a few questions

[Torrean]

We have been using distilled water in our tank for about a week and a half now. It's still cycling (with fish i'm stupid I know) I read on here that distilled water does not contain the minerals needed to maintain healthy fish. I was planning on adding tap water at the next water change to introduce these minerals but I am not sure if the product we have is what you use to clean chlorine and chloramine out of tap water. can anyone vouch for stress coat because I don't want to kill my fish. Also is spring water different from distilled water, what i mean is does it have the minerals needed, and does it contain chlorine?Secondly like I said I am doing a fish cycle and my ammonia is at 2 I'm getting a little worried. I was curious about this stuff i saw at the lfs called ammo lock. It's supposed to detoxify the ammonia or something to make it less harmfull to the fish. Does anyone know if this stuff works or should we just do more water changes. thanks again

PS. What is the diff between Ammo Lock and Ammo Lock 2 they looked the same to me and they claim to do the same thing. Also they both cost $8. Is there any difference.

Sorry i have so many questions I appreciate your patience with me.

 

[Torrean]

I just read a post that talked about using stress coat when you do water changes so i guess it is the right stuff. Thanks anyway and if i'm wrong please correct me you could save a life.

 

[Tolak]

Stress coat will remove chlorine. Ammo lock converts ammonia to a less or non-toxic form. It will help your fish, and it should not mess up your cycle, although some tests will still show ammonia is present.

Spring water is different from distilled and should contain some minerals, but I wouldn't use it. You can't be sure of ph or hardness from bottle to bottle, or between different manufacturers. Ph swings are a bad thing for fish.

Make your life easier & use just tap water if you can. Unless you have really horrible tap water it will stay more consistent than the bottled water.

Had an interesting speaker & demonstration at our last fish club meeting concerning water & dechlorination. The speaker was a rep from Tetra and one of the things we found out is that there are something like 4 national agencies for testing tap water, only 1 for bottled water. Tap water is much more regulated, municipalities have much more to lose legally than a bottling company.

Tolak

 

[Torrean]

thanks man I really appreciate your help. I assume I should test the tap water for ammonia and ph before I use it is there anything else I should do(aside from adding stress coat)and if you know what are the acceptable parameters for tap water. BTW my tap water tastes AWFUL which is why we started out with distilled water.

 

[Tolak]

Test for hardness & nitrates. Usually nitrates are more of a problem overseas, well water here sometimes has heavy metals in it. Unless your ph is above 8, or below 6, I wouldn't worry about it. The water here is real hard & everyone's fish do fine. Most fish acclimate to a wide range of conditions.

Most people try to keep fish that are suitable to their water conditions rather than keep water that is suitable to their fish's conditions. You can adjust your water, the right way is to get a reverse osmosis unit, which basically gives you distilled water. It does get expensive & a little time consuming.

Do not use any of the ph up & ph down chemicals on the market, unless your water is extremly soft. Hardness stabilizes your ph. These chemicals will change the ph in harder water, but it will bounce back to where it was within a few days. That's bad for fish.

Tolak

 

[Torrean]

what is an acceptable nitrate reading for tap water?

Isn't one of the reason's people do water changes is to reduce nitrates? So what if my water has a lower nitrate than my tap water what should I do then.

 

[Blue Lobster]

If your tap water tastes horrible get one of these for the house. You fuss over the fish and drink tap water yourself?

I recommend a britta snap on filter at minimum.

Whole house filters are cheap enough and kills two birds with one stone.

I use this standard house filter with a carbon filter insert from Home Depot and my fishies and wife are happy.

Filter housing
http/www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US...84+3116&pos=n06

Carbon filter
http/www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US...84+3116&pos=n06

 

[gadazobe]

When you say stress coat do you mean a product called Stress Zyme? If so, as far as I know, this won't neutralise the chloramine and other base metals in your water, only the chlorine.

 

[specks]

We use stress coat in our tanks. It says that it removes chlorine & neutralizes chloramines. We put some in the tank at every water change & also when introducing new fish. My lfs also puts a shot into the bag with the fish he sells.

 

[specks]

Btw gadazobe, the product I'm referring to is called stress coat. Its made by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals in the USA.

 

[gadazobe]

Different product to the one I was talking about. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[Torrean]

Tap water levels are as follows
ammonia 0
ph 7.6-7.8 (colors were tough to discern)
is this ok. do I need to test anything else

BTW the product I am planning on using to condition my tap water is called Stress Coat. Stress Zyme is for speeding a cycling tank and we have already used it.

We have a brita water filter that we can use on the tap. If we use it then do we need to use the stress coat at all?

 

[foty89]

On the subject of spring water, I would not use it. This is because you actually have no idea of where it actually comes from. Many "spring waters" are actually bottled municipal water that started out in a spring somewhere.

 

[Torrean]

I guess i should mention that the water out of the tap here is city water (Which is why I don't drink it) It tastes awful is this a sign that it might not be the best thing for the fish

 

[foty89]

Actually, tasting really bad might mean it is loaded with minerals that would be good for fish. The problem is that you don't know and it is hard to tell without a really good water test. This is much beyond what most water test kits can do. The other problem is that different fish sometimes like different minerals.

I have a water filtration system in my house that takes absolutely everything out of my water. It is as pure as you can get right out of the tap. That makes it very nice, no need to do anything except put it in the tank.

I do occasionally add salt and some other minerals, but not much and not very often. The fish do fine and I think the get most of the minerals they need from the food.