cal tap water and algae

Bob I · #1 11-23-2006, 04:54 PM

I have run my tanks in Calgary for the past seven years with water from the tap. I usually have bucket sitting around for topoff purposes. The only additive I use is Chemipure, nothing else. I have never had algae problems , except for newly set up tanks, which get the usual brown algae, and cyano. Once the tanks are running for a while I have no more problems.

Snappy · #2 11-25-2006, 07:11 AM

I think a lot depends on the bioload. If it is on the high side I recommend getting an RO unit. Calgary water is very good for tap water but there are still some phosphates that probably get through in my opinion. Also we have 2 different water supplies depending on what part of town you are in and they may be inconsistent. I used tap water for a long time but with my large bioload going to RO has created an improvement.

EmilyB · #3 11-25-2006, 07:33 AM

If you are drinking tapwater lately, you like the taste of bleach. I choose not to use this in my tanks, or to drink.

kwirky · #4 11-28-2006, 03:07 AM

Tapwater's not as scary as some say it is. I found it a nuissance, myself, compared to RO/DI water, but not a danger.

When I was running tapwater, I had a massive hair algae bloom from cycling my rocks, but there were too many factors to really account it as being the tapwater. For one thing I made the mistake of running a photoperiod while the rocks were cycling. My diatom bloom lasted about a week longer than it did in my 18g nano, but it cleared out a week before the hair algae attack.

Also, my algae went away when I both switched to RO/DI water, and added the phosphate reactor, AND added the skimmer in the same 2 week period, so I can't determine whether one helped more than the other. I don't want to stop using any of them, as well, out of fear of an impending bloom

One thing I did notice is that with RO/DI water I'm not using prime any more and it made my skimmer more managable. I switched to RO/DI water, then I ran carbon to rid it of the remaining prime (as euroreef instructed me to do) and the skimmer quietted in about 3 days.

Not that I'm knocking tapwater, I just feel safer using it on my big tank. I've used tapwater for quarantining fish, and I'm probably going to use it for cycling liverock from now on, too.