no I do not use tap water. I use reverse osmosis water. The leaves appear a bit light in color from the quality of the picture only. They are much greener than they look in the picture. I follow General Hydroponics phase feeding program with floranova nutes, and all the supplements they recomend including Hygrozyme, and soon Silica Blast. I want to introduce a silica supplement to the mix because it claims to be beneficial to hotter grow enviroments, and silica is abundantly present in soil, and supposedly it will maintain a healthy resevoir.