Tap water

[enzo54321]

I just filled in the tank and I was wondering if tap water is fine and if so should I add something to it?

[MalHavoc]

well, now that you've filled it, you're sort of stuck with it :)

Tap water probably shouldn't be used any more, for things like water changes and freshwater top off. The water in Montreal doesn't taste especially good (I used to spend a fair bit of time there). There are probably things like phosphate and nitrate in it, along with the typical chlorine that is in most city water.

At the very least, if you ever decide to use tap water again, you'll have to let it sit out and aerate it with a pump or a powerhead for at least a day or two before using it, to get rid of the chlorine.

You should be using RO/DI water. You can either get an RO/DI water system from a lot of online places. Good canadian mail order places include:

www.mops.ca
www.saltwaterconnection.com
www.jlaquatics.com

(I listed them in geographical location, going from east to west).

You can also find RO water at a lot of grocery stores. You can fill up 1 gallon containers for about 65 cents. They are the "pure water" blue machines near the checkouts.