Switching to tap water? Good or bad idea?

[Luke in Phoenix]

I currently keep my discus in RO water with added minerals. I'm thinking about switching to tap water. What do you think? Good or bad idea? It would be much easier to just age tap water.

I'm in Phoenix with pretty hard water. It's about 800 TDS out of the faucet and 8+PH. This is a link with a full report of the water quality: https://www.phoenix.gov/waterservice...primarywqr.pdf

Your insight is appreciated. Thanks! -Luke

[Poppa Ryno]

I raise & keep mine in tap. I Breed in RO. If your not breeding then its not AS big of a concern. My worry would be the 800tds. That seems pretty high based on what im used to. Youll wanna lower your ph to just below 8 or at 8 max. You could easily cut your RO with tap 50/50 to get around 400+ tds. That should lower your ph as well. Your ph for keeping discus, not necessarily breeding, should be between 6.0 -8.0. 8.0 being a tad high in my opinion.

[DJW]

Luke, have you tested the tap water nitrate? That might be another strike against it.

The city water report shows that the nitrate at its highest during that year was 8ppm NO3-N, which would be 35ppm NO3 per the API test.

[Keith Perkins]

I routinely move fish breeding tank water with TDSs of 70 or so to tap at up to 400 with no problem. I have no experience with TDS of 800, but I suspect your results would be the same. Honestly your fish will give you a better answer than anyone. I would switch them over and see how they react. If you don't see any change in eating etc. I'd say your golden. If they don't like the tap you can always go back to what you were doing.

[hvangus]

I thought going to aged tape water would be easier. I started the switch three weeks ago and have had cloudy water every since. I have a 125 gallon with 20 gallon sump, some driftwood and a few plants it looks like crap!! I am doing 50 gallon changes everyday with no luck clearing it up. PH 7.2, no ammonia , nitrates, or nitrites. Discus doing fine but not what I want my tank to look like. I am going to give it one more week and then I am going back to RO. Has anyone else had this problem?

[bluelagoon]

[QUOTE=hvangus;1247489]I thought going to aged tape water would be easier. I started the switch three weeks ago and have had cloudy water every since. I have a 125 gallon with 20 gallon sump, some driftwood and a few plants it looks like crap!! I am doing 50 gallon changes everyday with no luck clearing it up. PH 7.2, no ammonia , nitrates, or nitrites. Discus doing fine but not what I want my tank to look like. I am going to give it one more week and then I am going back to RO. Has anyone else had this problem?
[/QUOTE If your nitrates are at zero,your tank is not cycled.

[BmoreBraap]

Luke, have you tested the tap water nitrate? That might be another strike against it.

The city water report shows that the nitrate at its highest during that year was 8ppm NO3-N, which would be 35ppm NO3 per the API test.

Dude, thank you for the conversion. I literally could not figure out why I have been having Nitrate issues when my water company tested my well at 8ppm but API was always at like 40-60. Now I know. For anyone interested, here is the conversion chart that Dan used.

Interconverting Nitrate as Nitrate (Nitrate-NO3) and Nitrate as Nitrogen (Nitrate-N)
The atomic weight of nitrogen is 14.0067 and the molar mass of nitrate anion (NO3-) is 62.0049 g/mole

Therefore, to convert Nitrate-NO3 (mg/L) to Nitrate-N (mg/L):
Nitrate-N (mg/L) = 0.2259 x Nitrate-NO3 (mg/L)
And to convert Nitrate-N (mg/L) to Nitrate-NO3 (mg/L):
Nitrate-NO3 (mg/L) = 4.4268 x Nitrate-N (mg/L)

Looks like I might need to get myself an RO unit.....crap

[Luke in Phoenix]

Luke, have you tested the tap water nitrate? That might be another strike against it.

The city water report shows that the nitrate at its highest during that year was 8ppm NO3-N, which would be 35ppm NO3 per the API test.

Good thought. I tested the water today and luckily it is 0.5 ppm Nitrate however I'll have to test it again in the summer and see if it changes.

[Luke in Phoenix]

I thought going to aged tape water would be easier. I started the switch three weeks ago and have had cloudy water every since. I have a 125 gallon with 20 gallon sump, some driftwood and a few plants it looks like crap!! I am doing 50 gallon changes everyday with no luck clearing it up. PH 7.2, no ammonia , nitrates, or nitrites. Discus doing fine but not what I want my tank to look like. I am going to give it one more week and then I am going back to RO. Has anyone else had this problem?

I've used tap water with other fish and never had this problem. In a planted tank, it would be cloudy for the first day but always cleared up the very next day.

[Luke in Phoenix]

I routinely move fish breeding tank water with TDSs of 70 or so to tap at up to 400 with no problem. I have no experience with TDS of 800, but I suspect your results would be the same. Honestly your fish will give you a better answer than anyone. I would switch them over and see how they react. If you don't see any change in eating etc. I'd say your golden. If they don't like the tap you can always go back to what you were doing.

Very true, you could always just switch them back. At some point, I may try slowly transitioning them and see how they do.

[John_Nicholson]

I thought you were only changing like 3 drops a month.......How hard can it be to age that.

-john

[Luke in Phoenix]

I thought you were only changing like 3 drops a month.......How hard can it be to age that.

-john

Haha, on the "laboratory" tank with the algae scrubber yes but I'm setting up additional tanks

[Luke in Phoenix]

Dude, thank you for the conversion. I literally could not figure out why I have been having Nitrate issues when my water company tested my well at 8ppm but API was always at like 40-60. Now I know. For anyone interested, here is the conversion chart that Dan used.

Interconverting Nitrate as Nitrate (Nitrate-NO3) and Nitrate as Nitrogen (Nitrate-N)
The atomic weight of nitrogen is 14.0067 and the molar mass of nitrate anion (NO3-) is 62.0049 g/mole

Therefore, to convert Nitrate-NO3 (mg/L) to Nitrate-N (mg/L):
Nitrate-N (mg/L) = 0.2259 x Nitrate-NO3 (mg/L)
And to convert Nitrate-N (mg/L) to Nitrate-NO3 (mg/L):
Nitrate-NO3 (mg/L) = 4.4268 x Nitrate-N (mg/L)

Looks like I might need to get myself an RO unit.....crap

An algae scrubber may help you with some of the nitrates. They have their own unique set of pros and cons but could be helpful.

[Luke in Phoenix]

I am slowly transitioning to carbon filtered tap water. We'll see how they do in the hard Phoenix water.