Opinions on Water Quality

[oatyfruitybar]

I don't own an RO/DI filter and it's a pain in the butt to get it 5 gallons at a time from Walmart, so out of curiosity I looked up water quality reports for the Fort Collins area and they weren't too bad. I've heard that some people use their tap water for their reef tanks if the water quality is reasonably good, so I was wanting some opinions on whether anybody thinks that tap water in Fort Collins would work.

Comparison of Fort Collins tap water to bottled: http://www.fcgov.com/utilities/img/site_specific/uploads/dw-bottled.pdf

Fort Collins Drinking water quality report: http://www.fcgov.com/utilities/img/site_specific/uploads/dwqr.pdf

TDS is reported as 73 mg/L, which is high if you're using an RO/DI filter but quite low considering the legal limit is 500 mg/L. Thoughts?

 

[Wicked Color]

I know a lot of folks just use a charcoal filter, that gets TDS pretty low, then use dechlor.

 

[dv3]

i hear some people up that way use the tap water with "no problems" ....but when you have an algae out break then you have to look at your water quality first as being the problem when it can be a number of other things so for me its worth it to use 0 tds water becasue in the end it will probably save you time and money when it comes to trouble shooting issues ....make sense?

 

[Bajamike]

Lowes has a canister filter very cheap $20 and then you need the charcoal filter $12 and you can buy a sadle tap for $6 and some plumbing supplys for $10-$15 so for 50 bucks you can have your own filter with 0 tds or and another filter for $20 and have a real good filter set up for around $70

 

[dv3]

Lowes has a canister filter very cheap $20 and then you need the charcoal filter $12 and you can buy a sadle tap for $6 and some plumbing supplys for $10-$15 so for 50 bucks you can have your own filter with 0 tds or and another filter for $20 and have a real good filter set up for around $70

you can probably find a used ro/di for $50-$70

 

[oatyfruitybar]

Cool. I was just wondering what thoughts were on the matter. I don't know about charcoal filters but what about running carbon in a regular filter? Would that also help lower TDS?

 

[dvenson]

another reason to think about a filter is that a lot of older homes used copper piping so that "could" cause an issue

 

[amonchak]

As well as the piping that delivers the water to your homes. The test report is likely at the plant where the water is treated. I would try to use ro/di if you can.

 

[ShelbyJK500]

That is a great TDS reading, considering it's near 500 where I live!! RO/DI system is a terrific investment in my opinion, but I am now going through a trash can of water a week (at least!). I liked having it handy for water changes, or emergencies that I could handle without leaving home. Just my .02

 

[Aku]

The water in foco is pretty good. Last time I tested the tds of the tap it was something like 60. I didn't use an ro unit when I first started and I don't think it really caused many problems. I eventually did get an ro unit because I like it better to not even have the source water as a potential problem when troubleshooting.

 

[hurrafreak]

Last time I checked my TDS in fort Collins OT was 40. I've never had a problem with using tap water for
FOCO. I didn't have algae problems in the 300 or in the new 210 and the 29. That's just my experience in FOCO.

 

[subpotentjoe]

man you guys have some nice water up there. Aurora water tastes terrible lol. Be careful getting a used ro/di. I did this and ended up having to replace all of the filters/membrane anyway and it cost me almost as much as a new one would. My concern with tap even if it has a low tds would be copper.

 

[tlsrcs]

I use tap water and have had no issues. im in longmont, Now i should say i try not to use tap but when the tank needs toped off i feel tap is better then risking running a pump dry. I have never had algae problems. infact i got some premixed SW once from a LFS in broomfield and that water gave me more problems then tap ever has....

 

[miwoodar]

Another data point...SW Highlands Ranch comes from the tap at ~250 TDS.