Ro Water

[dchaves]

is RO Water Necessary for a saltwater aquarium. Or can i simply put tap water in, and then put things in it to make it suitable for saltwater.

 

[Harry1996]

are you setting up a fish only or a reef. if reef then yes you do need ro water

 

[razer121]

hm...what if it was just live rock and fish?

 

[dchaves]

yeah im more interested in having rish, i do want to put live rock in tho

 

[seffieuk]

FOWLR - you can use tap water, but if there is any chance you may keep corals in the future (and I bet you will unless the fish you are going to keep are not reef safe)use RO water

Seffie x

 

[AdAndrews]

sorry to intrude, im curious.. can you swap to RO if you have already started the tank with tap? would it just take time to flush through, so, you couldnt instantly keep corals once you changed to RO..?

 

[dchaves]

Yeah i also am wondering that question lol. for now i am using tap water because i dont plan on having any corals just yes, but im a bit confused - a guy i work with has a 55 gal saltwater tank. just like im starting now, and he said all he did was put in distilled water, then put in the salt and ran the filter for about a week. then after that he set up his live rock and live sand and he has a good reef.

 

[seffieuk]

The reason we say start with RO is that it has fewer hidden problems like high phospates, heavy metals etc.

So, if you decide to go with tap water first you risk introducding those things in to your tank right from the start - corals need very good water conditions.

Which is why I just lost a torch coral and two heads off my hammer - I let the phosphates creep up and paid the price

Seffie x

 

[-Nemo-]

Sorry to go a bit offtopic, but seffie what were your phosphates at when you lost them? I just lost my torch... phosphates tested at 0.5... oddly enough they've gone up since I started using the phosphate remover...

 

[AdAndrews]

- corals need very good water conditions.

which is why i wont be keeping corals
thanks.

 

[dchaves]

but is it possible to just put in distilled water, put in salt and still be able to have a reef.