Water Quality Question

As many of you know, I will be setting up my tank in the next few days. I know the importance of having RO/DI water. I do however want to ask if it is necessary that I start my cycle with RO/DI water? The reason I am asking is simple. I live 50 miles from a LFS, and I do not have a RO/DI unit as of yet. I was looking into getting one of the cheap ones off of ebay, but have read some posts on here that are making me second guess that decision. With that being said, can I start my aquarium with the RO water from the supermarkets? Otherwise it will be 2 more weeks before I can purchase a better unit.

 

This is my personal experience, so do not take it as "THE ANSWER"

I have never used RO/DI water (because I am a poor college student), and my tank is in fine condition. I used amquel as well as a nitraite/nitrate/chlorine remover. Feel free to check my build thread for a short video; you'll see that the health of my tank is in no way compromised. Feel free to message me with any related questions, I have quite a bit of experience despite my brief presence on this forum.

 

Start it right from the beginning. Tap water may contain substances that are cumulative meaning no amout of future water changes may ever remove it once it is there, copper is one example if it gets in the rocks and substrate.

If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right the first time.
I would wait until I had a reef quality RO/DI system before starting anything, I would make it the first purchase even before the tank, lights or rock. Water is the single largest ingredient in a reef system and EVERYTHING depends on its quality AND its stability. Tap water may be OK today, or this hour but what happens when a storm blows through and treatment changes or does not keep up with the changing water quality, or Joe Contractor digs up the main down the street and causes a cross connection you were not aware of when filling the tank, or a truck knocks the fire hydrant off down the street and gets mud in the lines and to top it off your neighbor had a garden hose stuck in a tree well where he had just applied pesticides and fertilizer and you know have that sucked in the mains when the utility shuts it off for the hydrant repair???

The idea is you have absolutely zero control over your tap water where with your own $130 RO/DI you have ultimate control and it averages about a nickel a gallon for that peace of mind.

Don't even think about tap water!

Amquel, Prime and all the other bottled stuff do not remove contaminants other than chlorine period. They sequester or bind them so they are not as damaging but they are still present, they did not magically disappear into thin air.

 

Spectrapure $125 dollar unit and you're good to go!

 

2 weeks of waiting is nothing compared to the possible 6 months of weird nuisance algaes growing in your tank.

Take your time, and have no regrets.

 

If anything go to wal mart and at least use distilled water until your RO/DI unit is in place. Definitely wouldn't recommend treated tap water for reasons mentioned above. If you cut corners, it will come back to bite you in the long run IMO.

 

What about those water dispensers that Walmart has for the 5 gallon drinking water jugs?

 

They are for drinking water so TDS is not critical to them since its the minerals that make water taste good. The maintenance and water quality are hit and miss.

If you are purchasing water bottled distilled is second best to RO/DI and RO only is quite a bit further down the list as far as quality.. If you want to buy RO only in bulk 5G jugs, find a staffed Water & Ice type store where a live person can test the TDS or conductivity in your presence. Its still RO only but I have found most of the vendors/owners are proud of their product and go out of their way to make sure it is right unlike a vending machine sitting out in the weathe rsomewhere that gets wiped off with a bleach rag once a week and maybe the sediment filter changed, neither of which has anything to do with removing TDS.

In order of preference
1. Personal RO/DI system you maintain yourself
2. RO/DI or mixed saltwater from a TRUSTED LFS or fellow reef hobbyist or club member who will again test its quality for you
3. Distilled water in 1 gal jugs
4. RO only from a staffed or manned store
5. Vending machine RO water
.
.
999.
1,000. Treated tap water

 

Better yet, let's keep this discussion on the forums so the OP can get good advice. With using chemicals to reduce the toxicity of contaminants in your water, your tank is a ticking time bomb, unfortunately. Those impurities must be fully removed for the long-term health of your system.

Z, you can get a used SpectraPure RO/DI from ebay, craigslist or amazon fairly cheap; a refurbished model isn't that expensive, either. Do yourself a huge favor and start your tank the right way.

 

I have to agree with what everyone has said. I used tap water for years with my FOWLR and it was perfectly fine for that BUT when I wanted to convert to a reef, most of the nasties from the tap (phosphates and nitrates) had binded into the rock and I think the main culprit - sand. It took many various methods to get my levels down including removing a bunch of rock, replacing the entire sand bed (big PITA), large water changes, etc.......anyway it was a ton of work!

The other thing with tap water is that the quality of it can vary vastly from region to region. I still do not have an RO/DI unit (shh) but I do now only use RO/DI from the LFS and since they have limited hours, have used RO from the Walmart water station. From personal experience, however you get your water be it from a purchased unit, walmart station, vendor such as AZ noted or distilled water - you will save so many headaches in the future. Although tempting, don't start with tap