What Exactly

[K.J.]

^ Question question.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

RO water is water that has been purified by reverse osmosis, it's basically as close to pure H2O as you'll get without a science lab, tap water has all sort of minerals in it as well as things like chlorine/chloramine

 

[K.J.]

Is it necessary for a FOWLR tank? I know our water has been pre-softened and has no chlorine or chloramine - but I'm not sure of the copper, etc, levels.

 

[n3ont3tra]

RO water really only necessary if you want inverts. That includes ones that hitchhike on live rock, too. Also, some fish are intolerant of copper as well, so keep that in mind.

 

[Musho3210]

My tap reads 187 ppm TDS (total dissolved solids) and RO/Di can go as low as 0 tds (pure H2O).

Now that 187 ppm could be anything, its probably ok for humans health but for reef tanks......

Tap water has a high chance of containing nitrate and phosphate which leads to undesirable algae growth.

 

[SkiFletch]

Tap water has a high chance of containing nitrate and phosphate which leads to undesirable algae growth.

Exactly. To the OP, its pretty tough to say for sure if your individual tapwater is safe for use in a tank. As mentioned before in the thread, copper is a concern if you are wanting to keep shrimp or other inverts in your FOWLR, and as the quoted poster details, some tapwater has nitrates and phosphates in it. You can buy test kits for all of the above to test for these molecules/compounds, or perhaps bring a sample to your LFS to check for you. Using tapwater is a risk if keeping inverts and also an algae bloom risk, so know the risk you're taking before you do so.

If you ask me, what's the point in spending multiple hundreds or even thousands of dollars if your tank fails or lookshideous from algae from just the cost of a simple RO unit? JMO

 

[Musho3210]

or at least go to your lfs or grocery store to get RO water

 

[K.J.]

Yeah, I know, just seeing how much money I'd need to save. I'd buy water, but our nearest marine pet shop is like 40 miles away and I can only go there twice a month so, I can't really buy water. What's a good RO unit?

 

[SkiFletch]

Head on over to Ebay . Just make sure that the one you buy has a flush valve/kit installed on it to prolong membrane life.