Bottled Mineral Water

[dbanbery]

Do i need de-chlorinator with bottled spring water? is it OK to use? someone i know uses it for his water changes etc because it doesnt need tratment before going in the tank - i was wanting to know peoples opinions.

i have been advised to use stabilizer for my water as the pH in my area is 6.0 or similar which is rather acidic [while this is acceptable fro some species as far as i know the betta wouldnt like it]. and its either the case of buying pH stabiliser [using 7.0 stabilizer which takes 24hrs to make suitable - i am using it at the moment]
OR use the cheap 5l bottles of spring water from the local supermarket - its a constant pH of 7.4 and filtered etc - i am 90% sure it wouldnt but i wanted to ask for peoples opinion etc on this approach..

 

[Tropical_Fish]

I'm no expert so just repeating what I have read but I have read the following...


Bottled water lacks minerals compared to tap
Bottled water can have possibilities of some chemical leaking from the bottle to the water when in sunlight
I believe you can buy crushed coral to add to your filter - this will raise the pH level naturally and in a stabilised fashion - it's inexpensive and lasts years


Best wait for an expert to confirm - or research yourself using the search

 

[dbanbery]

And this crushed coral doesnt stress the fish out?


to be fair i havent had any pH issues with my tank as of yet, it has always been a steady 7. going to do a search now.

 

[dbanbery]

as i am getting used to, some people say its fine with no dechlorinator, others do it to be on the safe side... it seems an expensive way to do things for something so trivial - i'm going to go the way of the crushed coral and see how that fares in my main tank when it gets set up. i was considering setting this up with pH stabiliser etc initially then changed my mind about it when remembered about the bottled water method. still in the dark. the bottled water i have and aim to use has minerals in it, probably a lot more than the tap water, but tbh i havent a bloody clue!!

 

[OldMan47]

Crushed shells or crushed coral is what they sell in the LFS as substrate for people who have salt water tanks. If you buy the smallest bag that they have, you will have a supply for many years if all you want to do is harden water and stabilize your pH. It is used by putting some into a bag, like the kind they make for charcoal, and placing it in the flow path in your filter. A small container of dechlorinator costs much less than a bottle of drinking water would for a single water change. The dechlorinator is instant acting so there is no need to store vast amounts of water for water changes. You will want to make smaller controlled water changes than most of us do so that the crushed coral has time to dissolve into the tank water somewhat between changes. What you are doing with that in your filter is very slowly dissolving the shell into the water and causing the pH to rise and become stable. While the water is acidic, the shell dissolves faster and as it gets a higher pH it dissolves slower. Since the speed it dissolves changes depending on the pH, it helps keep things stable. The liquid stabilizer you are using has a small amount of a similar chemical in it and has much the same effect.

 

[dbanbery]

ah right, gotcha.. slowly getting clearer than mud.

i take it crushed coral is suitable with plants? the API stabiliser i have been using isn't, and while my small tank doesnt have any live plants, the larger tank will, so i wouldnt want to kill everything.

also, i take it i cant put in too much too.

the chemicals i am using atm and aim to continue using are:

Tetra Easy Balance
Nutrafin Water Conditioner
Nutrafin Cycle for the new tank - [i know some people think pure ammonia is better but there are so many mixed feelings with cycling i am going to use this for a week with no fish in, while adding some media from my other tank, so hopefully i should be able to cycle it a bit easier.]
API pH stabiliser
Interpret Nitrate kit
Hagen Ammonia, pH, and Nitrite test kits.

 

[OldMan47]

The biggest problem that I see with the pH stabilizer is the difficulty of using it and the price. I have seen many such products that would have required me to buy a new bottle every time that I do a water change based on the dosing levels while a handful of crushed shell or crushed coral in the filter will last for years.

There is nothing wrong with having test kits and the dechlorinator is needed. Almost everything else on your list is the things that I leave on the pet shop shelves. I have no idea what is in the easy balance, I don't think we are supposed to know, but anything that promises less water changes is highly suspect. At one time, everyone with an aquarium did far less water changes than we do today and it was advised to treat your tank that way. Fish did fine in those tanks for months at a time so we all thought we were doing right. Now that we are more aware of the real needs of the fish, it has become the practice to do far more water changes and our fish now last much longer than the few months that we used to see. The danger that I see with using that Easy Baklance is that you might believe the claims and not do a water change for a long time. If you follow that approach, you can ignore everything on this forum and just come back around November to ask why your fish are dying.

 

[drain_bamaged]

easiest thing to do is buy RO water from your LFS, its about £3 a gallon, PH neutral and will have all the nasty minerals taken out.

 

[OldMan47]

You are half right Drain Bamaged. It does have all of the minerals taken out, which means the first thing that must happen, for any fish to live in health in the water, is that the minerals must be replaced so that there are enough for the fish.

I have an RO in my home that I use for drinking water and to make tea, coffee, reconstitute juice, etc. I do not use much of it in my fish tanks and it is right there in the extra faucet. It is good for adding back evaporated water because water that evaporates does not remove any minerals so I don't want to add any back when I top off for that. For water changes, I use mostly just tap water because it has the needed minerals in it. I have one tank of fish that require very soft water and for that tank I mix some RO with some tap water to get the needed softness but I never ask my fish to live in straight RO water. That will kill most of the fish pretty fast.

 

[dbanbery]

i have used it a bit but in no way have i used it to replace regular water changes. i didnt change my water for a while as i was cycling the tank, and i didnt really know what i was doing. bit better now and i feel my questions and answers are a lot more intelligible now than say, when i first started out a few months back.

good point with the crushed coral and i was probing about this because i didnt really want to keep buying the pH stabiliser as it was a faff with having to leave it 24 hours before introducing the water into the tank. the crushed coral seems a better idea.

please do not think i am just ignoring perfectly good advice and listening to bottle labels, please understand that i have asked for a varied amount of advice from other people, and a lot of questions on the forum to do with many different aspects of the hobby, and it seems that methods for cycling, stocking, feeding, and problem solving all vary from pretty much person to person - in a lot of instances it has been very confusing and made matters worse. i'm over that now and i have made decisions on what to do and how to do things now, but in no way am i ignoring everyone at the detriment of my pets. i have already lost a few tetras to whitespot and that was bad enough! i still feel terrible about that too, as i feel to blame regardless of evidence otherwise.

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Sometimes there is no wrong and right answer - there are different opinions and people experiences.

For instance doing a fish-in cycle isn't 'wrong' but it certainly isn't the best way of doing it.


The only advice which doesn't seem worth listening to is the advice that most people turn to first - the local fish shops. I've been to 5 shops and all have no idea about cycling tanks which makes me worry.

The apparent 'best' shop in the local area told me that I was an idiot for believing the rubbish about ammonia and fishless cycling and that it was a myth. They told me that putting ammonia in my tank would kill everything I put in - I did try explaining how it worked and how the bacteria would form in the filter and process the ammonia but they looked confused. They told me that you just put hardy fish in and that you'll lose a few so only put cheap ones in. Needless to say I won't be buying any fish from there.

 

[dbanbery]

i havent really asked for advice from LFS to be honest. i have generally not bothered due to the continual problems i have read about. The only two bits of advice from that side of the coin is the following: the local acidity of the water for tetras is fine, but not for my Betta - hence the pH stabiliser. this turned out to be helpful and it did them out of a sale too so i prefer this place to anywhere else tbh.

the other place we bought the fighter from said our tank would be overstocked, which was correct. however, after the betta was put in my tank went into a bad way, and we lost some tetras to whitespot. i ignored this advice because i had used a calculator that said it was fine, and had worked out my stocking accordingly [so i thought]

but anyways, the experience of setting up a small tank and understanding it all that way is infinitely more valuable than reading up for years - which i could have just as easily have done. from watever approach, mistakes will be made so what i did than starting off with a massive tank and killing everything in it, it doesnt necessarily make it the right think to do, bu hindsight is an amazing thing.