Wildlife pond: tap or no tap water?

[gastonbe]

So I've been confused on this for a while now.

Most wildlife pond books that I've read say not to use tap water to top up a wildlife pond. This has two reasons:
1. chorine/chloramine: this is not an issue for me as I have an inline chlorine/chloramine remover
2. excess nutrients: especially phosphates and nitrates

However, a lot of internet resource I find say the exact opposite. This is usually when they are discussing natural swimming ponds. They quote other reasons:
1. rain water is too acidic
2. tap water has a lot of minerals, needed for the filter plants and oxygenators to grow

My wildlife pond finally has crystal clear water (I had some algae problems before) and I don't want to mess this up. I think this is due to adding some extra plants. It rained well the last 2 months so I didn't need to top it up either.

However, now I'm leaving for 4 weeks of holidays and a lot of very hot weather is predicted.
I was thinking to top it up with some tap water before I go just so the plants don't fall dry.

Any advice? Is there a consensus on this topic?

PS: I should really get a rain ton when I get back

 

[Mmathis]

Tap water should be OK as long as you pre-treat it with a dechlorinator.

 

[Jhn]

Use tap water for all the years I have had ponds, without issues. While for the reasons stated ie introducing nitrate/phosphate/ammonia is why I don’t do water changes, on the other hand top off in a well designed and setup pond isn’t going to be an issue, as it is minimal change on the total volume in most ponds.

 

[gastonbe]

I filled her up with tap water just now... Let's see in 4 weeks
Thanks for the advice!

 

[GBBUDD]

Did you add some dechlorinator

 

[Abby]

We use tap water and have not had any issues. We add a conditioner to be safe which treats chlorine and helps fish maintain a healthy slime coat but the test strips actually show our tap water to be damn near perfect for fish! so we add water to top off as needed and don’t add conditioner every time

 

[zeuspaul]

I use tap water and I don't use dechlorinator. I add the water very slowly with a dripline and rarely add more than about 5%.