small mistake........

[puffdaddy_1]

Hi guys,

My new nano 10 gallon mini reef is in day 3. I made the mistake of using 10 gallons of tap water to intially fill the tank. I am running a skimmer rated for a 100 gallon tank.

If I top off with RO water, will there really be a need to restart with all RO water???

Or will I be alright just not adding any more tap water?

I appreciate your insights

[8BALL_99]

I use tapwater with no problems. You Dont Have to use RO water. It depends alot on your tapwater. Where I'm at its not to bad and I know several other reefers that just use tapwater.

[StrongHandsMcGee]

As long as it is dechlorinated, tap water should be fine. It already has many trace elements, so you wouldn't need to use so many additives.

[Sloth]

:eek1:

Tap water has many many unknowns in it. Along with those trace elements, you could be getting massive amounts of phosphates, copper, iron, and who knows what else...

Besides chlorine, you need to be make sure your water supply doesn't use chlorimines.

Some places are better than others, but its risky to keep using it.

Your tank has only been set up for 3 days and its not too much water (10 gallons). It probably wouldn't hurt anything to siphon out as much water as you can down to the sandbed, then add new water made with distilled and RO. Whatever you do, I would strongly urge you to do all the rest of your water changes with water made from RO or distilled water. That will eventually dilute any nasties you may have added with tap water.

BTW - salt mixes have all the trace elements you need and if you add salt on top of tap water that has trace elements, you could be adding too much in the end.

[Steve973]

Tap water is known to fuel algal growth. It's much easier to maintain your system if you use distilled or ro/di water.

Steve

[LVfishguy]

I wouldn't strip your hole tank down just because of using tap water. You might get a little more algae but it's not like the world is going to end...way waste unnessary time...

[john76]

I agree with Sloth.... it really depends on your where you live. The local water quality is different for every area. So it is a risk.

[MonkeeFish]

well if you do use tap water, add dechlorinator and other stuff before you mix in the salt and add it to your tank.

[reeftechie]

I filled my 450 for the first time with tap water, after I tested for Copper and Iron, got zero's on both. Hell if I was going to take 6 weeks to fill up my 450 with r/o water. Other then the algae bloom I had, which I believe it was due to using tap water, everything else was wonderful, and I had it filled up in less then 1 hour, and that was 5-6 years ago.

Just don’t do it all the time, algae blooms are typical of a person who uses it all the time.

Just what has worked for me :D

[8BALL_99]

LOL well like everyone has said, It depends on your lacation I guess and what kinda of water you have. I use nothen but tapwater and I havent' had any algae blooms. I do have a clean up crew so who knows. There is a guy down the road from me that has a shop behind his house. He also uses nothen but tapwater with np. My big tank is only 6-7 months but he has tanks that have been up for years.

R/O setups cost to much and I aint lugging water home for my tanks lol. But I guess if you only used a gal or so a week it wouldn't be to-bad. I use that a day in topoff.:lolspin:

[8BALL_99]

Oh I almost forgot, My topoff water put enough Calcium back into my system that I've went 6 months without adding any.;) And I have several clams, 4 fish ect. My calcium was testing around 430-440 Dont member what my alk but it was fine. I just now started adding Calicium to get my system up to 460.

[brc0488]

what about making up your salt water a week in advance everytime you do a water change and lettign it sit for a week??? wouldn' that help rid of the bad stuff in water (on top of using water conditioner). Also does any1 boiling water first has any affect?

[luvtolean]

Originally posted by 8BALL_99
Oh I almost forgot, My topoff water put enough Calcium back into my system that I've went 6 months without adding any.;) And I have several clams, 4 fish ect. My calcium was testing around 430-440 Dont member what my alk but it was fine. I just now started adding Calicium to get my system up to 460.

A sand bed will keep Ca up too.

In a 10 gallon tank, I don't think the risk, and time it would take to fix, if an algae bloom happened is worth it.

I personally would siphon it down to the sand and start over.

[Sloth]

Originally posted by brc0488
what about making up your salt water a week in advance everytime you do a water change and lettign it sit for a week??? wouldn' that help rid of the bad stuff in water (on top of using water conditioner). Also does any1 boiling water first has any affect?
Letting it sit out won't get rid of metals, suspended solids, organics, chloromines, or phosphates in the tap water.

Boiling water would remove any dissolved oxygen and evaporate off pure water from the tap water. It would also get rid of chlorine. But it would essentially make any other nasties like metals more concentrated.

[szesteve]

I would drain the tank to the sand bed and just top it up again with RO water. Since u only have a 10 gallon tank, RO water isn't too expensive to buy.

[steve.bridges]

can any of you guys tell me a brand of r/o water or which stores sell it, i have to do a water change due to excessive algae.
i am living in ont canada

cheers sorry bout barging in

[clown2be]

I personally would siphon it down to the sand and start over. [/B][/QUOTE]

Same here. In a 10 gallon how much time could this take and your only three days in.

[szesteve]

Originally posted by steve.bridges
can any of you guys tell me a brand of r/o water or which stores sell it, i have to do a water change due to excessive algae.
i am living in ont canada

cheers sorry bout barging in

Hey steve,

I personally use Crystal Clear cos that's what we drink at home.

[steve.bridges]

ok man thanx