Should I be using RO water?

[Herefishie]

I've only had my aquariums for about three months. I'm definitely a newbie. Today I watched Cory's live talk on YouTube. He mentioned he doesn't think it's worth it to use RODI water. I have a dispenser by my sink that dispenses RO water (not RODI) and that's what I've been using. Now I wonder if that's necessary?  I always treat with Prime each week when I do my partial water changes.
 

I should mention that after each water change I fill up empty gallon milk jugs with water and let them sit in my pantry until I need them the next water change. I checked with my water department and my city water does not have any chlorine or chloramine in it.  I'm just confused if I should bother using the RO water at all.

[lefty o]

i wouldnt do the ro water thing. i can see it in very specific circumstances, but other than that i see it as an added hassle, and expense.

[mynameisnobody]

@Herefishie without knowing what you have coming out of the tap and/or what you’re keeping, I’d say you probably don’t need it. There are very specific situations where it is essential, but more than likely, you’re better off not enslaving yourself to that sort of maintenance if you don’t have to. 

[Andy's Fish Den]

I wouldn't use the RO water unless you specifically need it, like if keeping caridina shrimp and you need to then remineralize it.  RO strips a lot of the stuff out of water, and can actually do some harm to the fish without having the dissolved minerals and stuff that the RO strips out of the water.

[arjin101]

Like what the others have said it kind of depends on what you keep and how you are using it.  If you only have one small tank or specific species that need water parameters that are very tight RO water can be expensive and you have put additives in it to reach the parameters you need (remineralization etc) 

Most fish people keep can do well on dechlorinated tap water.  I use to tell my customers it depends on how far down the hobby rabbit hole you want to go. I had some that basically turned into chemists by the amount of additives they put in their water while some just squirt some Amquel in their tank and called it good.

[Herefishie]

One thing I have learned since I started in the hobby, if you ask five people how to do something you might get five different answers, lol. Having said that, all of the responses I have received have convinced me it's not necessary for me to use RO water. I watched a video on YouTube once and that "expert" said it was a must so that's why I started. Thanks to all for your great responses! 

[mynameisnobody]

@Herefishie well said, now take the effort it would of taken to do all that work and just go love fish. Good luck to you. 😎

[smm333]

I use my tap water for my fish tanks, but it's super soft well water and I never had luck with shrimp. For those tanks I use ro water mineralized with salty shrimp. To keep them it's worth it!  

[Phoenix1391]

Depends what your tap gh/kh is and what fish you’re trying to keep. I’ve got tanks with guppies that I NEED to use my very hard tap water. I also have another tank with rummynose that I NEED to use RO to keep them alive.