tap water

[wanwan]

Yes but i never try yet.. Now my sump have cayano and cheto and display tank also have cayano but compare to last time lesser.. So the theory should be same the more dirty in sump with all sort of algae the display tank will be cleaner? I dont know as i am still very very new to this hobby. All learn from xiggie. Better ask the shifu later i share wrongly will be painful experience.

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[Dez Ching]

Yes but i never try yet.. Now my sump have cayano and cheto and display tank also have cayano but compare to last time lesser.. So the theory should be same the more dirty in sump with all sort of algae the display tank will be cleaner? I dont know as i am still very very new to this hobby. All learn from xiggie. Better ask the shifu later i share wrongly will be painful experience.

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Haha, you are humble.

[kohanson]

For me, I have been running my tank for 1year 3mths with tap water and red sea coral pro salt mix. I also dose seachem prime everytime i top up water and also add in seachem carbonate 1 cap. Got corals also and also got diatoms on the glass weekly. No nice purple algae. Haha.

[Dez Ching]

For me, I have been running my tank for 1year 3mths with tap water and red sea coral pro salt mix. I also dose seachem prime everytime i top up water and also add in seachem carbonate 1 cap. Got corals also and also got diatoms on the glass weekly. No nice purple algae. Haha.

Hi Bro, 1 year plus liao, but still no coralline algae? I heard many started to grow like crazy during this time liao wor..., could it be some water parameters that is obstructing the growth? Any advise from seniors please? Coz' I'm also rather keen to grow coralline algae rather than diatoms...

[Guest]

What is your current mg and ca level? If it us too low coralline algae wouldn't grow. You need string light as well. You can also try some coralline stimute addictive to enhance the growth.

[Martian]

Hi Bro, 1 year plus liao, but still no coralline algae? I heard many started to grow like crazy during this time liao wor..., could it be some water parameters that is obstructing the growth? Any advise from seniors please? Coz' I'm also rather keen to grow coralline algae rather than diatoms...

I think Coraline will not grow if you have diatoms... My tank is 2+ years old and I also using tap water and Prime like Bro kohanson- also no coraline. I think my nitrate too high (50ppm).

But recently I used Biopallet XL (recommendation from Bro Yongshun) - now I see 2 small patches of it growing already... Hope to have more... See how it goes... Lol...

[Dez Ching]

What is your current mg and ca level? If it us too low coralline algae wouldn't grow. You need string light as well. You can also try some coralline stimute addictive to enhance the growth.

Hi Bro H.Mania, so growing of coralline algae requires higher levels of Mg and Ca, I see.

But what do you mean by string light? I can't catch the meaning of this definition.

[Dez Ching]

I think Coraline will not grow if you have diatoms... My tank is 2+ years old and I also using tap water and Prime like Bro kohanson- also no coraline. I think my nitrate too high (50ppm).

But recently I used Biopallet XL (recommendation from Bro Yongshun) - now I see 2 small patches of it growing already... Hope to have more... See how it goes... Lol...

Hi Bro Martian, do you mean that bro Yongshun recommended you to use Bio-pallet XL, because the purpose is to grow coralline algae? Or it is part of the process for other parameters and the side benefits happens to grow coralline algae?

[Guest]

Hi Bro H.Mania, so growing of coralline algae requires higher levels of Mg and Ca, I see.

But what do you mean by string light? I can't catch the meaning of this definition.

Typo error, what i mean is strong lighting is important as well .

[Martian]

Hi Bro Martian, do you mean that bro Yongshun recommended you to use Bio-pallet XL, because the purpose is to grow coralline algae? Or it is part of the process for other parameters and the side benefits happens to grow coralline algae?

Biopallet XL is to get the nitrate level down... IMHO somehow or rather my nitrates builds up quickly when i use tap water resulting in diatoms. Maybe it's the silicate content in the tap water(my tap water did not contain or contain very very little nitrate when newly mixed - tested many times with different brands of test kits) so you must first get rid of diatoms. But my current Coraline only 2 small patches... Not sure if it'll multiply successfully or not...

I also dose mg and ca previously- Coraline still didn't grow when my diatoms was there... I also dose Coraline Purple CX previously - also no use.

Maybe other Bros have other experiences?

[picoreef]

Im using tap water for my 3gal tank. So far ok. Coraline algae on my rocks.

[kohanson]

Yah, probably my mg and calcium is low, i dose seachem reef complete and reef carbonate once every 2 weeks. Never tested before also, and think my nitrate also high because I have around 7 fishes inside. The ones that I can see significant growth are Green Star Polyp, Blue mushroom, momti and the other one I think is favia.

[Dez Ching]

Typo error, what i mean is strong lighting is important as well .

Opx! I didn't catch that too! I thought it was supposed to be some light that is string together and got curious/ puzzled.

Being English speaking, I'm also slow half pace not to have awared that it could be typo error. LOL

Answer cleared. Ca, Mg, strong lightings.

[Dez Ching]

So tap water is fine for growing coralline algae as well...

[RH8198]

I been trying to study if tap water is a viable solution. So I bought a TDS meter and been zapping whatever water that is in front of me until my wife thinks I am crazy.

Anyway, Marine Parade Area TDS is 106, I tried it on 7-11 distilled water, which is 4-6.

Do you think this level is fine to do a marine tank (LPS) with salt mix?

If using RODI water confirm ease of mind, but even then, I believe it does not eliminate the underlying main concern that we have from using tap water.

From what I read, the main issue with tap water, is diatom and green algae growth, and the causes are nitrate, phosphate and sillicate.

For these problems, there are actually filter media that claim to remove it. For eg, Seachem Phosguard claims to be able to remove phosphate and sillicate.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/PhosGuard.html

As for nitrate, it will be in your system regardless of RO DI or tap water. We just have to deal with this with water changes or nutrient export like cheato algae in refugium. In fact, I think cheato can remove phosphate too.

Do let me know if my thoughts are workable. Being able to use tap water is sure a tempting thought and being in Singapore, where the tap water is the best in the world, makes sense for us to exploit this option.

[asg]

LPS or FOWLR tank use tap water is fine. But if u want to up one level in term of care, why introduce impurity into ur tank and make ur fish and filter work harder than it need to...

Analogy: can we live ib PSI 49 air? Answer is yes. But i would be happier to live in PSI zero air loh.

[RH8198]

Lol.,Technically, 0 psi may be impossible to maintain but if 10-15psi and i can save alot of effort and money, i may just give-and-take. But as a point of interest, I just want to study How technically feasible it is to use tap water.

Case in point, i was in a LFS recently (not suitable to name as don't want to sabo), and we were looking at 2 relatively small tank (2ft and 3ft). When i ask what water, was told they use dechlorinated aged tap water and salt mix. I wasnt too shock as FOWLR and some LPS should be acceptance... until i saw they even have abit sps in the tank. And best part was, when i ask him how often they change water, he told me almost never, Only top up for evaporation. At this point, i was thinking that i want what he is smoking.

But then again, no reason for him to smoke me so drastically as they have a reputation to maintain. And the tank does look alright (ok, i looked closer and may have spotted some diatom among the sand, cannot be too sure but sand has sillica, so may be from there..)

[kohanson]

Some updates, still no sign of coralline algae on tank walls. I only see red algae on the rocks and those could be coralline. Diatoms continue to grow every 4-5 days due to the tap water and also could be due to me running a fan instead of chiller. Water temp hover between 28-29 degrees. I started using rowaphos this weekend and place it in a media bag in my sump as it has been sitting in my store room for a year, haha. I also just ordered a par38 red/blue led to try out cheato in my sump. Hopefully the light set can arrive by next week. Anyone knows is ah beng sell Cheato?

[RayL]

Im also using tap water for my 4ft fowlr and lps nano tank.

Fowlr tank lr comes with coraline and is still maintained since nov 2014 with 6hrs of sub-par light daily. No diatom, hair algae, slime etc. 20% wc biweekly, cheato in sump, suboptimal ATS (not much algae), wet skiming and 1 cap of mb7 biweekly.

Nano tank not much obvious algae growth on par38 6hrs light. No coraline algae. Established over 1 yr on tap water.

I did not bother letting water sit over night or declorine, etc. Everything straight in.. Yes, there are people waiting to see my tank go booms. Lol.

But are we to enjoy the fishes swim or to become their slave? - my tank maker asks me when I started.