can i use drinking water that has iron in it to top off the tank?

[fishkid6692]

can i top off my tank with bottled drinking water? it says it has iron in it so i'm not sure if iron is deadly to my octo?

 

[Jlnune07]

API makes tap water conditioning solutions. same bottles as the test kits and it works for me. its a dechlorinator and also detoxifies the heavy metals. $10/week on america's choice distilled gallons was getting tedious and expensive. big bottle of API conditioner is like 5 bucks and its about 3-6 drops for 2 gallons. "stress coat" does the same thing and "ammo-lock" could be used to supplement the conditioner. spend maybe $15 one shot but now i can fill a jug from my tap and put some drops in.

 

[Nancy]

We don't recommend using these chemicals. You should use RO/DI water or at least distilled water for top off. Water quailty is very important to cephalopods.

Nancy

 

[Jlnune07]

Nancy- I've used the conditioning method for my reefs for a while now and its been ok. I don't have an RO system so should I just stick to my bottled distilled water for top offs and mixing? Why wouldn't you be in favor of the chemicals? too much room for error in 100% conditioning? chemicals themselves? Understandably certain reefs are much more forgiving than a species tank and as far as octos go I'm inexperienced. Ive used this water in the tank I'm setting up for an octo so I just want to be sure. Thanks !

 

[Thales]

The 'slime' products are reported to have negative effects on cephs.

 

[DWhatley]

From my own experience and without journals or proper observation notes, I found that my first saltwater set-ups (this time around, using LR, not going back to pre-LR days) suffered badly from "new tank" syndrome when I was using local water and chemical conditioning. I purchased an inexpensive DI filter that connects to a faucet and noticed healthier tanks. With my RO/DI set-up I have only had one problem that I think was water related and suspect it was the need for replacing my over-used RO filter (I opened it up out of curiosity and the inside was 2/3 covered in red, slimy, very fine mud). I have changed out the substrate in several tanks and did not even have a hickup in the water parameters. A lot, I think, depends upon the water in your local area. Ours has to be filtered before it gets used at all because of the red mud, Thales has home access to very good water and can filter with extra carbon and DI without the RO (still doing it this way right Richard?).

 

[Thales]

A lot, I think, depends upon the water in your local area. Ours has to be filtered before it gets used at all because of the red mud, Thales has home access to very good water and can filter with extra carbon and DI without the RO (still doing it this way right Richard?).

Yep and Yep. It depends on your source water. Right now, tap water in my town is 49 TDS, and by summer that should go down to 30, so I just use color changing DI pre filtered by carbon and sediment filters. Some reefers in my area use tap water and Prime to take care of the chloramines. I don't go that route because I am worried about 'burps' in the system, and like the insurance that DI gives me in that regard and because my house has copper plumbing.
I mix 150 gallons of new saltwater at a time. When I do that i go through DI resin pretty quickly. Otherwise the auto top offs go through 2 cartridges in a month or two. I am looking into a 20" DI canister as well.

 

[Octavarium]

I think the best bet for topping off, since I know running the slow RO/DI unit can be annoying, is to get a bunch of gallon jugs of distilled water...they go for about 99 cents at Walmart, so if theres one near you check for them. It will be an easy and safe method to always have some extra "top off" water handy.

 

[Thales]

Or just get the RODI and store the water it produces.

 

[SandV]

you can also just buy rodi water at most grocery stores... it is the ones that you put your gallon or 5 gallon jug in and it fills it up... it is like 35 cents a gallon....