How Many Use Tap Water?

[SWPlantedTank]

Here we can get a printout of our citys water on the city's website. It is public record information. The EPA watches it....

Google your citys website....

 

[bc_slc]

I have an RO filter and have since the beginning for the various reasons above. I think that if your TDS readings were low then you would be okay. My incoming TDS readings are about 50 and I live in wallingford.

Mat

 

[moortim]

The problem I see with that is, a TDS meter doesn't really mean much. I have one and I have a 5 stage rodi unit. Coming out of the unit is 0 ppm. But if I let the water sit it somehow will register some on the TDS. 035 So that means it is picking stuff up in the bucket? Left over additives perhaps. I think I would need to check for specific things like nitrate etc. instead.
The reason I asked this question to begin with is because I have a 5 stage and yet I have fought red hair algae twice. Searching everything I could about that I have it narrowed down to three causes. Old di resin, disturbing my tank both times, and/or adding carbon. I always run my tanks without carbon but when I changed things around a couple of times I stuck some in a bag in my sump to help with anything I might have released while disturbing the sand bed. And both times I have done this I got an outbreak of Red hair a few days later. Now I have found out that even most carbon that says phosphate free will still release large amounts of phosphate. So that could be the problem. Or it could just simply be due to my disturbing everything.
Anyway, I am just really curious as to how many are using non filtered water successfully.

If using a TDS meter doesn't mean much then why does everyone use them?
I don't know enough about this topic to know why you would be getting a TDS reading from the water sitting in a bucket, I just know that I don't trust the city when it comes to having absolutely clean water. I think DonW hit it on the head by bringing up all the other stuff in the water besides Nitrite, Nitrate, and Phosphate.
I would suspect your moving things around in your tank as a more likely cause of the red hair algae and unless you used old carbon or left it in for a very long time I couldn't see that as a problem.
If you want to use tapwater go ahead, obviously there are people who get away with it, I just don't want to. Of course I don't have a TDS meter so I am trusting the purified water from my local grocery store. Take my opinion for what it is worth.

Tim

 

[gman0526]

Want to know what comes out of your tap?

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo/index.html

 

[DonW]

I'm sure there are plenty of people that use tap water. You have to keep in mind that algae is pretty simple. If its alive you or something are feeding it. Since there are no cure all gizmos in this hobby, a rodi is just another tool that hopefully when combined with your other gizmos get the job done.

Don

 

[copepod]

If using a TDS meter doesn't mean much then why does everyone use them?

Tim

People use them to test the RO filter and if it needs replacing. Otherwise I am not sure why they are using them. Maybe I am missing something. But it will not tell me if my water has nitrates, phosphates, copper, etc. in it. So when I say it doesn't mean much, I meant when it comes to knowing if water from the tap is safe or not. Here is a blurb from a place that sells TDS meters:

"Tests for TDS - Total Dissolved Solids. A Must For All RO System Owners. Compare Incoming Feed Water To Treated Water - Replace Membrane If Less Than 80% of TDS Is Being Removed - Total dissolved solids (TDS) are the total weight of all solids (minerals, salts or metals) that are dissolved in a given volume of water expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/L), or in parts per million (PPM). The lower the TDS level in the water, the more efficiently your body's cells actually get hydrated by the water that you drink. The higher the TDS levels in the water, the greater the probability of harmful contaminants that can pose health risks or hinder the absorption of water molecules on the cellular level."

So it is just telling me how many dissolved solids (good bad or otherwise) are in the water.

For more info go here> http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-04/rhf/feature/index.php

This article points out the inherent flaws of a TDS meter and how it can misread or not read certain things in the water. It also has a lot of other good tips about testing the ro or ro/di water.

 

[moortim]

People use them to test the RO filter and if it needs replacing. Otherwise I am not sure why they are using them. Maybe I am missing something. But it will not tell me if my water has nitrates, phosphates, copper, etc. in it. So when I say it doesn't mean much, I meant when it comes to knowing if water from the tap is safe or not.

So it is just telling me how many dissolved solids (good bad or otherwise) are in the water.

JMO but I think knowing the TDS of your water tells you a lot.
I won't argue this point to much to avoid being hypocritical since I don't have a TDS meter myself (one of those bank account shortage things )

Since we are discussing the use of tap water in a tank I would think that testing the TDS would be a good indication of whether or not you might run into problems. Some places have 0 (or close to it) TDS straight out of the tap while other places have a high number. If that is the case then you have a possible source of fuel for nusiance algae. I see that as being very informative and is a whole lot faster than testing your water for everything that could be in it. Once you know that there is something there then you can start finding ways to find out what it is or to fix it.
If you use tapwater I just think it is a good idea to use a TDS meter so you know if there is anything in the water. If you use RO/DI then you would want one to tell you when your filter is going bad (like you said earlier). Otherwise, like me you don't use one and hope the store changes their filter cartridges on time.

I know this is a bit off the subject of the thread and I hope no one minds my ranting but I just wanted to include my thoughts on this topic.

Tim

 

[copepod]

Since we are discussing the use of tap water in a tank I would think that testing the TDS would be a good indication of whether or not you might run into problems.
Tim

Yes, I would agree with that. Also, if you know what your tap water readings is on a typical day and one day it is way high you know something is up.

I just checked our local water report online and see that everything is very low and all they add is chlorine. No fluoride added here.

As a side note I should tell you that so far I only use ro/di in my saltwater tanks. However at setup I used several gallons right out of the ocean. But in my freshwater I use almost exclusively aged tapwater. Readings on both tanks are similar as far as nitrates, ammonia, etc. Don't know about copper or other minerals.
The bigger problem I see with saltwater is since I am adding a salt mix that has been balanced I don't want to throw that balance out with something that might be in the tap water. Of course, the other side of the argument could be that over time the salt mixes will lack something found in nature. It does seem however that many people are succesfully using tap water.

Personally, if I lived in Seattle I would join the aquarium club for their filtered ocean water.

 

[moortim]

The bigger problem I see with saltwater is since I am adding a salt mix that has been balanced I don't want to throw that balance out with something that might be in the tap water. Of course, the other side of the argument could be that over time the salt mixes will lack something found in nature. It does seem however that many people are succesfully using tap water.

Personally, if I lived in Seattle I would join the aquarium club for their filtered ocean water.

I agree, unfortunately knowing everything that is in our water is kind of like counting the blades of grass in a golf course.

I am starting to think that I need RO/DI for my drinking water. I recently moved and the water comes out of the tap slightly yellow.

Tim

 

[Skimmy]

i would NEVER use tap water......period!!
not in a closed system with nominal buffering capacity, your just asking for it.
and unless you own a gas spectrometer, you probably couldnt test for all the stuff you really wanted to know about in your water anyway.
better safe than sorry.

 

[bc_slc]

Personally, if I lived in Seattle I would join the aquarium club for their filtered ocean water.

Also, just for it to be noted, there are problems with the "filtered" ocean water from the aquarium. There is a whole thread on its issues, especially when it rains and there is significant run-off into this water supply.

Mat

 

[Wink]

Not trying to start any trouble but need to say that some of us use the aquarium water and have seen only improvements in our tanks (all 12 of them) - no problems at all. In fact, we even raise delicate seahorse fry in it. We use 720 gallons of seawater a month and couldn't afford to buy that much salt.

 

[moortim]

Now we are going back onto what works for one person does not work for another..........

Which I see as one of the more frustrating parts of this hobby.

 

[copepod]

Now we are going back onto what works for one person does not work for another..........

Which I see as one of the more frustrating parts of this hobby.

There are so many variables. Somebody uses x brand salt and y water but then they supplement with xyz or don't supplement, water changes, lights, etc etc. Really confusing at first and I am pretty new to this. I am tempted to run my 30 I have with tap water and my 55 with ro/di and see if there are any differences. However, my two setups are different enough that I don't think it would be a valid test. My 30 has a sump/refugium with bare bottom in the tank but the 55 has about 2-3 inches sand and no sump.

 

[moortim]

Yeah that would be kind of hard to compare, what do your tap water parameters look like?

Tim

 

[Sk8r]

WHat will generally cure you of any desire to use tap water is a query to your city water department. You're entitled to a report on your local water quality and the content of your water. In Oklahoma, we had a ph of 11, arsenic in the wellwater, pesticides, and several plastics compounds that are lethal to fish in minuscule doses, not to mention a horrendous lot of aluminum and iron, all rated safe for human consumption, because of the size of the doses. In our area of Eastern Washington, I'm told the farms are dumping a lot of fertilizer into the system. So, no, I'm sticking to ro/di.

 

[copepod]

I think we do a lot better than Spokane because of the two rivers here

Arsenic (ppb) <2 Erosion of natural deposits & runoff from
orchards
Conductivity 161 Erosion of natural deposits
Fluoride (ppm) <0.5 Erosion of natural deposits
Nitrate (ppm) <0.5 Erosion of natural deposits, runoff from
fertilizer use, & leaching from septic tanks

At the Customer’s Tap
Copper (ppm) 1.3 (Action level) 0.7 Corrosion of household plumbing
Lead (ppb) 50 (Action level) 4 Corrosion of household plumbing

In the Distribution System
Total Coliform
(no. of positive samples) 0 0 1 Naturally present in the environment
Fecal Coliform
(no. of positive samples) 0 0 0 Human and animal fecal waste
Total Trihalomethanes
(Average, ppb) 80 N/A 5.6 By-product of drinking water chlorination

During 2002 and 2004, the source water was tested for 87 Synthetic Organic
Contaminants which included herbicides, PCB’s, pesticides, and many other chemicals along with 60 volatile organic chemicals, which included solvents and petroleum products. None of these potential contaminants were detected in the drinking water.

 

[copepod]

Yeah that would be kind of hard to compare, what do your tap water parameters look like?

Tim

Beside what I just posted, most levels seem fine.
Ph low,
nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, all as low as if filtered.

Phosphate however seemed slightly higher. And it was slight, but still, I am going to check that again because it is hard sometimes to get an accurate result at that low level.

 

[Fishead77]

I think we do a lot better than Spokane because of the two rivers here

Arsenic (ppb) <2 Erosion of natural deposits & runoff from
orchards
Conductivity 161 Erosion of natural deposits
Fluoride (ppm) <0.5 Erosion of natural deposits
Nitrate (ppm) <0.5 Erosion of natural deposits, runoff from
fertilizer use, & leaching from septic tanks

We have a river here in Spokane too! Full of mercury from years of mining runoff in the silver valley. They have signs all over telling not to eat the fish out of the river, sad.

 

[nccmike]

I personally spend too much money and time in this hobby to use tap here in Florida.

But here in FLA the tap is really undrinkable and would never think of putting in my tank.

Other places probably have good tap and in that case I say I'm jealous.