I'm just starting mine and I wonder where (outside of buying it at the Aquarium store) I'm going to get safe, fresh water to top off my tank?  

What are you folks doing?

Distilled .

Quoted: Distilled .

I can't seem to find in in either the Drug Store or Supermarket.  Anywhere else I should look?  Thanks

wyn dixie or piggly wiggly should have a fill your own jug machine and jugs of distilled water are by it

DON"T DO DISTILLED YOU WILL KILL EVERYTHING!  Distilled water is ran through copper.  Copper is cyanide for inverts.  Copper will kill any reef inhabitants.  You need to buy an RO/DI unit.  The Kent Marine ones are pretty nice.  If you can't do RO/DI, please don't do the tank.  It's just not fair to all the stuff your about to kill.  Please start out with a predator tank.  If you have to ask about water, you are not ready to take on reefkeeping by any means.
A quality RO/DI unit should not be more than$300-350.  That is not much considering the price of marine fish and live rock/ wet dry/ tank itself.  Replacing all the dead stuff when you don't use RO/DI.  If you know how to use newsgroups hit the marine and reefkeeping groups to save a ton of money and headaches.  Don't be in a hurry.  Nothing good happens fast with saltwater...

try here to learn about salt water tanks

faq.thekrib.com/sbegin.html

I used reverse osmosis water when I had mine.  You really should read up on saltwater tanks and maintenance before you start, especially if you are new to it.  It is a lot different than freshwater, especially dealing with ammonia levels.  You can kill a lot of stuff in a hurry if you arent careful.  Start slowly and build the tank gradually.  Once established, a good saltwater tank is not much more maintenance intensive than a freshwater tank.  You will have a lot of fun learning and watching the results of your effort.

I'm just gonna keep buying my water from the Marine Aquarium shop...A good RO/DI 4 element filter will wait until I can afford it and the plumber to install it.  

Thanks all.

Buy a Reverse Osmosis filter and you're golden.

do not use distilled-may be run through copper as said! Your best bet is to buy an ro-di unit. E'bay has quite a few vendors selling brand new units for a buck and change. Also try airwaterice.com, aquariumwaterfilters.com or aquaticreefsystems.com . You will end up buying a unit eventually so do it early in the hobby and you won't be dealing with algae blooms or other probs down the road. Also a good idea to get a drinking water add on with a storage tank-no more buying bottled water and you have 3-4 gallons of ro water on demand.

With what you will eventually end up spending in ths hobby, a few $$ now for an ro/di is worth it and may keep you from becoming discouraged 6 months down the road when your tank is full of hair algae, cyano, etc....

hth, danny
 

Get some RO water. Do a search for water in the yellowpages for your area.

I never had a problem with tap...just treat it with the proper chemicals....get the density just right...and try to keep the temp very close to the tank temp when introducing it....do small water changes...and good luck...

Just make sure everything is treated properly...do a LOT of reading before investing in expensive aquarium life...

Quoted: I never had a problem with tap...just treat it with the proper chemicals....get the density just right...and try to keep the temp very close to the tank temp when introducing it....do small water changes...and good luck... Just make sure everything is treated properly...do a LOT of reading before investing in expensive aquarium life...

I do not doubt that tap water has worked for you. However, when talking about a reef tank where the livestock value is very very high and very very sensitive to water quality, I would prefer to spend the 19 cents a gallon for properly treated RO water.

Believe it or not, I used filtered tap water - BUT I conditioned it for over 2 months (closer to 3) before I added live sand and rock,  I have a good home filter system, and it required some chemicals and staging in clean glass carboys (from home brewing).  Just make sure you do buy a comprehensive testing kit (not the basic or intermediate).  A reef is a very sensitive artificial ecosystem, so I am sure you have done your research, but the best advice is to take it SLOW.  While it might suck to take several months before you add anything visibly alive to the tank, at least if you go slow it doesn' t all die.

wow-a lot of reefers here ;)
danny