Safe to top-up water using tap water ?

[Marine_Tank]

Hi,

Can you use tap water for topping up evaporated salt water in a FOWLR tank ? I understand that the chlorine and other chemicals i.e. phosphates, nitrates, copper, silica etc. are present in our tap water and these are detrimental to fishes let alone corals.

Is there a DIY way to get rid of these unwanted chemicals from the top-up water ? I have been topping up with unfiltered tap-water directly from my tap and realise that this may have contributed to algae growth in a way or another besides the bioload.

I heard you can buy some tablets off the shelf from NTUC to purify the tap-water before use. Pls enlighten me on the correct techniques besides using RO/DI or distilled water.

[Acanthurus pyroferus]

Hi,

Can you use tap water for topping up evaporated salt water in a FOWLR tank ? I understand that the chlorine and other chemicals i.e. phosphates, nitrates, copper, silica etc. are present in our tap water and these are detrimental to fishes let alone corals.

Is there a DIY way to get rid of these unwanted chemicals from the top-up water ? I have been topping up with unfiltered tap-water directly from my tap and realise that this may have contributed to algae growth in a way or another besides the bioload.

I heard you can buy some tablets off the shelf from NTUC to purify the tap-water before use. Pls enlighten me on the correct techniques besides using RO/DI or distilled water.

the easiest way is to have a separate container and filter it with phosphate resins, activated carbon and anti-chlorine for a day or 2 in heavy aeration . It isn't as good as RO/DI though

[terryansimon]

there's always

1) letting the water sit for 24hrs.

2) using anti-chlorine/chloramine.

[terryansimon]

PLEASE DO NOT USE SAF Puri tablets. it already taste bad enough for human consumption. don't want to imagine how it'll taste like to fishes.

[Marine_Tank]

Can you provide more details on the steps and where to get the phosphates resins, activated carbon & anti-chlorine stuff etc.

How abt what kind of container is suitable as storage becos' you will have to use it for a couple of weeks ? And it will be convenient to draw out the amount of water as and when you need to top-up the evaporated water.

Does that mean you will have to put a powerhead ihside or airstone for aeration ? Also, do you need to run the aeration until the last drop of water has been used up ?

Need all these important details before I can proceed.

Appreciate yr help here.

[FuEl]

If you are not intending to keep more advanced stuff like sps...then you can just add tapwater that has been left overnight...

Good phosphate absorbing product would be Rowaphos. You can find it at re***n or PR or ML and marine LFS.

[Mellow]

If you are not intending to keep more advanced stuff like sps...then you can just add tapwater that has been left overnight...

hi, came to my notice about leaving your water overnight to remove the chlorine....but apparently, pub has also started using chloramine and leaving the water overnight will only remove chlorine and not chloramine...might be a good idea to get commercialized chlorine/chloramine remover (for those who dun have the luxury of RO/DI...

[MNCL]

Hi,

IMO, we can get rid of the chlorine just BY merely leaving the water overnight. The use of anti chlorine is not necessary. I have been doing this method for years for FW tank and found it to be totally safe.

Money saved for not purchasing the anti chlorine chemical be used to buy frozen mysis shrimps or brine shrimps he he.

Anyway, the above is just my 2 cts worth of my opinion.

CHEERS!

[Coral_ClamS]

how much is an average RO/DI system and how much does it cost to maintain it yearly?

[Volitan]

Personally I dun like the idea of adding chemicals into the water, so I oso leave overnight for chlorine escape.

[alanseah]

me too i left the water overnite... I have 4 mineral water bottle each 500ml, so i will everytime route each bottle to top up the water lost. which avg water lost per day is around 500ml for mine.

In this way I need not bother much about having not enough time to remove chlorine or whatever...