BIOFUEL or KATALYST, enables natural nitrogen uptake to take place in systems with inadequate phosphorus content, lowering ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate concentrations without the use of chemical filtration media and without resorting to polluting...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

You could also try simply feeding heavier and more frequently to bring nutrients up.

Mykawl · Nov 2, 2019

That sounds like a really bad idea do you have a tds meter? Most tap runs in the hundreds and very commonly you’ll grow diatoms that will cover the corals and can kill fast so much stuff in that water and they’re constantly changing how they treat public water

C. Eymann · Nov 2, 2019

Like Crabs said, there is a whole lot more than just NO3 and PO4 I'm municipal water systems, metals, traces of medications, fluoride, heck in my water supply they found traces of arsenic.

Feed more or use the additives crabs mentioned

Graffiti Spot · Nov 2, 2019

I have seen tanks that look ok while using it from the start but I would guess that a tank with sensitive corals that’s accustomed to rodi water could possibly react bad to some of the stuff in the water.

Halal Hotdog · Nov 2, 2019

As stated, too many contaminates in tap water to have predictable results. EVERY situation with very low nitrates and phosphates can be overcome with adding more food to the system and altering filtration. IMHO dosing nitrates and phosphates are just a fad that will disappear with time.

rmurken · Nov 2, 2019

If your tap water is anything like mine (typically 15ppm NO3, 3 ppm PO4), I think it might work for you to get your phosphate up, but you’d hit any reasonable phosphate goal well before hitting your nitrate goal. So you might still have to dose NO3.

As for the rest of the stuff in tap water, it’s a function of the chemistry in your area and what you have in your tank. Maybe it works as top off. Maybe not so much. I certainly might give it a shot if I needed to get my PO4 up.

Apart from chlorine and chloramines which the hobby has many solutions to, tap water is not the elixir of death people make it out to be. But there’s a reason RODI typically makes sense for a reef tank.

SeaDweller · Nov 2, 2019

don't do it, i'd rather throw some food in there and just let it break down and dirty up the water.

Saltycrew · Nov 2, 2019

Your better off dosing. Loud wolf sodium nitrate for nitrate and reef roids bring up your phosphate

Halal Hotdog · Nov 2, 2019

rmurken said:
If your tap water is anything like mine (typically 15ppm NO3, 3 ppm PO4), I think it might work for you to get your phosphate up, but you’d hit any reasonable phosphate goal well before hitting your nitrate goal. So you might still have to dose NO3.

As for the rest of the stuff in tap water, it’s a function of the chemistry in your area and what you have in your tank. Maybe it works as top off. Maybe not so much. I certainly might give it a shot if I needed to get my PO4 up.

Apart from chlorine and chloramines which the hobby has many solutions to, tap water is not the elixir of death people make it out to be. But there’s a reason RODI typically makes sense for a reef tank.

For a fish only system, conditioned tap water is fine. For a reef it is a great way to get uncontrollable algae and slow die off of coral. The tools you use should align with your expectations of the outcome. Success is subjective, if you are happy with your system then you are successful.