Wyphy

I'm setting up my 29G FW tank again soon and trying to decide what I should fill it with. Other than my planned 3-5 Corys, 6-8 or so Harlequin Rasboras, possibly Black Phantom or Sarpae Tetras, or Green Tiger Barbs; not entirely sure of stock other than Corys and Rasboras.

When I first had it running, I was like most other newbs and knew nothing, so I obviously didn't cycle my tank, though I did use a water conditioner. I decided that I wanted better water for my fish so I bought RO from the LFS (now out of business unfortunately), though I didn't know about 'RO Right' or similar, but the fish seemed to really like it anyway. (That was probably the only bad/no advice they gave me)

So I was curious how many use treated tap water vs. RO/DI water, and any opinions on either.
Maybe toss in a comment on your favorite conditioner too. I'm sure they're all pretty much the same, but maybe some have a little something special in them.

For a filter, I'm considering an API Tap Water Filter with RO Right.
If I just use tap water, I obviously need a conditioner. Stress Coat, Prime, NovAqua, and AquaSafe seem to be the most common ones, though I really never liked Tetra products, I always felt they had a mass-market, Pet-mart/co, buy everything including fish the first day and off you go, kind of vibe.

I don't believe that I have poor quality municipal water so I should be able to get a pretty good amount of water through the filter, but I am fairly close to the treatment plant, about 1/2 mile or so, and I know that can make some difference. I'm going to try to get hold of a report from them next week.
I don't have any test kits since all my reagents expired around 5 years ago. Don't feel like giving Pet-co/mart any business and only local-ish shops want around $35 for the master kit. I want to buy online for my initial resupply and save $50+ dollars, then I'll buy from local shops for my future purchases.

I'm not especially worried over long term cost, as I believe I should get good filter life.
It's fish only and sand substrate with standard plastic/silk plants and a few rocks.
I'm not going to breed anything (on purpose anyway).

So what do you all think? (Hope you made it this far, and thanks)

-Edit-
Saw the poll option as I was posting, so I added it.
Thanks again for your opinions.

FishJones

I would test your tap water and see if it's ok. And then use Prime for it and you're fine.

Angela_96

Tap water should be just fine. If you are doing a SW reef I would have a much different opinion. The fw fish do fine w/ a little phosphates.

GouramiGirl1221

You may want to test your tap before making a final decision. At my dorm room, my tap has .25 ammonia, which my shared 10 gallon handles fine. At home, my tap has 2 PPM ammonia, so I use a PUR tap water filter to remove it.