No Idea About Marine - Asking For A Friend

[petertr]

Hi - hoping for some help here for a friend.

He's got a fish-only marine set up (i.e. no live rock - not after his last very expensive battle with diseases last month) and we were talking about water this morning.


Anyone who's seen my freshwater posts may know that our water is extremely hard in GH (24) and KH (12). Its also around pH 7.8. (He lives across the street from me, so its definitely the same water as in my tests)


I have an RO Unit, and I can supply his RO water if needed - but the question is, should he be using it?


Any guidance would be very helpful.

 

[ben1987]

RO water.
Tap water can have nitrates and phosphates in it which will create an algae problem. As well as being treated to be drinking water safe with chlorine and stuff. Contains trace metals also.
If RO is available then use it. You dont want to blame any problems on something as important as the water in the tank. Its not like Fresh Water where the fish use some of the minerals/elements in the water. These are all added by the salt

 

[petertr]

There's no measurable nitrate in our water (according to API Master Kit), and the phosphate measurement was between zero and the next level up - so shouldn't be an issue.

Obviously dechlor is used.


I think the crux of the question was "is our hard water actually a good thing here ?"

 

[GShorty1981]

I use tap water and have both fish and corals with no problems at all will nitrates or phosphates...although it is common,im just lucky.

If he is able to get RO force it upon him! lol its worth it.

Running a marine tank without Live Rock is a bad idea,i did it at first and lost 2 clowns in side a few weeks,i added the rock slowly over 2 months until i was around 25kg+ and i have never lost anything since..not a fish or invertebrate.

Live sand is a must if he hasent got LR as it is not as bad as people say it is,infact its really a good way of seeding your tank and i would advise him getting LR later on or risk losses.....that or running a fishless cycle with Live Sand and Base Rock for a few months.

 

[petertr]

The reason for the lack of live rock is that he had a load of it in his 400L tank - and then he got a disease. He doesn't have a QT tank, so couldn't treat.


He sold all the live rock back to the LFS and went back to tropical for a few days (literally), then read he could filter with cannisters instead of live rock - so went with that instead.


For me, I'd have a QT Tank & Live Rock, but that's his choice!

 

[SkiFletch]

In a FO tank, the only issue with using tapwater would be Phosphates (aside from the chlorine/chloramine of course). If your tap doesnt have phosphates, go ahead and use it. If it does, then using it is asking for an algae bloom...

 

[petertr]

Thanks

 

[shibby]

marine should have ph of 8.2ish anyways, so hard water generally isnt a problem.

 

[andywg]

In a FO tank, the only issue with using tapwater would be Phosphates (aside from the chlorine/chloramine of course). If your tap doesnt have phosphates, go ahead and use it. If it does, then using it is asking for an algae bloom...

Although the lower light levels of a FO tank mean that an algae bloom is far less likely.

 

[Luketendo]

Yeah pretty much what everyone else said but if he ventures into live rock or corals it's wise to use RO. It's wise to use RO anyway, but not completely necessary.

 

[GShorty1981]

I find this really wierd because when i first got into Marine 2 months ago everybody said this was not possible,everybody in my thread said i was mistreating my fish keeping them in a tap water FO set up with a filter,and now people are advising the other!

Anyway i ended up with a big expensive reef tank and i wouldnt change it now,but kinda frustrating how these boards contradict themselves when advice is asked.

 

[andywg]

I find this really wierd because when i first got into Marine 2 months ago everybody said this was not possible,everybody in my thread said i was mistreating my fish keeping them in a tap water FO set up with a filter,and now people are advising the other!

Anyway i ended up with a big expensive reef tank and i wouldnt change it now,but kinda frustrating how these boards contradict themselves when advice is asked.

Sadly many people on this forum have only ever read advice from this forum and don't have a very wide experience base. Most of the forum only really keeps tanks in a Berlin method.

If you aren't keeping corals then tap water is almost always fine.

If I see a thread asking this sort of question I will always answer as I have above in an attempt to put a more balanced view across and let the questioner decide what they want to do.

Until everyone on a board knows everything there will always be the possibility for contradictions. Look at how often people claim nitrates of over 40ppm will cause problems in FW despite there being no evidence to support that and others having 40ppm from the tap. The only thing you can do is try and look for any questions where potentially incorrect (or questionable) advice is given and respond. It won't always make you popular, however.

 

[GShorty1981]

I see your point but i had 4 posters and a moderator/admin crucifying me on the point until i got annoyed with this place and did come back for a few months.

Not fussed now as i have a beautiful tank but it does kinda make me think.....i mean even my thread had a few thousand views and only about 30 replys...maybe these people should speak up!

 

[andywg]

i mean even my thread had a few thousand views and only about 30 replys...maybe these people should speak up!

Or maybe it wasn't viewed by those that have that knowledge?

 

[GShorty1981]

True,read my threads more fella! haha