Can I use conditioned tap water for clownfish fry tank? (2024)

Hello reefers,

I have a tank full of clownfish tank and I will start performing daily water changes, once they become bigger after metamorphosis stage I wonder can I use tap water for them?

Also what about water for live rotfiers in bucket, can I use tap water too?

I have trouble getting that much rodi water for all of this and tap water will save me a lot of time and trouble.

Thank you

It depends on your tap water - some people have great water quality out of their tap, others have bad enough water that it's not safe for people to drink.

If you have good quality water (and pipes/plumbing that aren't bad), then you may be able to use tap water without issues. Some people have good enough water, but they still need to treat for things like chlorine/chloramines, etc. before it's safe to use. Others may have issues with things like heavy metals, high nutrient levels, etc., which may be much more difficult to get rid of without RO/DI filtration.

ISpeakForTheSeas said:

The point of RODI systems in the hobby is really just to ensure no toxins (like copper, for example) get brought in with the water for the tank no matter the source.

Tap water is totally fine to use in some places/on some wells but it would kill at least the corals and inverts in other places/on other wells. Additionally, the quality of the water can shift over time - so water that was fine may suddenly change and starting poisoning things, or water that was terrible may suddenly be useable.

So, RODI isn't always needed, but most people use it to guarantee their water won't doom their tank.

Has anyone tried a long term experiment using tap water vs RODI water for a reef tank?

One of the first things you hear when you get into saltwater is that you should ONLY use RODI water. It's so pervasive that I don't know anyone that doesn't use RODI water (granted I don't know a lot of reefers). On the other hand, virtually no one uses RODI water in freshwater tanks. Forgive...

www.reef2reef.com

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ISpeakForTheSeas said:

It depends on your tap water - some people have great water quality out of their tap, others have bad enough water that it's not safe for people to drink.

If you have good quality water (and pipes/plumbing that aren't bad), then you may be able to use tap water without issues. Some people have good enough water, but they still need to treat for things like chlorine/chloramines, etc. before it's safe to use. Others may have issues with things like heavy metals, high nutrient levels, etc., which may be much more difficult to get rid of without RO/DI filtration.

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Thanks for the reply! I know tap water is bad for silicates and other substances that can cause algae bloom and other nutrients to spike which can harm corals, but I'm wondering if I'm doing fry only tank, will that be much of the problem?

Here is my water quality report:

What do you think?

Also, I would wait for fry to reach metaphorize stage and to grow a little bit more.

marcosnano said:

Here is my water quality report:

https://www.villageoflombard.org/DocumentCenter/View/8097/2022-CCR-Final-PDF What do you think?

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My first thought is that it seems concerning to me that they checked the copper levels in ppm to only one decimal and don't list the range detected.

For the fish specifically, though, the disinfectants (Chlorine, HAA5 Haloacidic Acids, and TTHMs Total Trihalomethanes), the fact that samples were found to contain more lead than is permitted in drinking water, and the fact that samples were also found to contain more Combined Radium 226/228 (pCi/L) than is permitted in drinking water all concern me - I don't know how harmful any of these would be (that'd be a question for Randy), but it's concerning to me.

Personally, I'd play it safe and use RO/DI water, but others may take the chance and see how it goes - if you decide to try using the tap water anyway, you may need to figure out how to remove the disinfectants.

I'm actually curious about this as well for non-sensitive settings. I've seen a couple of these threads and surprised Prime / chlorine remover type things have come up. Do those conditioners not remove chlorine or chloramines sufficiently? If you got high copper etc, I understand that being a no-go.

Specifically thinking about for bucket of live rock to cook, phyto cultures, etc (sorry if that's hijacking too far) but I figure they fall in the same category.