MY first screw up

[nudy6969]

ok so, i just found out that it is very bad use regular water, i have regular water in my tank right now. however i did put stabilizing crap in there. how bad is this, i heard my live rock is going to absorb phosphate and algae is going to get very bad. also herd that the algae is going to absorb the good stuff from the water and corals wont grow.

what should i do. is my live rock and sand garbage now?

im going to my lfs to pick up some ro water as soon as i can. and do a 25% water change.

 

[cthegame]

I dont think your rock & sand are garbage. Just dont put any more "regular" water in your tank from now on.

 

[reeffreak]

You are fine....add RO/DI water for now on for evaporation and water changes.If your concern than add some water conditioner that suppose to neutralize heavy metals and other toxins.

 

[Melonbob]

I did the same thing, most people do. You will probably have a bit of a battle with algae, but nothing you can't handle. First it will be diatoms, then hair, then red slime......lol! Don't worry, if you start using RO now, nothing will last too long. I started cycling in Oct, my algae was pretty much gone in late Dec. I still have a very small amount of red slime that I keep sucking out, it comes back smaller each time

 

[nudy6969]

thats good to hear

 

[fishbait]

I did the same thing. just try to limit the lighting period for a while. (which is best to do during the cycle anyway I.M.O. ) and it will cut down on the food that the algae needs to grow.

 

[Piggy]

That is one of the rookie mistakes. When I started out I also used tap water. Everything I read said you could as long as you treated it. Then when I found this site I realized you use RO water. So all I did was replace water changes with RO.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah, everyone else is right. It's not an emergency, you will probably just have a tougher time fighting algae. Just switch to RO water from now on.

 

[yote]

I'm along with the crowd.Just use RO from here on out.
I started mine with tap water to.

As a side note,There no such thing a little battle with algae.ITS A FULL BLOWN WAR.:mrgreen: