Saving old tank water?

[Where the river goes]

I've heard mentioned before (by some guy that was buying stuff at the pet store) about saving the water you take out from the tank to rinse stuff out instead of using tap water. Anybody else do this?

 

[guppymonkey]

tap water will kill off the good bacteria so its a good idea to wash ur filter in tank water. Since tap water usually contains chlorine and chloramines it isn't good for the fish.

 

[Thomas A. Anderson]

Perhaps you are referring to when you wash your filters.

When doing so always wash them in discarded tank water and NOT under the tap as doing so will destroy any bacteria that are on the filter.

I also use my discarded tank water for my house plants (pre-fertilised water)

 

[Gabe]

I always store my old water in a bucket so I can rinse all of my decorations and filter in old fish water. It also comes in handy if I take to much water out, I can just put some of the old back in. I do dump it after I have finished with it though, I don't keep it for a long time or anything.

Gabe

 

[mrV]

about saving the water you take out from the tank to rinse stuff out instead of using tap water. Anybody else do this?

Many hobbiests do this, I don't I rinse them under tap water and still never had any problem with nitrite etc... Substrate contains much more beneficial bacteria than small volume filters. And flowing speed is also too much for beneficial bacteria - so they don't get along well in filter anyway... Small internal filters are mostly just for mechanicals (= they collect rubbish from water and become blocked. Biological filters don't become blocked.)