|
i would say that RO/DI water is very important, but not necessary i suppose. i figure it to be along the same lines as oil or gas for my car. best to go with the mfgs recommended oil/fuel, and in this case the mfg recommends RO/DI. the whole point of curing rock is to remove all the unwanted die off and junk from it and then colonize it with beneficial bacteria. by using tap water to do this you risk adding heavy metals, chlorine and the such. which really should be avoided if you can. i realize that when youre working with larger volumes of water its harder to acquire RO/DI water if you dont have a unit already. i just buy it from my LFS for .50 cents a gallon, but i only have 30g and they give it to me in five 6gal jugs so its not all that bad.
i guess if you have to use tap id look into using some kind of water conditioner first, at least a dechlorinator. and maybe find a way to test the TDS of your tap to see what it is, it may even be pretty low to start. im sure you wouldnt be the first to cure rock in tap, but personally i dont let anything other than R0/DI and occasionally distilled come into contact with my tank.
__________________
-Lewis
|