Copper Pipes

[toppman]

is using water from copper pipes bad for shrimp?

 

[Invader Xan]

In a word, yes. A good heavy metal removing dechlorinator should take care of most of it, provided it's not from the hot tap, and hasn't sat stagnant in the pipes for too long -- but it's a risk.

 

[toppman]

so running the cold tap for a few minutes then using the water is ok?
or is dechlorinator always necessary?

 

[voo]

I have quite a few shrimp in my tank. Each week i do a water change, adding a small amount of water from the hot tap (and dechlorinator). I also add trace ferts every other day, which contains a small amount of copper. Never had any harm done to the shrimp. I don't add medicenes that contain copper though.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes it can be very harmfull, always use a good dechlorinator

we did some work on plumbing a while back now so had brand new copper pipes in the system, even with regular doses of dechlorinator all the shrimp died at the next water change, so double dechlor if the plumbing is new.

 

[Invader Xan]

Dechlorinator is always necessary anyway -- whatever creatures you keep. Shrimp are just more sensitive than most. Running the tap for a minute or two first will just make it more effective.

API make a good tap water conditioner that works excellently at removing both chlorine and heavy metals.

 

[toppman]

ok thanks 4 the help ppl il be on the hunt for this API stuff now

 

[andywg]

Dechlorinator is always necessary anyway -- whatever creatures you keep.

There are quite a few people who keep fish tanks without using dechlorinator that might disagree with this statement.

 

[doubledee]

I use an undersink drinking water filter from B&Q for £20 which removes metals. I don't know for certain exactly what it does remove but the water tastes nice. I obviously still use a dechlorinator (tetra aquasafe for now and I've got hold of a big bottle of Nutrafin stuff) as well. Shrimps seem to be doing fine.

 

[Invader Xan]

Dechlorinator is always necessary anyway -- whatever creatures you keep.

There are quite a few people who keep fish tanks without using dechlorinator that might disagree with this statement.

Heh... Sorry, allow me to rephrase that...

All the freshwater animals I've investigated keeping will gain health benefits from dechlorinated water. That sound any better?

 

[andywg]

Heh... Sorry, allow me to rephrase that...

All the freshwater animals I've investigated keeping will gain health benefits from dechlorinated water. That sound any better?

Perhaps. Though I have read of people keeping fish tanks (community) without using any dechlorinator at all and the only difference they could see was that the fish appeared a little brighter.

 

[toppman]

i dont use dechlorinated water 4 my community tank so far but if i was 2 get shrimp i would deffinately have 2 get some
and theres nothing wrong with my fish

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hmmm the chlorine and chloramine shouldn't even theoretically harm your fish though.

the theoretical risk is that it will kill off your filter bacteria (after all it's added to our drinking water to kill off other bacteria forms)

my personal opinion is that in a nice mature well filtered tank the amount of bacteria present is so vast that even a very large water change couldn't contain enough chlorine/chloramine to kill off a significant portion of bacteria. and bearing in mind that a mature bacteria colony can double in 24hrs even if a chunk of bacteria did get wiped out it's unlikely to cause any problems.

that being said dechlor is cheap and easy to use so i use it, but i don't panic if i forget one day or run out.

 

[Arimus]

Now I know why my shrimp all died off.... our pipework is all copper and some bits are very new

Just checked my dechlorinator (Aquaplus) and while it does remove heavy metals I didn't think about 'overdosing' it...

Which does raise a point: What would the effects be of using double or triple the recommended dose? (Not personally familiar with the active ingredients in these things so not sure what would happen)

 

[Invader Xan]

my personal opinion is that in a nice mature well filtered tank the amount of bacteria present is so vast that even a very large water change couldn't contain enough chlorine/chloramine to kill off a significant portion of bacteria. and bearing in mind that a mature bacteria colony can double in 24hrs even if a chunk of bacteria did get wiped out it's unlikely to cause any problems.

It's worth bearing in mind though, that ammonia and nitrite fixing bacteria are among the slowest growing known.


And I believe most dechlorinators use sodium thiosulphate for the chlorine (and probably a chelating agent like EDTA for the metals). I'm not sure how toxic these are to fish, but to inverts, it's almost definitely preferable to dissolved copper.