troni Posted November 15, 2011 Report Share Posted November 15, 2011 I'm looking to hear your opinion on edmonton water and your sw aquarium. Do you use tap water? Or does it create problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted November 15, 2011 Report Share Posted November 15, 2011 I found that it's OK - yes, just OK. It's totally fine for FOWLR, and the reef tank I had did fine. I like the hardness of it, but some of the other impurities (many of the water lines still leach a bit of phosphate) gave me a bit of a challenge with different alga. Most of the beautiful reef tanks we see around town use RO water, tho I do know a few people who do mange to keep gorgeous tanks w. tap water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troni Posted December 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2011 who said no-other? what other do you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprucegruve Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 im pretty sure i voted yes. if i did vote no-other, it was because in some tanks i use ro in some i don't. and i diddent realize we were talking about sw at the time of voting......afterwards i caught on lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitaminz Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 I have run salt water tanks with both R/O only water (Bottle, R/O water from the LFS, and R/O filter), and tap water. And to be honest, didn't really noticed a pay off for the effort involved in R/O when compared to tap water. For my current tank, I just plumbed in a water line directly to my auto top off. What I did find made the huge difference.... spectrum of your bulbs and carbon and GFO. And of course your water changes always helps...lol Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blink Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 We use tap right now but I'm jonesing for a RO/DI unit because I want to start breeding more demanding freshwater shrimp so I keep telling my fiancee it'll be better for her salt tanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoagie Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 Good to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drfu Posted February 23, 2014 Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 Any Calgarians on board? I use conditioned tap water down here on my fw tank & have algae issues, i believe we have too much phosphorus & phosphates in our water, started buying RO from a place called the Water Store, $2 for 5 gallon refils butmim only using it on my sw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uwish Posted December 8, 2014 Report Share Posted December 8, 2014 (edited) I also have been using conditioned tap water on my FW tank for years. Though, I do have a water softener, but that as we know does not remove all the solids from the water. I checked with my TDS meter and my tap water (after softening) is around 155. I don't find that I have exessive algae issues but I do run carbon and GFO on my FW setup. I am reluctant to use RO/DI water simply because it is a planted tank and the plants benefit from some of the other minerals in the water. Are you just getting green algae or is something else going on? Edited December 8, 2014 by uwish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swfishlady Posted April 28, 2015 Report Share Posted April 28, 2015 I've always used just tap water, seems to do the job good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redplants Posted April 28, 2015 Report Share Posted April 28, 2015 Have used Calgary tapwater for many years with few problems. Do not do water changes during periods of heavy run off ( spring melt ), ( big storms ) as the City has added alum and chloramine in the past during these situations. The first chemical can drastically lower the ph at the tap, the second binds chlorine and ammonia in the water to sterilize the whole system. Your fishy assets can be sharply reduced if you are not careful during these periods. Most other algae problems people complain about are caused by using the wrong lighting or insufficient water changes. I do agree that vastly increased fertilization up the Bow River has resulted in increased phosphates in the water and some more algae problems. I have been able to handle my planted tanks easily without going to RO water and have never used conditioning of any sort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.