Boil Water Notice and Fish

[Slaphppy7]

Another caution...with chlorine you can draw water into a bucket or barrel and especially with aeration, the chlorine will readily dissipate. Not so with chloramine as it remains stable much longer which is why many municipalities are switching to it. So especially if there is chloramine in your supply water, ensure that you use sufficient conditioner to neutralize... and extra conditioner may be required if the water authority has increased the dose.

I don't know of ANY place in the States that still uses pure chlorine on a regular basis, but in my town, they DO use it (once a year) to flush the lines in the summertime, they send out notices in advance.

 

[eatyourpeas]

I've never heard of that stuff before...

The Poly Filter?

 

[Slaphppy7]

The Poly Filter?

Yes, that particular one, that removes nasties from tank water...

 

[eatyourpeas]

Yes, that particular one, that removes nasties from tank water...

Yes, it does. I only use it for emergencies. It is better than carbon since it does not deplete the nutrients needed by the plants, and it is great as an emergency ammonia remover, as well as meds in the tank. I forget who recommended it, but the few times I have used it has been amazing. Just put it in your filter and remove when it changes color and it looks saturated, or your parameters have stabilized.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Yes, it does. I only use it for emergencies. It is better than carbon since it does not deplete the nutrients needed by the plants, and it is great as an emergency ammonia remover, as well as meds in the tank. I forget who recommended it, but the few times I have used it has been amazing. Just put it in your filter and remove when it changes color and it looks saturated, or your parameters have stabilized.

Nice, thank you so much for posting about it, my friend.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Another caution...with chlorine you can draw water into a bucket or barrel and especially with aeration, the chlorine will readily dissipate. Not so with chloramine as it remains stable much longer which is why many municipalities are switching to it. So especially if there is chloramine in your supply water, ensure that you use sufficient conditioner to neutralize... and extra conditioner may be required if the water authority has increased the dose.

@AbbeysDad Yes, I had already read on that and purchased more Prime to be prepared. Our water company does use Chloramine. I read they are going to chloramine because it takes so long to evaporate. Even boiling it for an hour doesn’t remove it all. I did a pwc in my fry tank today out of necessity. I used boiled, cooled water along with double the Prime. They seem fine. I can’t fo that with my large tanks and my 55G had nitrates at close to 80ppm. Almost 2 weeks now since w/c. I doubled the Prime in it. Going to try to do the betta tanks tomorrow with boiled water and double the Prime since tanks are only 5 & 10G’s. Large tanks will continue PRIME doses daily until Monday when boil water notice is suppose to be lifted.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Yes, it does. I only use it for emergencies. It is better than carbon since it does not deplete the nutrients needed by the plants, and it is great as an emergency ammonia remover, as well as meds in the tank. I forget who recommended it, but the few times I have used it has been amazing. Just put it in your filter and remove when it changes color and it looks saturated, or your parameters have stabilized.

Can it be any poly filter? I have some that I forgot I even had. Guess it won’t hurt to add it.

 

[FFGuest6357]

It’s been mentioned, but it can’t be overstated, anytime there’s major work done on water lines by the city or their respective contractors, assume some contaminates got into the supply...

there are some great suggestions here, and if you have access to testing for chlorine or chloramines it would be a good time to check those parameters. As many have mentioned, seachem Prime is a great conditioner that has worked well for me on a regular basis.

 

[eatyourpeas]

Can it be any poly filter? I have some that I forgot I even had. Guess it won’t hurt to add it.

It has been that particular product for me. It works great, but I would not use unless it is an emergency. It can deplete your tank from ammonia and cause a crash if your bacteria has no food.

 

[Colin_T]

I clean every Monday so skipped past Monday due to storm. Monday will be 2 weeks. Yuk!

LOL, you MTS has caused you to develop OCD too

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You shouldn't have to boil the water for the fish. Unless the water pipes were damaged by the freezing, the water in them will be too cold for any bacteria to reproduce so the tap water should be fine for fish. However, if the pipes were damaged and the water was contaminated by sewerage, then boil it before using it in the tank, for your own safety.

If your nitrates are high, reduce feeding for a week and then do a water change.

 

[Essjay]

@Deanasue There's polyfilter and there's Poly-Filter. The second is the one in eatyourpeas' post and it removes all sorts of things from water. I always have some in the cupboard to use after using medication. It is expensive stuff, so I use some carbon first, then the Poly-Filter.

 

[FishGuest5123]

LOL, you MTS has caused you to develop OCD too

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You shouldn't have to boil the water for the fish. Unless the water pipes were damaged by the freezing, the water in them will be too cold for any bacteria to reproduce so the tap water should be fine for fish. However, if the pipes were damaged and the water was contaminated by sewerage, then boil it before using it in the tank, for your own safety.

If your nitrates are high, reduce feeding for a week and then do a water change.

I am definitely OCD about those dang tanks! Drives me insane!