I'm forced to use tapwater.

[DustinKeating]

I'm on a rediculous financial budget (i know i know, saltwater very expensive, what were you thinking...etc) and i've broken my container for RO/DI water, therefor i have to spend another 20 dollars on a jug they'll accept, and in short...i'm broke to the point of not having 20 dollars (the joys of a poor student). So no RO/DI water for me.

But i really need to top off the tank, suggestions for ridding the bad stuff from tap water in approx 2-3 days? For example, letting it sit..?

 

[JestersCourt05]

One thing I was told to do, ( and I haven't tried it yet ) , was to make sure you have a clean bucket, mix in your salt with the tap water, and if possible, put an airstone in there so that the bubbles will keep the water moving. Just by sitting there, it'll bring it up to room temp, and burn off some of the unwanted levels of carbon amongst others. But I would check for some easier ways, because I'm sure someone can tell you better.

 

[aresgod]

basically that stuff is gonna be in there no matter what unless you put it through some sort of acceptable filter media, using it for one week wouldnt be too bad though, just do a small water change and feed on the light side.

 

[DustinKeating]

alright, thanks everyone. I'll chuck it in a bucket with an airstone becase it cant hurt, and i'll hopefully be able to recover when i get some more water. Thanks.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

maybe with any kind of filter you could put a polyfilter pad...it's amazing

 

[KahluaZzZ]

if you have like 8 $ USD or 11 $ CDN

 

[yamahaguy06]

wow, tap water can jack you up that much huh.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

polyfilter can be used for a long period, so it won't cost you much. Don't know the time to be effective, cause i use it in my main tank's power filter. It really does handle po4 .

 

[DustinKeating]

i'll have to look one up locally.

 

[dbacksrat]

you can't knock over a 7-11? j/k

$20 for a water jug? where do you live, california?

 

[yamahaguy06]

well I live in cali. 20$ for real, lol. but realy you should be able to pick one up for 9-12$, check like grociery stores

 

[DustinKeating]

my grocery store charges 15 dollar deposit charge on the jug (which i dropped and broke) and then 4.99 for a 5 gal refill...which isn't bad, but i'm really broke. It's probably hard to comprehend not having 15 dollars to spare, but it's the truth.

 

[1979camaro]

i can understand the not having $15...just use some tap water...let it sit out for a few days with a powerhead running in it and you won't even have to use dechlor

 

[dbacksrat]

i swear i had another post in between Dustin's and camaro's--what the freak

camaro--but what if you have heavy metals in your tapwater? how do you get rid of those?

 

[1979camaro]

you can't without filtration...but iirc he was using tap for a while before he went to the filter

 

[DustinKeating]

yeah he's right (good memory) i only recently switched over to RO/DI water because i refused to listen to more experienced advice. It worked for a while, then i had monster algae bloom...but it should be alright for a while.