Tap water to start??

All I can say is that I've ALWAYS used tap water in my saltwater tanks. At one point I used city water in a saltwater tank. It did take a bit of adjusting to get it where it needed to be and extra care to make sure it didn't contain anything "deadly" but it did work.

Now my home has well water and I've been running my tank on that from the very beginning. I dose it with Prime and a bit of pH buffer and that's all, and salt of course. Fish, corals and inverts are all VERY happy.

Not always true. I have NEVER had an algae problem using my tap water.

 

I've always used tap water to start my tanks up. Once it's up and running.....I try to top off as much as I can with RO/DI but occasionally have to use treated tap water. No major problems though!

 

OK well 6 months down the line when he's posting about how he's going to restart his tank and nuke his rocks because of all the algae driving him nuts, I'll refrain from commenting on that thread.

 

Using RO water would have saved you a lot of trouble.

 

It wasn't any trouble, just taking extra care.

I'm not disputing the use of RO water. It's great to use but it's not always necessary.

 

Great another split debate!@!@!

I think I will be fine, I might invest in the RO system sooner than later but, I think I should be fine to cycle the tank with normal tap.

My next question is this, I have 75 pounds of "Marco" base rock coming in a shipment and was planing on using that along with 1-2 peices of really nice live rock that has been in a tank for a while.

Would this be ok? I know it will most likly take longer to cycle the tank but time is on my side since I have alot of patience anyway. I really want to watch the whole tank grow.

Thanks

 

*Sigh* THIS is why I rarely comment on "newbie" threads. They NEVER listen to the people with experience. Why bother posting a question when you've already made up your mind to go against the grain anyways? I've been at this for almost 7 years! I'm not basing my opinion off conjecture. I've lived this stuff! So has Otty! But oh well, have it your way. :-/

 

How big is your tank? Not that it really matters...but if we are talking about emptying a 30 gallon and starting over or a 150 gallon and starting over I would probably give two different answers. If it is a larger tank, and you already have it filled, I'd probably just go with what you have and start using RO/DI going forward. Its one of those things where you may not have started out with the best, but you can make it work from here on out if you use RO/DI for future water changes, top off, etc. It truly will make your life easier going forward. Pre-cycle, probably not the end of the world to have used tap....If you are putting in a smaller tank, and not a big deal to empty and refill, then I would do that.

 

I think it is around 75 gallons, To be honest I dont know. It is a flatback hex that is all glass. its 48 long 9.5 then 12.5 then 30.5 repeat on the other side and then 20.5 inches deep.

I can use RO water to change it out while the tank cycles if it is that big of a problem.

 

Always use R/O water. Tap water has too many extra minerals in it that you don't need. Also the extra minerals will make it hard to keep ph correct.