Mixing Saltwater. R.o Or Tap

[lil_phelpsy]

hi all just a quick question on mixing saltwater

im new to keeping marine and am about to set up my first marine tank but...

i didnt realise you are suposed to use r.o water for setting it up or is that just something fish shops say to sell more stuff or would it not be safe to use ordinary tap water

thanks alot

 

[-Nemo-]

If you are planning on having a reef tank with corals, it is better to start off with RO and keep using it.

If you are only doing fish, tap water is fine, but beware of the future algae problems you will have!

 

[GrayScale]

Definitely want to use R.O.

R.O. is clean of impurities that come in tap. The salt will add back in all the beneficial nutrients and only those. You use tap water, you get a whole much of metals, chlorine, etc...

 

[lil_phelpsy]

thanks alot to begin with im starting with live rock and fish only no corals or inverts until im more established and used to keeping marine.

while researching ive red of people using ordinary tap water which has been mixed with tap safe and left to stand for 24 hours but i dont really see what the 24 hours would do that would be benificial to the water ? confused

 

[-Nemo-]

Only thing that is going to do is remove the chlorine. Tap water still had loads of other "crap" in it. Honestly, if you know you eventually want corals, I would just use RO from the start. While it is possible to have nice reef with tap water (I am an example), it is very difficult and more frustrating than it needs to be for a beginner.

 

[lil_phelpsy]

thanks for the advise i move into my new house friday so i wanted to get the water subtrate and live rock in the tank up and running when i move in as wont have the money for a r.o unit for a while.

i do plan on getting into corals in 6months to a year when im established as also need to invest in new decent lighting

hmmmm wat to do wat to do.
y do i enjoy fish so much lol its a one big maze of knowledge

 

[-Nemo-]

A lot of people sell RO water, which could prove to be a good alternative until/if you want to buy a RO unit.
If yo can't find RO, I know of some people using distilled water bought from the supermarket as well.

 

[lil_phelpsy]

ok thanks il look into the cost of both ive found a 3 stage r.o unit for sale brand new and a 4 stage r.o unit is there much differnce with using the 4 stage with di if so what is the di??? thanks again your help is greatly appreciated

 

[jeasko]

Di= deioniser, In short an RO unit is only so good and will remove about 98-99% impurities leaving the water with about 8-10ppm disolved solids add a DI unit on and it will completely remove all impurities, some say it's not needed I ran my reef for 18 months without the DI unit without to many issues, now I have sps and an issue with algae I run the DI to help stop the problems I have, as a thought as well the Di can be added on whenever and has to be checked regularly to see when the media is exhausted, so it's not necessarily a major requirement right now if your just setting up

 

[lil_phelpsy]

brilliant thanks alot 1 last question for the moment sorry to keep going on lol

im looking at some live rock which someone is selling after breaking down there tank but its just been put into water containers so its submerged but i dont think theres any water movement does that mean the live rock will start dieing if so how long before its dead as i cant pick it up until sunday

 

[kj23502]

I go one step further and use ro/DI.

Here is a picture of my unit. We need some extra chambers because our city water has chloramines in it.