newbie in need of help with adding water after it evaporates.

Hey i just recently started a small salt water tank. And i was wondering what type of water should i use to top off the tank when the water evaporates??? i have been using water from the places where you fill up the 5 gallon drinking jugs. Should i be using that???(i heard im not suppose to be topping it off with more saltwater because the salt dosent evaporate, and remains in the tank.)
Thanks and I appreciate the help

 

If at all possible, use RO/DI water.

You can buy an RO/DI filter or buy the water from the fish store.

M

 

and yes do top offs with fresh water, salt doesnt evaporate but when you do water changes do them with saltwater and i agree use RO/DI or reverse osmosis dionized water for all water that you add to the tank

 

look man i dont know how small you tank is but you can use your tap water as long as you put a decloinator in it. API makes a good one and it works for me.

 

disagree... dechlorinator wont remove copper and iron from tapwater... which is not good for coral....would suggest getting a RODI unit.. if you cant afford that your LFS will sell RODI water.. probably like $0.30 a gallon... the water fill places will work better than tap water... but not as good as RODI

RODI Unit > LFS RODI > Waterfill Place> Tapwater

 

I disagree with this also and agree with lukeJustice. Tap water will have all kinds of stuff in it that will contribute to algae issues. You want the lowest TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) readings you can get and tap water is generally pretty high.

 

you can buy distilled and RO water from the grocery store.

RO means reverse- osmosis btw.

btw means by the way btw.

 

Sorry, I think we all disagree with SwampKid. I think Luke said it well with "RODI Unit > LFS RODI > Waterfill Place> Tapwater"

Add to that Phosphates, etc. The whole list is impurities cause a variety of problems. Yes, you "can" use tap water.... but the better water you use, the better your results will be. I started using tap, not knowing any better. Switching the RO/DI made an immediate improvement and I will never switch back.

M

 

thanks for the great advice guys, now im off to look for RO/DI unit, if i can even afford one haha

 

I have a SpectraPure RO/DI (3Reef sponsor) and my unit has been great. You might check into theirs....

M