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Community Moderator
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One of our Facebook fan's asked this question on the FishChannel.com Facebook Page. Can any of you help lend some insight?
Q:Can i use water right out of the tap for salt mixes for water changes?
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Fish Moderator
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I have limited experience with saltwater thus far, but my answer would be that it depends entirely on what species you are keeping and the chemistry of your tap water. Many saltwater fish, particularly those that are still wild-caught, are very sensitive to even trace elements. Tap water already has many minerals in it, and most salt mixes are formulated to be the optimum mix of minerals all by themselves - they plan for you to use RO water so that nothing else is added to their mix.
However, I have kept sheepshead minnows, a saltwater species that has been tank-bred for many years as a bait fish. They couldn't care less that I use tap water to mix their saltwater. Plus, the tap water I use isn't particularly full of minerals, as tap water goes. If my hardness was off the charts, as some city's water is, I would probably reconsider, even with such easy-going fish.
55 gallon
Baby - lionhead/ryukin cross
Westie - lionhead/ryukin cross
Speedy Rodriguez - oranda
Currently searching for a good new tankmate!
planted 29 gallon
3 red eye tetras
4 cherry barbs
2 cardinal tetras
4 albino cories
2 Bolivian rams
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Fish Moderator
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When my tank was up and running I had FOWLR set up and was using tap water(lived in northern Ontario). When I converted to reef I was always running in to problems. I would always bleaching certain lps coral and some of the inverts I had were short lived. Then my LFS suggested using RO/DI water and since I started my tank never looked better (untill the front of the tank exploded, but that is another story). Any way I believe that with RO/DI water you can control the parameters of the water way better than with tap water.
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