Anyone using tap water in Portland

[LC Scott]

Take a look at this.

 

 

I don't really want to use RO because of the waste and my landlord will kill me.

 

Can I get away with just a DI filter?

[Emerald525]

Wow great question. I was just about to ask that and put up a poll. I think I still will

[reefboy]

if thats a saltwater only test that probly isnt correct or is this after mixing with salt for 24 hours?

[LC Scott]

The box says fresh/saltwater (API) and that's strait out of the tap. It is also not the first test we have done over the last two days. ( I probably should have put that in my first post.)

EDIT:

LOst my fresh water color card but here is an image of one.

[reef165]

What part of portland? Some comunities have a municipal (think it's called) water source, a well for a neighborhood type thing and they dont have the filtration that reg city water has. But none the less never thought of testing the tap water, I test the tank to make sure the corals and fish are ok but dont for the water I drink, go figure.

[LC Scott]

We are on Barbur in the Burlingame neighborhood.

I'm Not sure why I haven't gone and read what Portland does to the water before now. :(

[Electrokate]

noticed this last summer after hundreds of dollars of killifish went into distress... water changes made things worse and then killed them. Finally tested the tap water and found ammonia, called the city, was told "they have to add a bunch of extra ammonia to stabilize the chlorine when it is hot out" (was august). then was told in a whining tone "you are not supposed to change more than 10% of the water anyways" which is not always practical. Guess I have never noticed the cold water tap going hot during a heat wave but what do I know. I did get on a few forums and warn people about the ammonia in PDX water but mostly got flamed in response for not shelling out for an RO/DI unit so gave up.

 

I can't use an RO/DI. I don't get to raise our water bill at all, we already pay a high usage penalty, and re-mineralizing RO/DI for freshwater fish is a PITA. Some RO/DI marketers claim others lie about their unit's efficiency/wastage so I don't trust any of them. Plus am afraid I will flood the basement making a judgment error or tripping on the waste line. Gave away my last RO/DI unit over that one.

 

Tried ammonia remover chips in an HOT magnum on the barrel of water before adding the salt, took a week to even make a dent in it. They don't really work.

 

I can't buy RO water at the LFS, because I can't lift more than 10 pounds. If you have a good back keep it that way, don't go hauling 5 gallon buckets of water like I did! (: At least our city water does not have a bunch of drugs, farm runoff and heavy metal contamination. But we do have ugly tannins, which carbon takes out.

 

Started using Prime but was warned you have to be precise with it, adding extra will neutralize ammonia in the tank depriving your bio filter which then crashes and causes an ammonia spike. Sounds logical, no idea if it's true.

 

Found out about Kati/Ani units which are spendy and allegedly zero waste. You can recharge them with lye or acid, which is somewhat dangerous for a klutz like me. They are hard to find right now, some problem with the manufacturer in financial distress. So I don't have one yet.

 

I can attest that Prime did not give me any hassles so far, there has been a reduction in cyano since I started using it but that might be a coincidence. Corals still grow, fish started spawning including wrasses and grammas, snails hermits and shrimp all good. When I have had LFS jobs customers came in complaining that Prime or Amquel killed all their fish, but they were dumping it into the tank straight and unmeasured as an alternative to water changes. So if you heard that these products kill fish take it with a grain of salt. It does smell bad.

 

Doesn't it just fry you to see that green color after doing the water test? It did me... explains why I always got much more algae after a water change in my reefs. Then I did a phosphate test. Twice as much phosphate in newly made salt water as in the tap. No wonder I had algae. Fun with test kits.

 

Kate

[Kimberlee]

if thats a saltwater only test that probly isnt correct or is this after mixing with salt for 24 hours?

 

I've done that same test on fresh salt water twice in the last 48hrs(same bottle of test as in the pic) results were the same. Stopped me dead in my tracks on my WC

[tigerv503]

Nope unless i want to get out of the reefing hobby quick.

 

Vin B.O.M "Blue Ocean Marines Inc."

[jackaninny]

RO/DI - a basic tool in this hobby if only to provide a consistent source of water

[grassi]

Your api test should have 2 color scales, one for saltwater and one for freshwater.

In the picture you are using the wrong one. Residual ammonia is present in tap water, but you should test with the right scale to have an idea.

[LC Scott]

Your api test should have 2 color scales, one for saltwater and one for freshwater.

In the picture you are using the wrong one. Residual ammonia is present in tap water, but you should test with the right scale to have an idea.

 

Grassi:

 

Reefboy pointed out that I was using the wrong card earlier. I can't seem to find the card that came with the kit so I went and looked up a color card image online. If the color is even close I'm even less happy about that. (sad)

 

Link..

[RoseCityAquarium]

I use portland tap water everyday on our freshwater systems. Never use Tap water for saltwater!

[grassi]

Grassi:

 

Reefboy pointed out that I was using the wrong card earlier. I can't seem to find the card that came with the kit so I went and looked up a color card image online. If the color is even close I'm even less happy about that. (sad)

 

Link..

 

 

Sorry I lost that part :(

I think I still have it somewhere. I will check mine.

But as Nick said, don't use tap water if you can.