water in my new tank/setup

[liv]

what water do you guys/gals use to fill your aquariums ?
i'm my books, they suggest reverse osmosis or distilled water.

they have a filtration unit at canadiantire on sale this week.
here are the specs :

Rainfresh Drinking Water System 1
Provides safe, clean drinking water at a fraction of the cost of bottled water
Traps & kills harmful bacteria >99.99999%, traps protozoan cysts>99.9%
Filters sediment to 0.3 microns (absolute), reduces chlorine>95%
Compact, space saving - ideal for cottage, cabin, boat, RV
Includes cartridge, faucet, tubes and fittings - installs easily in 45-60 minutes
Cleanable, reusable ceramic cartridge lasts 12 months (approx.)
Unique "bypass" faucet allows for easy, no mess cartridge cleanings

its on sale for 75$ instead of 100$.

is this pure enough to put it in my tank ?  cauz I'd save lots of time and money !

thanks

liv

[vpilieci]

I use tap water treated with aqua safe or some other additive that removes chlorine... I have a 55 with 13 Africans in it they are all at least two years old. No deaths, or sickness in living memory. I do regular water changes of about 20 % weekly...

I wouldn't spend the money on the filter (unless you want it for drinking) the volume or flow from the tap is like a trickle, remember this is meant for drinking water. It would take like 20 minutes to fill an 11 litre bucket. That aside (I have a system similar to this for our drinking water) the water coming from the tap will be cold, it runs off your cold water line, and because you are using it more frequently you will need to replace the filters more often. Have you checked the price of those filters? For mine it costs about $45 each time... I repalce twice a year... I'm guessing if you were using this for fish you would need to replace at least four times that much....

just my $0.02

VP

[Evan]

I agree.  I also looked into this but unless there is something harmful towards fish in your water I don't think it is worth it.  Hopefully there is not as I imagine that you drink this water.

Remember that if you use water directly from the unit with no hardness you will have to add water from your well or city (depending where you live) which means you may have to use something to remove the chlorine.

If you don't add water from your well then you would have to condition the water with other chemicals.

[cerickson]

I agree too...

A unit such as a reverse osmosis filter not only removes chlorine, but it makes the water very soft (low kh and gh)..

Almost all aquarium fish need some semblance of hardness, so by having a such a filter, you will need to add hardening chemicals to it anyway. And as for other things in the water, a good conditioner will do the job just fine..

Ottawa city water, depending where you are is actually very good. It has a balanced ph, and low chlorine levels. So all in all, I don't think a filter would be necessary, not to mention how crazy you will eventually get waiting for your container to fill when doing water changes keeping in mind the flow rate of such filters.

So overall, like Evan said. ALl your doing with a R.O filter is make the water really soft.

[liv]

ok.. so I can go ahead with normal tap water.
then get a conditionner at the pet stores to remove the chlorine.
cool... much cheaper  :lol:

man.. I taught I was going to have to get like 30 x 5gallons tanks of water... Few.. thx all !

[artw]

ottawa has balanced PH once it settles.  when it comes out of the tap it's around 9.  it levells off around 7.6 a day later and stays there.
this is great if you keep your tanks high like I do.  but not so great for people who have low PH plant tanks.

Anybody want to take a drive out to WAKEFIELD and get some free low PH high Hardness spring water?

[liv]

I filled it up over the last 3 days with tap water.
the ph was at 8.4 yesturday.  and that would be great if it would stay like this. ( thats what they recommend for my saltwater tank. )
( between 8 to 8.4 )

as for clorine.. I will get that product to remove any traces of it.
thanks for all the replies