Like electricity, you’ll need fresh water to regularly fill, clean, and top-off your aquarium. The closer you can locate your aquarium to a fresh water source the less water carrying you’ll have to do. And, as we’ve discuss, water is heavy so carrying it isn’t very fun!
Aquariums lose water through evaporation. This is especially true in the warm summer season or if the aquarium is in a low-humidity environment or climate controlled home or office.
You’ll obviously need water to fill up the aquarium when you set it up. But that’s not all. The aquarium will “drink” quite a bit of water every week. It will need weekly top-offs. Some reef aquariums even need even daily top-offs to compensate for water loss due to protein skimming and evaporation.
Topping off your tank, as well as your regular water changes, will go much smoother if you have a water source close by. Ideally you should be able to blend hot and cold water to match the aquarium water temperature.
In office buildings a janitor’s mop room will often have hot and cold water. However, carrying a bucket of water from the basement or other side of the office can become tedious. If distance is unavoidable, a small cart for transporting a bucket of water can make things much easier! You can even run a hose from the water source to the tank, using a ready-made aquarium hose kit.