Tap Water

nope, vvveeerrrryyyyyy slow posting.

Started asking...
Boss walked by, alt+tab other screen (work)
Boss stop an started talking
Boss walked away, alt+tab back and click reply.

after refresh, saw the comment on the water change.

ok... So my question was answered before I asked the question.
 
I started using off using just tap water and no problems. I had a small nano at my shop and was using only tap water running for four years. I never had alge problems and the tank was running 100% even without a skimmer, just two Aquaclear hang on filters. As for me I will use tap water as I dont see anything wrong with it. Ok I do have a ro unit with di resin for my sps tank. If you time check out how many people run tanks on Reef Central using only tap water.
Jaco we share the same thought, well you wont convince people here at all.
 
Jaco we share the same thought, well you wont convince people here at all

are you trying to convince people that tap water is as good as RO?
We have no control over the quality of tap water. Sure its fine to drink, but contunually adding tap water t oyour tank will lead to a build up of unwanted things. Besides the high TDS, what else is lurking in tap water? Is the quality of tap water consistent from day to day..and from town to town?
THink about how much you spend on setting up a tank and on livestock. Now you going to save a littel bit of money and use tap water???
 
I never said people should use tap water at all. I used it and it works for me, Klerksdorp water that is. I did say I have an ro unit with di resin for my sps tank. My nano was at my shop and was lazy to bring ro water every time so instead used tap water and it worked. Ok I have to admit sometimes I use tap water in my sps tank when me dont have enough ro water to tap up, lazy boy.
 
You must understasnd 459 that every tank not a sps tank. Some might want just a simple tank with fish, or some with just easy to keep coral. I take my hat of for jaco running a tank for 14 years sucessfully.
I told you I do wack some tap water know and again in the sps tank.
 
You must understasnd 459 that every tank not a sps tank.
and you must understand that tap water is not the same in different places.
You said you use RO in your sps tank. If tap water is as good as you claim then why dont you only use tap water in your SPS tank?
Using tap water should not be recommended. Its adding an unknwon into your system and asking for issues.
 
and you must understand that tap water is not the same in different places.
You said you use RO in your sps tank. If tap water is as good as you claim then why dont you only use tap water in your SPS tank?
Using tap water should not be recommended. Its adding an unknwon into your system and asking for issues.

Agreed, I used it a long time ago for many months with no issue, then I got stuck with a major algae problem
 
It's funny how people want to keep marines but not provide the best possible conditions eg. water quality. You would want clean air to breath but don't care about all the nasties your live stock must breath and live in, and al that just to give you pleasure...
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isn't the point of a water change to get rid of built up "nasties" and replace with some "goodies"...

personally i don't mind paying R8.50 for 25L of RO for top-ups, so that is what i use.

I also only do water changes with NSW coz it is free and i can spit in the shorebreak from my front gate... :D

IMO NSW is betters coz that is what all my fish lived in before.

Shot for the good debate Xereo you definatly picked up some good bites here and some good points from both schools of thought.
 
There is nothing funy Tobes, I keep my marine in the best possible conditions. My fish are still with me from the first day I started. One does not have to always go by the book or try to complicate things. The simpler you run a system the better I believe. I love the reefkeeping hobby, even going as far as Bangkok to meet world reknown Chingchai and other reefkeepers put there. Im going again to India in July and want to visit the Marine resurch institute and meet reefkeepers there. If you happened to ask I will never try to misleed people or derail theads.
 
Hi Xereo
I have been using T/W for 14 years now and still do …back then r/o units was just too pricy and most lfs’s used tap water as well…a small unit then cost about R5000.00…and even today most lfs stores use t/w in their systems as when they do water changes it could easily be a couple thousand liters…now that could be pricey….I use to live in roodepoort and moved my tank to the eastrand 10 months ago and the water quality here is the same as there…when the rand water board stops supplying our water I suppose I will also change to r/o but until then , water on tap will do just fine… my nitrates never go past 25 ppm but mostly run at 15ppm…I like it this way as my tangs love the bit of lg that grows …and your t/w sounds the same down there in c/t where you live... good quality...I did get some hair lg in the early stages and even now from time to time but it never stay for long one or two weeks then it disapear again ...but then again my setup is self maintaining by now (small eco system) and the hairs grow is from the one light i have not phosphates or nitates...

Think about this..you don’t have to be a scientist…salt is one of the strongest anti septic agents one can find…you can sterilize anything with a bit of salt and water mix…now see how much salt you ad to a liter of water to mix for marine tank…?? I only done one water change in the last 10 months and before that my tank went for 3,5 yr without any and when I fetched it the nitrates was on 50ppm not bad …I do top-ups daily as my filter is only 15l capacity if full to the top.. but it might only have 5l in it as the return pump stops it from filling and the space it needs for the trigal system is half way up…so my retune pump start sucking air as soon as a 1l water evaporate….I do have a another method I use to top-up if I go away for a while but prefer to do the top up every night..Just some TLC every day…I love it…
I bet that more people use t/w than r/o ….


Jaco

Here is why most people use RO.

If you have a garden and never water it you get a nice growth during the rainy season and then things die in the dry season, hardy things like weeds take over and the stuff that you may wish for like pretty flowers etc die out and get outcompeted by the weeds or succulents and more arid type plants.

This is fine if you like weeds and succulents, but anything more challenging needs better care.

The fact that you think 50ppm of nitrates is not bad gives us all an idea of how high you set your Reefkeeping bar.;)

You are obviously happy with your selection of mushrooms and zoos. Cool but you need to tell people the full story when putting your side over, and that is that only very few very hardy corals are going to make it in your setup.

So for everyone else, there are enough variables out there in our hobby waiting to trip us up and make our and our reef inhabitants life difficult without adding this Russian roulet type of situation to the equation. :)

Cheers

Rob.
 
but don't care about all the nasties your live stock must breath and live in,
Yip, same with a car. You really do not need an air filter. Your car will run without it. No need to have it. So why use it? To keep nasties out of the engine. Same concept in my opinion.
 
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Jaco

Here is why most people use RO.

If you have a garden and never water it you get a nice growth during the rainy season and then things die in the dry season, hardy things like weeds take over and the stuff that you may wish for like pretty flowers etc die out and get outcompeted by the weeds or succulents and more arid type plants.

This is fine if you like weeds and succulents, but anything more challenging needs better care.

The fact that you think 50ppm of nitrates is not bad gives us all an idea of how high you set your Reefkeeping bar.;)

You are obviously happy with your selection of mushrooms and zoos. Cool but you need to tell people the full story when putting your side over, and that is that only very few very hardy corals are going to make it in your setup.

So for everyone else, there are enough variables out there in our hobby waiting to trip us up and make our and our reef inhabitants life difficult without adding this Russian roulet type of situation to the equation. :)

Cheers

Rob.

Hi Bob ..if you actually read the full story you will have read that the 50ppm was after the tank stood for 3,5 years without water changes...my nitrates run on average 15ppm…
and yes you go out there and test lfs tanks and you will see their water runs close to that if not more...I have done the test from the westrand to the east ,south and even in pta...kimberly and in bloemfontein...75% of them ran their systems with nitrates...there is algae in the ocean and their is algae in my tank...not nastiest the stuff tangs eat to survive and these alges need some nitrates to grow...
so I think my garden is growing all sorts of challenging reef specimens...does yours??
there is a sps in my system and it revived from bare white broken skeleton coral frag lying in the sun that I added to the tank some months ago...then there is other still small so far the longest frag 7mm long and a cluster the size of a 10 cent… sps growing in the system ...white, red and cream of color all with thei little white polips coming out at night to feed...all these come from traces that was still on some of the dead skeleton coral frags I got to add to the system for the mushrooms to populate on to so I can do some hand outs to other reefers later....
And yes you are 100% right water parameters is important…
but lfs and sps will grow and do well in water with nitrates of 15-25ppm…and also will work in my system the only thing stopping me from buying them is my lights and the main reason feeding them…..lps I will never keep ones that needs feeding as this is not why I started this tank…this is not a hobby to me like it is to many ...I keep saying I want a reef that is 90% self maintenance ...and so far I can see, this is where my system is heading to, so tell me can you go away for weeks on end from home without feeding your system ...:1:
I never recommended to anyone to do what I am doing ….I even mentioned that at some point I also will start using ro water…the question was simple…with the first tread…so I just gave some of what I experienced…can't see why everyone always need to criticize other reefers methods and experience…
 
And looking at your pics, you only have softies. Leathers and mushrooms.
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Seriously doubt if you will have any success with SPS or LPS if you use tap water.

softies, think about where they are on reefs. Deeper down compared to SPS. So yes, they are used to lot of crap raining down on them from above. In fact I believe they actually like dirtier water. SPS like clean water, no phosphate load etc.

When I started, I "inherited" a tank. A few mushrooms, basically a fish only system. That tank was started with tap water by previous "owner". Tap water top ups. Using Molies to start up the cycle. No water changes.
When I took it over, phoshates were always an issue. Fussy algae growth. Started doing weekly 10% water changes, added ATS, did param testing every weekend. After 4 months the PO4 was zero. And since then tank just became more stable. Algae growth disappeared. Not using ATS anymore. Not testing the params either. But I still do my 10% water changes using RO water.

Riaan …were you in an accident recently…or is it the short term memory thing..you commented on a ID tread of mine a few weeks ago… where a sps revived and actually starting to cover the skeleton and expanding in all directions and changed from white to brown… you still mentioned a similar thing happening to you and how proud it makes one feel when that happens and that one need a heathy system for this to hapen…every night the sps little polyps come out to feed hundreds of them …there is even some other sps frags popping up all over with their little white polyps at night…red , white and tan of color....

So far I have only commented on my experiences to other reefers that asked for other people’s experiences…
So let’s keep to experience and not motorcars…there I do have a lot of experience and no it is far from the same…reefing is actually easier.
Tel me what did your tank look like 10 years ago and what stock do you have left today that is 10 years old in your tank…???...
 
You must understasnd 459 that every tank not a sps tank. Some might want just a simple tank with fish, or some with just easy to keep coral. I take my hat of for jaco running a tank for 14 years sucessfully.
I told you I do wack some tap water know and again in the sps tank.

Thanx...but some of the guys seem to do speed reading...and internet research then comment on other people’s findings not their own....
 
Jaco if you had to mention this tap water on Sareefkeeping.com those moderaters would ban your ass, as they go by the book. I did mention this on tap water last week and was almost banned. I think Masa is a bit more open minded to always open for hot debates.
 
It's funny how people want to keep marines but not provide the best possible conditions eg. water quality. You would want clean air to breath but don't care about all the nasties your live stock must breath and live in, and al that just to give you pleasure...
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Tobes…for you I feel sorry:) …you cannot even drink tap water in Witbank any
more…so r/o is your only bet:peroni:…and no…we actually do care …that is why we exchange our findings and experiences on this site…we are not here to be carped on by other reefers whom only follow the book and recommend internet solutions…nobody said they recommend tap water on this thread…this is just what we do and buy the way …I don’t even add declorinator to my water…
As far I’m concerned every tank with tangs and or surgeons in it need some sort of algae and for that to survive and continue to grow u need some nitrates not phosp...tangs eat every minute of the day from sun up to sun down.. ad a nice rock from the osean in your tank and with in a few hour it will be striped from all the lg on it...with no no3 this rock will never grow lg in that tank again and what must dory eat tomorow...? so as long as it gets controlled it is good surely there must be a balance...in the ocean these fish have all sorts to feast on… and we need to create or try to create a system in which all our tank inhabitance can co exist without us freaking out when we leave home for a view weeks what to do...???Hey Piet can you pls feed my corals/fish....hahah...:1:
 
As a member on this site, I'd like to ask you, Jaco, to just be a little more respectfull to the moderators and older members on the site. They have earned this respect by helping many, many new reefers through the learning curve of this wonderful hobby, with as few losses as possible. They have learnt with experience what works and what doesn't. When they give advice on your thread, it's not only aimed at you, but at all of the other newcomers to this hobby who are reading your posts and weighing up their choices. It's human nature to take the easy way out, and some may end up taking your advice of using water straight from the tap, as they'll think that you must be right after 14 years of this practice. With their limited knowledge, they won't have done the required tests to the water and will, if they live in my neighbourhood (tds 460), end up in disaster.
 
As a member on this site, I'd like to ask you, Jaco, to just be a little more respectfull to the moderators and older members on the site. They have earned this respect by helping many, many new reefers through the learning curve of this wonderful hobby, with as few losses as possible. They have learnt with experience what works and what doesn't. When they give advice on your thread, it's not only aimed at you, but at all of the other newcomers to this hobby who are reading your posts and weighing up their choices. It's human nature to take the easy way out, and some may end up taking your advice of using water straight from the tap, as they'll think that you must be right after 14 years of this practice. With their limited knowledge, they won't have done the required tests to the water and will, if they live in my neighbourhood (tds 460), end up in disaster.

Hi Mudshark….I couldn’t agree more no disrespect ment ….I know I don’t know everything ….but then advice could be given in a respectful manner as well.…I didn’t disrespect any ones advice I only added my current way of doing things….mud came flying my way….I didn’t even give any advice in this tread…Xereo did some tests and according to those tests the water was of good nature ….then came (tds)..well some test that only a hand full of people know about….Xeros tests covered most all the balances needed or so I thought….I’m going to have to do some homework on that one ….could be of benefit to me im sure....
I to have asked for advice on this forum before …I’m sure that’s why we join the forms…so if I offended anyone …S:eek::1:;)Y
 
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