rinsing bio in tap?

[reptilenotfish]

hey, I had always been under the impression that tap water had too much chlorine for nitrifying bacteria to handle, but i've read a few studies that documented the concentration of bacteria in sewage and water supply. does anyone have anything other than traded stories and given advice to back the claim up? any tank crashes or spikes in ammonia?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Why risk it?

Rinsing media in old tank water is one of the simplest tasks in fishkeeping

 

[Byron]

Scientific studies have determined that the chlorine and chloramine in pubic water supplies in the USA and Sweden is not strong enough to kill all bacteria. Less than half of the nitrifying bacteria was killed, so more than half of it remained. What was actually scary was that TB virus (fish TB) got through.

This is not really surprising, when you realize that when we cycle a new tank the nitrifying bacteria are coming in the tap water. Obviously this could not happen if the chlorine/chloramine killed the nitrifying bacteria.

I had fish for 30 or more years, and I always rinsed/washed filter media and anything else under the tap. I only had/have chlorine to deal with, but the studies determined that chloramine is similarly ineffective at killing the bacteria.

 

[Naughts]

I always rinse my filters and media under the tap now. When my tank was not completely established (under a year), it caused a temporary cloudiness for a few hours. I haven't had an ammonia reading since my first (after a hiatus) tank was set up 4 years ago.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Filters yes, media no, for me...I just don't see any advantage in carrying my media to the sink, when I can rinse it right next to my tanks

 

[Essjay]

I'd have to run a bucket of tap water to wash my filter media as I'm not allowed to use the sink for things like that (I should never have used the word bacteria in front of my husband). So since I have buckets of nice warm tank water I use those.

 

[PewPewChris]

I'd have to run a bucket of tap water to wash my filter media as I'm not allowed to use the sink for things like that (I should never have used the word bacteria in front of my husband). So since I have buckets of nice warm tank water I use those.

My wife just yelled at me for keeping the testing vials I use drying right next to the kitchen sink lol

 

[AbbeysDad]

Especially once established, there is far more beneficial bacteria in the tank, especially the SUBSTRATE, than in any filter. So you can clean filter sponges in tap water and never see a problem.

 

[AbbeysDad]

My wife just yelled at me for keeping the testing vials I use drying right next to the kitchen sink lol

YELL BACK!

 

[FranciscoB]

Whether the bacteria die or not is nearly irrelevant. And of course there is lots of bacteria in all aquarium surfaces, not only in the filter media.
However, I am with Slaphppy7 - why bother to risk it?
Thinking of it, for me it is actually more work to walk to a sink and rinse there, than to do it in front of the tank in the 50gal Brute wheeled barrel I use for water changes (to be either pumped out, or gravity-disposed to my garden afterwards).
In addition, why do it in the kitchen or bathroom sink? No need to bring aquarium crap that does not belong there (and potential parasites- yes, most freshwater snails harbor many nasty animal and human parasites). My wife does not like it either and I completely agree (on this) with her reasoning.
But to each its own.....

 

[Byron]

Individual's preference for "x" or "y" is fine, but that is not the issue here. The OP asked if the chlorine in tap water was too much for the bacteria (i.e., would kill them), and the answer is an unequivocal no. Also the OP asked if this would cause spikes in ammonia and crashes, and the answer is again no. But before someone points out the exception to this...we are talking about an established tank.

It doesn't matter how anyone does the job, but we should understand and acknowledge the facts rather than spreading the old wives' tales further.

 

[reptilenotfish]

All interesting, so I guess it isn't harmful (maybe just less convenient).

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have rea science on this and the answer is basically yes, it is safe to do.

In the papers they use higher concentrations of chlorine and chloramine than any residual levels found in tap water and that still did bot kill off all or most of the bacteria. it lives in a niofilms and it takes time for these two nasties to penetrate through the biofilm.

Consider that you rinse your media under tap and return it to the filter which you have turned off. Lets say it takes you 30 minutes for change the water after this and you add you normal dechlor to the tankk and your turn on the filter. Before the chlorine/chloramine can do any real penetration it gets neutralized.

If you use in tank filtration you may even have residual dechlor still in the water and hat will likely detox while you wait to refill and dechlor the whole tank.

Forgive my not doing the proper citation format-

Free chlorine and monochloramine application to nitrifying biofilm: comparison of biofilm penetration, activity, and viability

Woo Hyoung Lee, David G Wahman, Paul L Bishop, Jonathan G Pressman

• PMID: 21226531
• DOI: 10.1021/es1035305

Abstract​

Biofilm in drinking water systems is undesirable. Free chlorine and monochloramine are commonly used as secondary drinking water disinfectants, but monochloramine is perceived to penetrate biofilm better than free chlorine. However, this hypothesis remains unconfirmed by direct biofilm monochloramine measurement. This study compared free chlorine and monochloramine biofilm penetration into an undefined mixed-culture nitrifying biofilm by use of microelectrodes and assessed the subsequent effect on biofilm activity and viability by use of dissolved oxygen (DO) microelectrodes and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) with LIVE/DEAD BacLight. For equivalent chlorine concentrations, monochloramine initially penetrated biofilm 170 times faster than free chlorine, and even after subsequent application to a monochloramine penetrated biofilm, free chlorine penetration was limited. DO profiles paralleled monochloramine profiles, providing evidence that either the biofilm was inactivated with monochloramine's penetration or its persistence reduced available substrate (free ammonia). While this research clearly demonstrated monochloramine's greater penetration, this penetration did not necessarily translate to immediate viability loss. Even though free chlorine's penetration was limited compared to that of monochloramine, it more effectively (on a cell membrane integrity basis) inactivated microorganisms near the biofilm surface. Limited free chlorine penetration has implications when converting to free chlorine in full-scale chloraminated systems in response to nitrification episodes.

from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21226531/

You can find more similar papers here https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?linkname=pubmed_pubmed&from_uid=21226531

 

[BrianK]

For decades, I washed media with tap water and never gave it a second thought until I joined here. Never had any problems. I may go back to it after this thread.

 

[PewPewChris]

As I dive further into fishkeeping and learning more about it in general, it's clear there are 100 different ways to accomplish a sustainable and healthy aquarium. There are also 100 of different factors that go into how things work for you based on where you live, your setup, etc. I utilize the knowledge of others and the innerweb's to formulate my own opinion and then implement what works for me and my fish.

That's have the fun of fishkeeping, maintain and helping to thrive YOUR OWN ecosystem.