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FAQs on Tap/Source Water Use for Aquariums
Related Articles: Treating Tap water
for Aquarium Use, Water Purification Using
Reverse Osmosis, pH, alkalinity, acidity,
Freshwater Aquarium Water Quality, Freshwater
Maintenance,
Related FAQs: Freshwater Aquarium
Water Quality,
pH, Alkalinity, Acidity,
Freshwater Algae Control, Algae Control,
Foods, Feeding, Aquatic Nutrition, Disease,
Starting with "clean" water is often the best approach...
then adding materials to make what you want.
An oddball for sure. A Polynemus/Bobo species
in a bare-bottom system.
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Ionized Water – 08/06/09
Please tell me if Ionized water from an Ionizing filter can be used
for fresh water fish?
<What, pray tell, is ionised water? Any water with dissolved minerals
will contain ions. Hard water fish will want a particular selection of
ions (calcium, potassium, carbonate, bicarbonate, and sulphate, in
particular).
Soft water fish rather less, but still sufficient to maintain a stable
pH and provide an adequate substrate for various biological reactions.>
The pH us between 7 and 8. and it has an ORP of -250 mv
<Water with a pH between 7 and 8 is ideal for a variety of community
fish.
However, this is ONLY the case if the general hardness and carbonate
hardness are within normal ranges as well. It ALSO assumes that other,
potentially toxic, chemicals such as ammonia and copper are removed.
Water that has been treated in such a way to make it taste better (or at
least different) might be good (or at least harmless) to humans, but not
necessarily idea for fish to live in. Frankly, most people will do
better keeping their fish in plain vanilla, unsoftened tap water. Tap
water is typically very safe, once you remove the chlorine and
chloramine, and relatively high levels of carbonate hardness make it
resistant to the
background acidification natural to all aquaria.>
Thank you, George
<Don't put anything into an aquarium that isn't expressly sold as "for
use in aquaria". If the product doesn't come with this recommendation,
then don't use it. Simple as that. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Ionized Water (RMF, comments on anti-oxidants in water
and millivolts measurements, please) 8/11/2009
Hello Neale
<George,>
Your reply was very helpful as keeping fish is completely new to us and
although we have learnt a lot from your website, the info you gave was
specifically helpful.
<Glad to help.>
Is it possible to take the question a little further you directly or do
I have to address further inquiry to the general website. The particular
water ionizer I have has a charcoal filter which takes out chlorine,
phosphates and lead, and leaves in the Potassium, magnesium, calcium and
sodium. The pH is controllable to get anywhere from 7 to 9.
<In theory, it sounds fine. But without actual numbers in terms of mg/l
calcium carbonate (or degrees KH) and mg/l calcium oxide (or degrees dH)
it's difficult to be categorical about this.>
Finally the water is anti-oxidant meaning it comes out of the machine as
a hydroxyl ion with a negative charge of -350mv when measured with an
ORP meter.
<No idea whether being "anti oxidant" is of use for fish. I'm going to
ask Bob for a second opinion here, since Redox values are more studied
on the marine side of things than the freshwater.>
<<Is Oxidation-Reduction Potential... a measure of the capacity of a
solution to undergo loss-gain of electron physical (more than chemical)
reaction series... Please see here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/SystemPIX/RedOx/RedoxPPTpres1.htm
and the linked files above. A useful "window" into water quality for
marine systems particularly... not so much for freshwater. The measure
presented (though in positive, not really negative charge) is fine for
use here. RMF>>
Can my daughter use this water to fill or top up her fish bowl. The
first goldfish we bought her died even though she was using bottled
water which she was told was reverse osmosis water.
<RO water will kill fish. Let's be crystal clear about this: fish cannot
live in distilled water, deionised water, or pure rainwater. While these
are used in aquaria, they are ALWAYS mixed with tap water to raise the
pH, hardness, and carbonate hardness. My fish typically enjoy 50/50 tap
water and rainwater. Goldfish prefer hard, alkaline water, the
equivalent of water that's percolated up through a chalk aquifer. A pH
of 7.5 to 8, a hardness above 10 degrees dH, and a carbonate hardness of
5+ degrees KH suits them well. If you have hard tap water (i.e., things
like kettles "fur" up easily) then you have perfect water for Goldfish.
What Goldfish don't like is soft water, and RO water would be lethal.>
We would like to learn more before we buy another gold fish.
<Much to learn, I fear. The use of the killer phrase "top up her fish
bowl" suggests a bunch of things. Firstly, you were using a bowl. Don't.
Just don't. Secondly, you didn't have a filter. You need one. Finally,
you were topping up the water rather than changing it. For Goldfish, a
20-30% water change every week is a good idea. Other than adding
dechlorinator, hard tap water is ideal just as it is! So, instead of
worrying about expensive anti-oxidising whatever water, concentrate on
the basics: a 30 gallon tank, a filter rated at 6 times the volume of
the tank in turnover per hour, lots of fresh green foods, and regular
water changes. That's all there is to keeping Goldfish. See here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/goldfish101art.htm
Most everyone who has problems with Goldfish does so because they ignore
the basics, willfully or otherwise.>
Hoping to hear from you.
<Always glad to write back.>
Thanks
George
<Cheers, Neale.>
Water? 4/10/09
Hi,
<Hi,>
I have been searching and reading and really trying to wrap my head
around water chemistry and what is going on in my tank.
<By default, leave your water chemistry as it is out of the tap, while
ensuring you don't do something silly like use untreated tap water or
water from a domestic water softener.>
I have 25 gallon with 2 honey Gourami, 3 Guppies, and 3 Swordtails now.
<Not really a compatible selection of fish; Guppies and Swordtails need
hard, alkaline water, and in the case of Swordtails, not too warm. So pH
7.5, 10+ degrees dH, at 24 degrees C would work fine for them both. As
for Honey Gouramis, these are Asian stream dwelling fish that need warm,
soft, acidic water. So for them to last any length of time you're
looking for 5-10 degrees dH, pH 6.5-7.5, 26 degrees C. As you can see,
there's not much overlap between these three species, so if you get
conditions right for one fish, another will be under improper
conditions, and therefore likely to get sick.>
I had 6 Guppies but 3 have since died as well as both my frogs and I
think it has something to do with my alkalinity and my PH. I bought a
package of a different kind of test strips because they were on sale (
my first mistake) and it was very vague on the readings and hard to get
exact readings.
<Frankly, test strips are fine for ball park values, even if they're not
especially accurate. All you really need to know is whether your water
is hard or soft, has high carbonate hardness (alkalinity) or not, and
whether
the pH is above or below 7.>
I thought I'd tough it out till I finished them and do my regular
routine (second mistake). My nitrates, nitrites and ammonia are fine
however since going back to my normal test strips have discovered my PH
has gone from 7.2 to 6.8 and my alkalinity from 120 to zero.
<Why is the alkalinity so low? This is extremely dangerous, and likely
why the pH is dropping. Are you using tap water or water from a domestic
water softener.>
Should I leave it as is or should i do something like baking soda to
raise my alkalinity?
<If your water really is this soft out of the tap, then yes, you should
be raising the carbonate hardness somewhat, to around 5 degrees KH. I'd
recommend using small portions of home-made or store-bought Malawi
(Cichlid) salt mix, starting at about 1/4th to 1/3rd the recommended
dose for usage in Malawi and Tanganyikan cichlid tanks. The recipe for
making your own is on WWM if you want to save money; it's cheap and
easy.>
I know it will probably increase my PH but can I do it in a way it will
be real slow as to fix the alkalinity and not kill any more fish?
<Fish don't "feel" pH; but they do get harmed by pH changes.>
Thank you for your help,
Sheri
<Hope this helps, Neale.>
Re: Water? 4/10/09
Thank you so very much for your information. I'm on a well system, could
this be the cause of my soft water?
<Every well is different! Usually wells are sunk into limestone or
chalk, where the aquifers tend to be, so the usual thing is for well
water to be somewhat to very hard. Use a test kit (test for carbonate
hardness,
ideally) and find out what your tap water is like. Remember, don't use
water from a domestic water softener, if one is installed; if one of
these is installed, the drinking water tap in the kitchen usually
bypasses it.>
I will definitely try your recipe and hope it all goes well. I lost
another guppy this morning :(
<Oh dear. Do review water chemistry, and it's importance to successful
fishkeeping. Once you know the hardness and pH of your tap water, it is
ALWAYS best to choose fish that prefer such conditions.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm
Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Water? 4/10/09
Sorry to bother you again but I was wondering if my water conditioner
may be causing the issue?
<Shouldn't do.>
I tested my water straight from tap and it showed PH 6.8 and KH 100 with
GH at soft.
<OK. This is going to be good water for softwater fish such as tetras
and Corydoras, but bad for livebearers (guppies and the like).>
I added a little of my water conditioner (stress coat+ from API)
<An excellent product.>
and tested again it showed PH 6.8, KH 100, but my GH when down to very
soft.
<More likely to be variation in your test kit. Wouldn't worry unduly.>
Is there a better conditioner to use and would you still recommend the
salt recipe if I change conditioners?
<Would recommend you accept the water for what it is, keep soft water
fish that don't need hardness, under stock the tank, and do regular (25%
weekly) water changes to offset background acidification. This would be
the "easy" approach, anyway. If you wanted to keep hard water fish (such
as livebearers) then yes, you would need to raise the carbonate hardness
through the use of Malawi salt mix or similar. Do remember "tonic salt"
and "aquarium salt" aren't what you need here! Often people make this
mistake;
it isn't salinity you're raising, but hardness, specifically carbonate
hardness, because that's the thing that raises and steadies pH at the
desired 7.5-8 level things like Guppies prefer. Cheers, Neale.>
Water Conditioner Question 9/10/08
Dear WWM Crew,
<Jean,>
I have a question regarding water conditioners. For years I have been
pretreating my tap water with a water conditioner that eliminates chlorine,
chloramines and ammonia. I read that I do not have to necessarily treat my tap
water with any water conditioners?
<Incorrect. While chlorine will diffuse out of water over time, chloramine is
much more stable, and in the process of decay leaves behind ammonia. Ammonia
does not diffuse out of the water. Likewise copper and heavy metals from the
plumbing system will be left in the water. In short, if the water contains
chloramine or copper, you MUST use a water conditioner.>
I can just add my tap water to an empty water bottle and age it for
approximately one week and all the chlorines, chloramines and ammonia should
escape.
<No. Only chlorine leaves by itself if the water is aerated for a day, or left
sitting for a week. Everything else in the water stays put.>
I know a few people who have freshwater aquariums that do not pretreat their tap
water with any water conditioners; they just age their tap water for
approximately one week and their fish are doing just fine.
<Just because you play a round of Russian Roulette and survive doesn't mean the
game is safe. The problem with this type of anecdote is you have no idea what
fish they're keeping (some species are more tolerant of pollution than others)
and how long those fish are living for.>
Is this true; have I been wasting my money for years?
<Dechlorinator costs very little. I buy the pond-size bottles for around £10 and
that lasts me a year. Of all the things you can do to keep your fish, this is
one of the best and least expensive.>
Please give advice. Thanks Jean
<Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Betta... conditioner dosage
5/30/08
Hello, just an update from before.
<... John, w/o the prev. corr. I/we have no idea what you're referring to...
there are a couple of dozen of "us" here>
I got Prime by SeaChem water conditioner and Maracyn. I also have a 10 gal tank.
Right now the Betta is in a hospital tank with the Maracyn. I had a question can
I dilute the water conditioner by putting a 1ml dose in 100mil's of water then
only using 50mil's of water meaning it would be at half strength or this doesn't
work with water conditioners.
<Does not... they're formulated/concentrated to treat a given "amount" of
sanitizer... in some municipalities, times, the "limit" of their capacity at the
stock dosage>
Also I don't seem to see it anywhere, how would I put him in the 10 gal tank
without stressing him out to much. I pictured 10 gal's would be bigger then
this. Thanks again for the previous help. J. M.
<Not following you here... a ten gallon should be more than enough room... given
it is heated and filtered, for a single Betta. Bob Fenner>
Blackwater extract use with a Betta, Tank 3/29/06
Hello to all you good folks!
After reading your forum for quite some time I have learned to ask a
question before I attempt anything new with my small tank. I was wondering
about Blackwater extract and whether it would be suitable for a bachelor
Crowntail Betta in a Hex 5 filtered and heated tank. Water parameters are
ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate a trace to 5, moderate hardness and
alkalinity, pH 7.6, temperature a constant 78 degrees. This is the first
week of a 20% weekly water change from tap water (conditioned with Aqua
Plus) to bottled accomplished by mixing 25% new to 75 % old, followed by a
50/50%, 75/25% and finally a 100 % switchover. My tap has become suspect
after much sewer system upgrading by the town. So if Blackwater extract
would be beneficial for my guy how would I incorporate it into my water
changes?
<Can be added directly to the water in the tank, or to the new water to be
used during water changes>
Would I mix it with my new hybrid gallon of water and test for pH and
hardness? What would be acceptable parameters for any sort of change in
these two entities?
<Likely no need to test. Won't affect that much>
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Oh, by the way, I have never been
steered wrong by any crew member and that "gentleman" should be reminded of
that by any and all the people you have aided throughout the years!! Thank
you very much. Sue :)
<Thank you. Bob Fenner>
R/O Water For FW - 03/12/2006
You folks have been so great with my saltwater questions, now I will try my
luck with freshwater. I have a 55 gal with just a few angel fish and a
couple danios. I am hoping to keep some Cory cats, but my tap water quality
isn't that great. I have invested in RO/DI system and think I finally have
it figured out for my saltwater. What do I need to do with it for
freshwater to keep angels and Corys? I will probably be using a 5 gal
bucket to store the change water in. Besides aerating it, what should I do
as far as ph and buffers for freshwater?
< Depending on how hard your tap water is, I would recommend a mixture of
50% tap with 50% R/O. Based on your fishes reaction you could increase the
R/O portion to 80%. I would not go 100% R/O unless you added a good
buffer.-Chuck>
Thanks,
Donna
Re: Softening Hard Water - 03/12/2006
My TDS meter says 138ppm. I am not sure how "hard" that is, but I do know
that it has a lot of phosphate which most likely is the reason for the algae.
< A TDS meter reading of 138 would mean that you water is moderately hard. Soft
water would be under 75 ppm. So a 50% mixture of R/O with no ppm and you tap
water would give you a TDS of 69 ppm. Start there and see how you fish react to
it. I bet they like it.>
What would I use to buffer 100% RO/DI with and what would the procedure be
for it? Would I buffer my 5 gal container of aerated RO/DI water or buffer
the tank when I put the aerated RO/DI water in?
< I never make any water chemistry changes in the aquarium. Pour a 5 gallon
bucket full of tap water. Check the pH and TDS. Measure it again in 24 hours.
Any dissolved CO2 gas should have off gassed by then and you will get a real pH
reading. Pour half of it out and fill it up the rest of the way with your R/O
water. Let it sit for 24 hours and check it again. If your water is under 75 ppm
it is soft and start to use this bucket of soft water to start doing your water
changes. After a few water changes your aquarium water will become softer over
time. If you wanted to use R/O straight then you need to add some chemicals back
into the water. Kent marine makes one called R/O Right.>
I would think that using the RO/DI water would be done in many small water
changes to acclimate the fish?
< Gradual is the way to go.-Chuck>
Thanks for the quick reply, Donna
Hornwort as a Water Softener?
Hello WWM Crew, An uncharacteristically brief questions from me, this time.
I have read in a few places that hornwort will soften water. Is this true? If
so, should I remove it from my cichlid tanks? Thanks, Ben
< This is really an amazing plant that doesn't get enough credit. I saw hornwort
all over the bays and inlets in Zambia while diving in Lake Tanganyika a few
years ago. It looked like little wire brushes. When I returned I read up on this
plant and found out that it actually gets its carbon dioxide from breaking down
the bicarbonate in the water. Pretty amazing. During the process CO2 is removed
and you get a calcium carbonate that actually increases the pH. Since coming
back I have added hornwort to all my African tanks because they can handle the
hard water and do a great job absorbing nitrates from the water.-Chuck>
How to use GH+ Botanica product?
I am not sure how to use the GH+ Botanica product to raise only General
hardness. I have a tank of 28 gal, with two goldfishes in it. The GH of my tank
is 5 German degrees. For how many more degrees should I raise it?
<Another five or so>
In the instructions says that a capful (5ml) will raise 5 gal of tap water of
two GH degrees. My second question is: Can I pour it directly in the tank for 28
gal or should I do it slowly, like adding one capful each day for five days so
that the whole gallonage gets conditioned?
<Better to do this slowly... and going forward, to pre-treat new water before
using it>
Thank you very much, I appreciate your help
<You're welcome. Bob Fenner> Confused about GH advice from Marina
>Thanks Marina for your help, but I did find confusing your advice about not
messing with General hardness. It was advised from Bob Fenner to raise
my GH of 6 dGH which will bring it to a total of 10 dGH.
>>If we're talking about goldfish (actually, just about ANY captive-bred
tropical fish) here, I would not mess about with it. Goldfish are
incredibly flexible when it comes to particular water parameters, they
can take very soft water with a relatively low pH, all the way to
parameters necessary to successfully keep Lake Victorian African
cichlids. If your water is well-buffered it will likely bounce back and
forth (the carbonate hardness, or alkalinity), which is far more
stressful in my opinion than letting it be and allowing the fishes to
acclimate. Trouble can be even further exacerbated if the pH is also
affected by changing the hardness, and that WILL kill your fish.
>But now you are telling me to not mess with these parameters. What
should I do now? Please help me clarify this issue. Thanks again Marina.
Marcellino
>>Ok, let's try it this way - if you didn't test for hardness at all,
could your few problems be solved and/or answered any other way? Yes.
Can they be attributed to anything else? Yes. You have a brand new
setup, which, due to being over-cleaned a bit, will continue to have
some unstable parameters. Those most important in this case are those
which indicate the establishment and culturing of nitrifying bacteria,
which are the consumers (oxidizers) of ammonia and nitrite. The end
result of these efforts, and the only reading you should get any
positive result for, is nitrate. None of this is affected by hardness to
any degree we need to worry about (especially with regard to goldies).
If you'd like a more succinct, clearer explanation of GH, KH, and how
they affect water parameters, try the following:
http://www.algone.com/water_parameters.htm
http://www.aquariumpharm.com/articles/gh-kh.asp I do hope this
is more helpful, and I will remind again to not mess about with the tank
so much. Marina
New to the hobby and all its water quality issues, arcane terminology!
Bob,
I am new to this whole fish stuff. My fiancé convinced me to do it
and it's not going so well. I have a 30 gallon tank with a heater and a penguin
170. Currently there is 3 Plecos and 4 Dempseys and 3 convicts in the tank.
< Your Jack Dempsey's get up to 8 inches long and will eventually get too big
for your tank.>
I am having some real ammonia problems lately, and after contacting my LFS I
have done everything they told me to do.
Frequent water changes. And use ammo lock. But I hesitate to do that; I gave
it a try anyways. Now for some reason my ammonia has spiked beyond even 8.0ppm
(I know its higher but my testing kit only goes to 8.0) Anyways the nitrate is
going up as well but the ammonia has not changed a single bit.
I do not know exactly what is going on.
< Here is what is going on and how to solve it. First check the ammonia of your
tap water. Many water systems now use chloramines instead of just chlorine.
Chloramines are a combination of Chlorine and ammonia! Check your tap water with
your ammonia test kit. Not all water conditioners get rid of chloramine and this
is what you could be reading on your test kit. Use Amquel from Kordon or a new
product called Ultimate. Both will tie up the ammonia. Usually what happens in a
new tank is the fish excrete waste and any left over food is broken down into
ammonia, especially in an aquarium in which the pH is greater than 7.0. In an
established tank the ammonia is broken down into nitrite. This is less toxic
than the ammonia but is still not good. This may take a couple of weeks.
Eventually the nitrites are once again broken down into nitrates. These are not
good either but they are the least toxic of the three. Nitrate levels should be
kept no higher than 25 ppm, but some fish can take them as high as 50 ppm. Make
sure you are not overfeeding and make sure you clean the filter often. The
excess food may be accumulating in the filter and adding to the problem. You
need to get the waste out of the system on not just let stay in the filter.>
After calling the same LFS they told me to do a huge water change. 90%, which I
did very carefully as to not harm the fish. I ran the test again and my ammonia
is still sitting at 4.0ppm. And all I left was 1 ½ inches of water.
< Fill up the tank and keep the system running. You may have too many fish to
get things started. The good news is your fish are fairly tough. Fill up the
tank, feed once a day with only enough food that you fish will have it all
consumed in a couple of minutes. Get a 5 gallon plastic bucket and check the
water for chloramines and treat according to the directions on the bottle. Check
again and make sure it works. You may still have the ammonia in the water but it
may be ties up by the chemicals and reading on your test kit. The water should
be clear and have no odor. Ammonia makes the water very cloudy. If the water is
clear and the fish are doing fine then I would not worry too much about the test
kit results.-Chuck> I do not know what is going on any insights as to help with
this?
I am attaching some data below for you’re review as well.
Kordon's Amquel Plus?
Hi to all at WWM:
<Hi! Ananda here tonight....>
I was wondering if any of the crew had used this product?
<Judging by the fact that the response got delayed a bit, and I just saw your
email today, I'm guessing not...sorry about the delay.>
I was previously using the regular Amquel to treat my make up water for each
water change.
<Okay>
Two weeks ago I decided to try the Amquel Plus instead. I have a what I think a
heavily stocked 110gal FO tank. I perform 6 gal water changes twice a week and
test the water regularly and I seem to maintain a nitrate reading of approx
25ppm.
<Hmmm. Time to increase your filtration capacity, amount of water changes, or
both if you are concerned about this nitrate reading. Have you considered live
rock?>
However, one day after using the Amquel Plus the nitrate was zero. During the
last two weeks I tested my water and the nitrate increased to about 20ppm. I
used the product yesterday and now this morning the nitrate was zero again. I am
a little concerned about now effective this product is, maybe too good to be
true? I am not sure how this product works and is there a problem with such
fluctuating nitrate readings.
<Well, I'd prefer there to be a generally lower level of nitrates...but the
reason for doing water changes is to keep the nitrates down. I suspect many
tanks go through nitrate fluctuations like this. That said, I did a little
research on "Amquel+", as the product literature calls it. The short story is,
Kordon is not releasing any info about what's in the product, because they've
got patents pending on the stuff. For how it works, they're referring to how
Amquel works as an similar product. For the long story, check out their web
pages:
http://www.novalek.com/kpd79.htm
for Amquel+, and
http://www.novalek.com/kpd51.htm
for original Amquel.>
I appreciate your thoughts on this one.
Thanks, Gene
<Read their literature, find out what others think about it, then make your own
decision... a good general plan of attack for most products. --Ananda>
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