I do absolutely nothing to treat my incoming water and tell my fish to adapt or move on if they don't like my PH. I use a food grade water hose and a metal sink to hose adapter along with Seachem Prime/Safe. I dump the prime/safe into the tank and turn the water on full blast. I proceed to sit back and relax. When I hear the water go over my weir into the overflow box, I get up and turn the sink off. From what I've read and my little bit of experience, treating water is a pain and usually not worth it. Fish can adapt to differences in PH for instance. As long as yours is stable, they are good to go.
Treating Tap water before it goes into your tank
Hi All,
It has been a while since I've mentioned this and I wanted to see what people are doing with their tap water to treat it before it hits your tank? For instance what's the PH to begin with and what do you do to treat the water before it goes into your tanks. For example, I have one particular tank where I use a product to buffer the PH because the fish in this tank like an almost neutral PH and the water that comes out of my tap has a ph of 7.80 most days, so I only treat the water once when I do a water change. For my planted tanks, I have two, one has dirt the other I use tablets and liquid ferts but I use the same process and maybe I need to change what I'm doing or perhaps I can improve it? I ask as I'm such a newbie when it comes to Planted Tanks. For a while I was using a 35 Gallon trash can, where I would put the water in along with an airstone and I would treat it with chemicals to condition the water and remove chlorine, chloramines, detoxify ammonia and address heavy metals according to the labels on these products.
I also made a filter using a piece of PVC that's about 18" long. Inside the PVC I took some mesh bags and put some activate carbon, Ammonia remover in another bag, and a third bag that I filled with Clearmax, at the end of the filter, I put a cap and drilled bunch of holes in it. For a while I used the trashcan and I would poor the chemicals to treat the water in on say, "a Sunday" if were planning on doing a water change the following Friday and when the water came out of the tap it ran through my PVC tube with the aforementioned bags. Now I don't use a trashcan because I didn't have any place to put it and I wasn't finding any major differences in the water after testing it vs. just letting it run through the PVC filter and then treating it once it was "in my tanks". As a rule of thumb, I try to never perform a water change that's more than 10% because I feel that it's healthier for the tank to only make subtle changes. I usually do a 10% water change every 7-10 days on all of my tanks, sometimes two weeks. I still perform water checks for Nitrates, Nitrites and Ammonia about once a week and sometime more frequently if and when I'm dealing with an issue.
Attached is the little DIY filter that I found on some random youtube channel.
So, how about you all, what are you doing with your tap water, how often and how much of a water change do you perform on your tanks?
Thanks for your comments and feedback.
DD
It has been a while since I've mentioned this and I wanted to see what people are doing with their tap water to treat it before it hits your tank? For instance what's the PH to begin with and what do you do to treat the water before it goes into your tanks. For example, I have one particular tank where I use a product to buffer the PH because the fish in this tank like an almost neutral PH and the water that comes out of my tap has a ph of 7.80 most days, so I only treat the water once when I do a water change. For my planted tanks, I have two, one has dirt the other I use tablets and liquid ferts but I use the same process and maybe I need to change what I'm doing or perhaps I can improve it? I ask as I'm such a newbie when it comes to Planted Tanks. For a while I was using a 35 Gallon trash can, where I would put the water in along with an airstone and I would treat it with chemicals to condition the water and remove chlorine, chloramines, detoxify ammonia and address heavy metals according to the labels on these products.
I also made a filter using a piece of PVC that's about 18" long. Inside the PVC I took some mesh bags and put some activate carbon, Ammonia remover in another bag, and a third bag that I filled with Clearmax, at the end of the filter, I put a cap and drilled bunch of holes in it. For a while I used the trashcan and I would poor the chemicals to treat the water in on say, "a Sunday" if were planning on doing a water change the following Friday and when the water came out of the tap it ran through my PVC tube with the aforementioned bags. Now I don't use a trashcan because I didn't have any place to put it and I wasn't finding any major differences in the water after testing it vs. just letting it run through the PVC filter and then treating it once it was "in my tanks". As a rule of thumb, I try to never perform a water change that's more than 10% because I feel that it's healthier for the tank to only make subtle changes. I usually do a 10% water change every 7-10 days on all of my tanks, sometimes two weeks. I still perform water checks for Nitrates, Nitrites and Ammonia about once a week and sometime more frequently if and when I'm dealing with an issue.
Attached is the little DIY filter that I found on some random youtube channel.
So, how about you all, what are you doing with your tap water, how often and how much of a water change do you perform on your tanks?
Thanks for your comments and feedback.
DD
Attachments
1 - 20 of 46 Posts
Wow! You go all out! I don't normally do anything to my water for regular tanks. I have a ph adjuster hooked up where all the water coming out of the well goes through that. So I don't really worry about the ph or anything as I don't keep anything real demanding.I always pre heat and treat my water before adding it to my Betta tank,
Thats actually clean water about to go into the tank the reason its brown is because I add Indian Almond leaf to it then let the whole thing mix for 2 days.
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Wow, I always thought I was one of the people give great care and a sufficient home to my fish when they leave my lfs... maybe not (after reading all this)!
2 smaller tanks- 2 drops Prime per gallon in a bucket then fill with tap water that feels the same temp as tank. I'm so high-tech lol. I pour slowly or pour a little and take a break and come back later.
1 larger tank- DIY 1/4" hose hooked to faucet, temp by "feel" again, flow goes into a small pvc tube with some carbon and small holes, slow flow via the tiny hose, occasional doses of Prime based on what I removed in gallons
Nano- this one I think is more critical due to small size. Filter off (I have greater concern over my bio-media's interaction w/tap elevated chlorine levels than the fish), 2 drops Prime/gal in bucket and sit a few min before refilling
Pretty crude but at the end of the day, plants, fish, and myself seem happy
2 smaller tanks- 2 drops Prime per gallon in a bucket then fill with tap water that feels the same temp as tank. I'm so high-tech lol. I pour slowly or pour a little and take a break and come back later.
1 larger tank- DIY 1/4" hose hooked to faucet, temp by "feel" again, flow goes into a small pvc tube with some carbon and small holes, slow flow via the tiny hose, occasional doses of Prime based on what I removed in gallons
Nano- this one I think is more critical due to small size. Filter off (I have greater concern over my bio-media's interaction w/tap elevated chlorine levels than the fish), 2 drops Prime/gal in bucket and sit a few min before refilling
Pretty crude but at the end of the day, plants, fish, and myself seem happy
Freemananana , I swear you're a crack up, somehow, just the way you describe things. "Bucket Brigade". Too funny! LOL I'm glad I'm not on bucket brigade. I got sick of buckets at one point, just because of the number of tanks I have and the amount of time I don't have. I invested in a Active Aqua Submersible Water Pump, 800 GPH. This and a 25' hose is how I move water and it moves fast and I like it. There's no waiting around, although I do have to be careful and use clamps due to the pressure, but it saves me loads of time. I think I paid $28 for a few years ago. I highly recommend getting one if you want to get off of "bucket brigade".
Cheers All,
DD
Its 18 US gallons for the sorority and 5 gallons for the Aquael cube.
The tannins? Its always tea colored, The tannins are great for softwater fish.
I was going to try for a riparium in the sorority tank but my girls are jumpers, This is what the top of my Betta tanks usually look like. The IAL sinks in no time.
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To remove the tannins? I actually want the water to be stained like that, Its not quite black water but I just ordered some Adler cones and peat moss to get extra tannins in the water.
I tried purigen once and as soon as I realized it removes the tannins I took it out of the filter.
Readers did you know you can also add Rooibos tea to your tank for tannins?
Bump: You mean like this?
One of the other things I like about this tank is the surface growth. This is an area I'm still yearning to educate myself on. What types of plants are you growing on the surface? I realize that when growing plants on the surface, you're essentially making a decision to remove light from some of the underlying plants, so it's a different type of tank. Ahh so many options and so little time.Its 18 US gallons for the sorority and 5 gallons for the Aquael cube.
The tannins? Its always tea colored, The tannins are great for softwater fish.
I was going to try for a riparium in the sorority tank but my girls are jumpers, This is what the top of my Betta tanks usually look like. The IAL sinks in no time.
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Yes it cuts the light to the bottom it also adds a slight green tinge to the water.
The plants are Duckweed, Water Sprite, crystalwort and a Lilly I stole from a local pond.
This is how Bettas love to sleep. I snuck up on the fish at night and used a flash. I no longer have this Betta he passed away.
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The plants are Duckweed, Water Sprite, crystalwort and a Lilly I stole from a local pond.
This is how Bettas love to sleep. I snuck up on the fish at night and used a flash. I no longer have this Betta he passed away.
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