new to this, just a quick topping up question

[Julz]

I'm new to keeping a reef aquarium and currently just in the process of cycling my tank. so i thought id better understand topping up the water better before i do it myself and most likely do it wrong..

bit of background: at the moment i have a cycling (just over a week) 45 gallon salt water tank. which hopefully eventually will be a reef tank.

the question I'm still not sure about is about topping up the tank. the guy who owns the aquarium i regularly visit told me when topping up my tank, simply pour fresh tap water (room temp) into a bucket and just put my aqua plus conditioner in it and stir it up and wait, and then simply pour the bucket very slowly (intervals of little amounts into the actual aquarium until its empty) into the tank. is this a good method? after reading up about it there are like heaps of different techniques how to do it and I'm not sure how to go about it..
any advice would be greatly appreciated
cheers

 

[SaltWaterNewb]

Well, first of all you should not be using tap water. Tap water contains many impurities and minerals and nutrients and heavy metals that are bad for the tank. They lead to algae and is not good for corals if you choose the keep them. Some folks say that they use tap water with no problems but the majority are not so lucky. Best water to use is RO/DI water or distilled water. That being said, the way to do a top off is to use fresh water and poor in to the tank until it is at the desired level. Some people warm it up to the same temp as the tank, some just make sure it is at room temp. I just add at room temp but I only have to add a small amount so it does not have an affect on the tanks temp.

 

[SaltWaterNewb]

I guess if your tap water is good quality and you choose to use it then you have two options. If your water has chlorine you can use a condition and mix that with the water and add as you describe or you can have the water in a bucket and add an airstone and let the chlorine gas out over night. That way you don't have to use chemicals. Now if your water has chloramine you need the conditioner.

 

[Julz]

alright, so RODI water seems to be the best bet as it has been conditioned and is safe from tap water problems? where do i buy it?

if there was a problem with buying it, i could still use tap water that has been conditioned? ive always used tap water for my previous africans and before that just normal fresh water.. is that any indicator as to the quality of my water?

 

[SaltWaterNewb]

You can often times buy RO/DI water from your LFS or the grocery story sometimes will have dispensers that you can fill your own bottle. Best thing is the buy a filter so you can make your own. You can also use distilled water if RO/DI is not available. The worst thing about using tap is usually tap contains heavy metals and they are very bad for coral, especially copper. I guess you could get a report from the water company to see what is in the water, but for my money and tank health it just isn't worth it.

 

[djconn]

I get my RO/DI water at one of those dispensers at my local grocery store. I fill up one or two 5 gal jugs and keep it in my garage for water changes or top off water.

 

[reefman23]

I get my RO/DI water at one of those dispensers at my local grocery store. I fill up one or two 5 gal jugs and keep it in my garage for water changes or top off water.

Just want to let you guys know that you really should be careful doing that because the quality of the water coming out of those dispensers varies depending on whether the vendor is keeping up with the filters and all of that. I have read more than once of people who get their water from those dispensers and test it to find that the quality had greatly diminished from the last fill-up.

Just FYI,

Jesse