Calgary Water??
 

Good Morning Folks,

New to this forum so i thought i would say "Hi" before i get involved in any detail questions.

Anyways let me give you some quick stats about my tank:

Its a 75 gallon FOWLR tank, 2 inch niger trigger, 3 inch yellow tang, and 4 inch dogface puffer. Tank has been running for 10 months now with little problems. All ammonia and nitrite levels are 0, and nitrate is very low.

Now i was wondering if Calgary tap water is horrible to use for my tank? I switched to RO water when i initially began the tank and even after the cycle i have been dealing with brown diatom algea outbreaks right after the water change. I use Arrowhead RO water, i have never tested it for phosphates yet. So do any other calgarians use the tap water or is it mainly RO around here?

Please let me know if there is any other suggestions you have for this algea?

Thanks
Steve

Hi Steve,

Not from Calgary (Burnaby) & wrong city, but I know the Edmontonians just did a big AquaSafe RO/DI order so most of them seem to be on that now.

Anthony

PS. Welcome to Canreef.

Re: Calgary Water??
 

My experience is that Calgary water is not horrible to use, (especially in a FOWLR). I have used Calgary water exclusively since I began dabbling in reefs more than three years ago. I have no algae problems whatsoever.

It is a touchy subject, as other people swear by RO/DI water. I can only tell you what my EXPERIENCE has been.

Welcome to the board BTW. :biggrin:

Does calgary water have High Phosphates?

Oh and thanks for all the Welcomes!

Steve

You can try to get a Water Quality Report from the city's website.

Here's a sample of one:

http://www.calgary.ca/docgallery/BU/...ity_report.pdf

Overall though that water report doesnt look too bad. I have been asking this same question in other forums but its hard to get a correct response when most people are all around North America.
I think i will try one 5 gallon water change on the weekend and see what happens. It has never affected any of my fish in freshwater so i am hoping for the same!

Thanks
Steve

Oh by the way another question for ya.......Do most of you reefers use CC or argonite? Is it possible to put argonite on top of CC or will this cause some issues??

Well, fresh and marine are two different environment.
I would caution on the safe side and buy distill water. A 5 gal jug from Sobey is only $4. This is the stuff i use for my tank.

Mind you, i have a nano, so its easier on the wallet.

Well i have heard some bad things about distilled due to the use of copper tanks. Then again i have heard this type of processing is out dated. I purchase RO water from Safeway, something like $4.35 / 5 gallon jug. It is bottled by arrowhead which is located right by my office. I am going to have to get some testing kits for phosphates and silicates and see what the heck is going on!

Steve

Cool, please post the result of your findings.
I too was buying the distill water from Safeway as well, until i found out that Sobey has it for cheaper.

Well, my tank has been up and running for about 6 months now and no algae bloom so far with water from both sources...

Calgary has good quality water, just dechlorinate it first and "Bob's your Uncle"

FWIW
if you decide to use tap water, just be extra careful during cold spell and snow storm as City Waterworks DO put "additive" to prevent pipes being frozen.

for the cost of a 100GPD RO unit from Aquasafe, i think it is a good investment for peace of mind.


Tak