water

ok, i live in an apartment and i don't have alot of room or $ but i really need to have my sw tank. if i can't afford the purification system(or i am not allowed to do it in my building) would one of those attachments to the faucet and water conditioner be good enough? i would buy the purified water but i have a 55g tank therefore i have no available storage space to keep bottles of water. please help and remeber i am on a tight budget. thanks again everyone

 

Before you use it I would perform a test of the water for everything from ph to phosphates. This will let you know what you are dealing with in terms of contaminants and water quality.
What you could do is buy some distilled water. Supermarkets sell it by the gallon(Polland Springs). You could use that water and it would be better than tap and safer. I perform a small water change weekly, to make sure that the needed trace minerals and clean water are being added to replace the minerals depleted through livestock, carbon and skimmer.

 

You can get a RO/DI from ebay. There pretty cheap and dont take up allot of space. You can also buy a faucet adapter so you dont have to plug it in permanently. Thats what i did since i am also in an apartment ans also on a budget.

Marc.

 

I'm in London Ontario and use tap water which comes from the Great Lakes and is processed by the London water treatment plant. If your water supply comes from the Great Lakes, then you are a step up to using tap water already. Depending on how the water is treated, you may still be ok.
I used nothing but tap water until I got a computer, several years after starting this hobby. When I found I was supposed to use purified water I began deionizing the water for close to 2 years. Not seeing any difference, I went back to tap water again for a year, followed by deionized water for another year. Still have never seen a difference so for the last number of years I have used nothing but aged tap water.
In my area, I see plenty of hobbyists using RO/DI and experience severe hair algae, cyano bacteria and other nutrient related problems, so I know that based on my use of tap water, those people are experiencing problems not due to the starting water quality.
A lot of people fail to realize that every time they feed their tanks they are automatically adding things like trace elements, forms of iodine, and phosphates (which not only can be naturally there but are added as preservatives to the food and to the packaging). Also, if they add more than the system can handle (i.e. fish, corals, etc) then the excess deteriorates and produces food for unwanted algae.
However, that all being said, if your water comes from a well, or a body of water that has lesser quality than the GL, or if your water treatment facility is not up to big city standards, then you will probably have to use RO, RO/DI, or DI, or, buy suitable water from a company that provides purified water.

 

great lakes

I think i have to agree with you. I live in Cleveland Oh, on lake Erie. I used to use just tap water and I really had no algae problem. But after reading everyone saying to use ro/di water i made the switch and since i switched from tap to RO/DI i now have hair algae. I dont understand this, but why spend my hard earned $$$$$$$ on a ro/di filter and the filters and elements for it when I dont have to. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

Thanks So Much Everyone. I Have Been Stressing Cause Of This. I Live In Kitchener And Just Moved Here So I Need To Find Out Where My Water Is Coming From..i Hope It's The Same As London Seeing As I Am Not Far From There. If Anything I Will Just Get One Of Those Brita Faucet Filters. You Guys Are Awesome, I Have No Friends Into This Hobby And You Are Really Helping.

 

You can also get inexpensive tap filters like here
Tap mounted Filter

J

 

You forgot to mention that lighting will also aid in algae growth! Not just nutrients from food, tap water and detritus. The way in which you remove algae will also impact the algae population!

 

thanks so much. as i had a cichlid tank for 2 years i have always done my algae removal while i did my water change. do u guys do gravel vacuum for saltwater or does this remove the bacteria from the substrate.

 

i checked online for my water source and 80% is from the grand river and 20% is from underground(wells) they specify that they do uv sterilization and chlorine, chloramine, and low amounts of ammonia. poo, i don't know what i'm gonna do. i know they say they meet and beat the ontario what blah blah blah but i can't afford the ro/di unit and i can't store water here. i may try that filter from j&l.