Crap!

[NonstickRon]

So I've been doing a fish-in cycle with a 10 gallon. Been watching it closely (daily tests) and I finally had an ammonia spike. Did a 20% change with the last of my spring water...went to the store to buy some more and they were SOLD OUT of ALL types of gallon size bottled water!! Man, I'm so angry. Just because that TROPICAL STORM is headed right over us tonight, they sold out of bottled water. At first I was just "whatever" about everyone making a fuss over this stupid storm but now I'm angry. How can people be freakin out about this? Its just some rain and wind....go figure, rainy season. Just because they named it doesn't mean its going to blow away everyones houses or make the tap water stop working. Hell, when we didn't have power for 2 weeks when we got hit with 3 hurricanes within a months time a couple years ago, we still had tap water.

I've gotta figure out what to do now. I think I'll go stick a big plastic tub out in the yard to collect some of this hurricane.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Well, you can just use tap with water conditioner. Itll probably be a lot cheaper than bottled anyways.

 

[kribensis12]

Yeah, i think its a waste of money getting bottled water for a fish tank. Go to petsmart and get a bottle of decholrinator for 2 dollars. Alot cheaper. I dont know if you were kidding or not, but i wouldnt collect any water from a hurricane, as you have no idea whats in the water that gets put in plastic tub.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

Yeah, i think its a waste of money getting bottled water for a fish tank. Go to petsmart and get a bottle of decholrinator for 2 dollars. Alot cheaper. I dont know if you were kidding or not, but i wouldnt collect any water from a hurricane, as you have no idea whats in the water that gets put in plastic tub.

he didnt mean collecting water from a hurricane lol.

he meant everyone has been buying bottled water so none left because a hurricane is coming.

 

[Gilli]

Why are you using bottled water? Must be costly and a pain to transport! Use the tap and a good water conditioner - problem solved! If you are worried about your PH you can adjust that too easily with bogwood or peat!

 

[NonstickRon]

Why are you using bottled water? Must be costly and a pain to transport! Use the tap and a good water conditioner - problem solved! If you are worried about your PH you can adjust that too easily with bogwood or peat!

Because I live in central florida and the PH here is insane due to high mineral content, and walmart spring water is only $.88 a gallon.

RHI test kit puts my tap at 8.8 PH (or possibly higher - chart stops at 8.8), Ammonia 1ppm, and 5ppm nitrates.

At some point when I can get a larger tank I'm going to switch to cichlids because the water here is ideal for them.

 

[Axleuk]

Why are you using bottled water? Must be costly and a pain to transport! Use the tap and a good water conditioner - problem solved! If you are worried about your PH you can adjust that too easily with bogwood or peat!

Because I live in central florida and the PH here is insane due to high mineral content, and walmart spring water is only $.88 a gallon.

RHI test kit puts my tap at 8.8 PH (or possibly higher - chart stops at 8.8), Ammonia 1ppm, and 5ppm nitrates.

At some point when I can get a larger tank I'm going to switch to cichlids because the water here is ideal for them.

Like Gill said. you can compensate for high PH by other means.

 

[NonstickRon]

Why are you using bottled water? Must be costly and a pain to transport! Use the tap and a good water conditioner - problem solved! If you are worried about your PH you can adjust that too easily with bogwood or peat!

Because I live in central florida and the PH here is insane due to high mineral content, and walmart spring water is only $.88 a gallon.

RHI test kit puts my tap at 8.8 PH (or possibly higher - chart stops at 8.8), Ammonia 1ppm, and 5ppm nitrates.

At some point when I can get a larger tank I'm going to switch to cichlids because the water here is ideal for them.

Like Gill said. you can compensate for high PH by other means.

Sure, been dumping in copious amounts of Seachem Neutral Regulator and got my tap down from 8.8 to 7.8 at work...and thats by using a 10 gallon dose with daily 2 gallon water changes. (using tap on the at work tank cause obviously hauling gallons of water to work with me every day is less convenient than at home where I can pile up a few boxes of it) Got some wood here I'm goingn to try this morning. Hopefully that helps some.

At home, somethings been bringing the spring water up from like 6.7 to around 7.8. Not sure, think it might be the gravel...wood dropped that tank down to 7.4, and I've got some black flourite sand on order that will hopefully fix the problem if it is indeed my gravel thats causing the PH to go up.

 

[OldMan47]

If you are spending $.88 per gallon on water, how long would it take to pay for a $100 RO unit to treat your water? I bought an RO for my fish because my water was much harder and higher pH than I thought was good for my fish. The end result is that fish that are sensitive to hardness get to live in a mix of RO and tap water. I get to drink water that is low in dissolved solids. I no longer feel obliged to buy bottled water for drinking which saves me even more than what I would have saved for getting my fish some water.

 

[NonstickRon]

If you are spending $.88 per gallon on water, how long would it take to pay for a $100 RO unit to treat your water? I bought an RO for my fish because my water was much harder and higher pH than I thought was good for my fish. The end result is that fish that are sensitive to hardness get to live in a mix of RO and tap water. I get to drink water that is low in dissolved solids. I no longer feel obliged to buy bottled water for drinking which saves me even more than what I would have saved for getting my fish some water.

I started using the Culligan, fill your own 5 gal jug for $1.25, water dispenser at the new wal-mart near my house.