Water Conditioner

Hello All,

I would like to know what water conditioner you use when adding water to your tank during water changes if you do or do you add the tap water directly?

Also has anyone experience with using rain water collected in tanks in there fish tank, is it safe and does it also need conditioning?

Thanks,

 

rain water in the city contains high amounts of impurities.
its not suitable for fish in my opinion.
i use day old tap water with no additives.
its always been ok.

 

Impurities?? Like?? What if you collecting it before it touches anything else?

 

im gonna b doin my 1st water change on sunday, should i just take water from the tap on Sat, leave overnight n pour in on Sunday ??

 

@ The Hitman http://www.rain-barrel.net/drinking-rainwater.html
@ Luis I air rate the water for an hour before pumping it to my tanks. i also add hot water from the geyser to get the temp closer to the tank temps.

 

Ok, point taken and understood. But be careful with hot water from the Geyser, Copper pipes are dangerous to fish I think

 

ok, cool, was thinking of starting with a 10% this 1st week ??
just added my 1st guppies today, what u think ??

 

If the tank is lightly stocked then 10% is fine.
A good biological filter and/or growing plants also helps with water quality.
if you over stock or with grow out tanks its sometimes necessary to do large daily water changes

 

@mattie so you just let it stand meaning you dont add any conditioner to the water?

What about the chloramine apparently that does not evaporate like chlorine?

 

Hi Mattie, its a 100l started last week, got 6 guppies today, thats all ( fish wise, got 6 plants but dont know the names )

Luis

 

How do you get water in your tank without copper pipes?

It doesnt, I use seachem prime to remove it. Drinking water doesnt always have chloramine present but I dont take any chances.

 

@jwalker I've never added conditioner to water, not even to water with baby discus.
@Luis Are you still cycling the tank?

 

as of yesterday morning all levels wher ok ! took the water to get tested n LFS said was ok to add the guppies ?!

 

guppies are hardy fish. do your 10% water change. it can only benefit them.

 

thanx, will let u know how it goes.
BTW do guppies n Angels get along ??

 

@jwalker

I went the rain water route and found that it defeat the object of doing water changes in the first place. Reason being, rain water contain ammonia, naturally. I found it out by accident, when I measured it for ammonia. It actually was to check my test kit, and I then had to test tap water as well, as the rain water gave ammonia readings. Only when I saw that tap water give me a zero reading, did I realize what is going on. I then Googled it and confirmed, it is a natural phenomenon.

Therefore, tap water is the answer if you do not want to go RO. Problem with tap water is the hardness, depending the fish you keep. GH is normally 12 or higher. That imply a higher pH as well. pH higher than 7 expose you more to ammonia problems. So, the safest answer is RO, mixed with a tiny amount of tap water, to get to your ideal hardness, suitable to your fish selection. The mixing in of the tap water increase your pH slightly and give you a little bit of kH as well, to act as a buffer. If you have fish that prefer acidic conditions, RO is a must, with specialized salts you add. RO water is sold at roughly R22.50 for 25lt. See www.oasiswater.co.za.

As far as conditioner goes. If you go for tap water, I will always use a conditioner as well, whether chlorine is present or not.. The conditioner not only remove any chlorine or chloramines, but a host of other things like iron etc. It also assist your fish in producing a healthy slime coat. Also remember, aerating water increase the pH slightly. So depending the starting pH, this might be a factor to consider.

 

http://www.google.co.za/#hl=en&sour...es&aq=f&aqi=g-v1&aql=&oq=&fp=31bb0dfe6765598b

I've never tried but with a 100Lt tank there is ample swimming space to get away if needed. again, plants (especialy floating ones) would give the guppies a area to rest in if chased.

 

In my experience, guppies and angels get along just fine. The angels love the guppy fry... ;-)

 

@Tom.K Thanks for the info will keep in mind, with regards to the rain water I have 4 large rain water tanks. Never used it in my tank but was thinking about it that it would be better than tap water. However now I know this is not the case.

Thanks again everyone

 

@Tom.K & mattie, If you dont mind me asking, what test kits do you use for your water?