Water Changes

[chibi]

My uncle pours water directly from the tap into his fish tank, then pours the chemicals in. It doesn't hurt his fish, but then again he has 6-10 inch cichlids in his 30 gallon. My question is is this safe? Putting tap water in, then the chemicals to treat it? I have many little fish like guppies, balloon mollies and corys. Thanks!!

 

[KeeperOfFishyPeace]

ouch, no....not the safest thing. the shock will stress the fish. and how many 6-10 inch cichlids does he have, that isn't to good either..

 

[Piltdownpaul]

Personally i like to add tapsafe chemical to the tap water and then slowly add it to the tank-this seems to work for me- i havent any problems yet

 

[jayjay]

I've done it quite abit, add tapsafe at the end.

Though my view on tapsafe is it's not needed really, people have tested not using it and haven't found problems. Chlorine gases off quickly, chloramie 'merges' with ammonia to be used by the bacteria and if you don't have heavy metals then they don't need treating.

I also don't add it sometimes and have no ill effects, I use it and see no difference. People generally don't like, not using dechlor though.

 

[xJake]

I add a third of the dechlorinator before I add the tap water, a third while it's filling up and a third after the tank is full; I've been doing it for about 2 months now and I have yet to have a fish get sick or die on me.

 

[Rocky32189]

I still do it the old fashioned way. I fill up a 5 gallon bucket, dechlorinate the water there, and then pour it into my tank. I'm too scared to throw in non-dechlorinated water, whether the dechlorinating chemicals are in the tank or not.

 

[tropical_mommy]

i do it in a one gallon jug... then pour it in ... as i only have a 1 gallon taki i don't have many problems with it !!!... and it works good for me!

 

[Bignose]

...chloramie 'merges' with ammonia to be used by the bacteria...

I'd really like to see some proof of this statement. My understanding is that chloramine is a very stable compund, and if it was in your tank, it will get taken up by the filter, and then start killing off that bacteria. chloramine is becoming more and more popular because it is so stable. Stablitiy also taking on the meaning here that it is not very reactive with other chemicals, so I don't think that the chances are very high that is merges with additional ammonia. That, and several forum members, when their chloramine using water companies accidently used too much ammonia, so that all the chlorine reacted with ammonia before the ammonia was used up, registered ammonia in their tap water. If chloramine merged with additional ammonia, that ammonia would not have registered in their tests. So, if you could please cite a source for why you think that, I'd much appreciate it.

 

[Kiwigirl]

I always dechlorinate my tap water first, mind you I put mine in a litre at a time

 

[Tolak]

I don't even bother with the buckets; I just hose it in directly from the tap. I've added it before, during, or after adding water, with everything from 3-week-old angels to large plecs. This includes corys, platys, swords, and other fish that I've had over the years. Newly free swimming to 3-week-old fry get it pre-mixed in a bucket then trickled in. This gives me better temperature & water flow control, an accidental blast of water from opening a valve too fast, or a sudden change in temperature can wipe out a couple hundred angel fry in a blink. Most of my tanks get 50% wc weekly, fry start with 50% daily.

A while back I did a 50% wc on a 29 with somewhere around 70 dime size angels without adding dechlor. I got real bored after 2 hours of sitting there waiting for something to happen. I added dechlor, and went on to do something else. My water contains chlorine & chloramines; there was no difference between that tank & the 29 above it stocked similar.

 

[OohFeeshy]

It depends on the tank and it's occupants (I don't really want to take the risk with the sparklers, kuhlis and smarags), but normally I do it after, if at all. While not a very scientific approach, I was interested by something Andy said about there being a theory that the chlorine evaporates and the chloramine is somehow used by the filter bacteria, so have ceased using dechlor in both the betta tanks and 4ft. I have seen no negative effects, and indeed, some positive effects (on my purse although the bettas do seem much more colourful and prone to bubblenest), so whether the theory is correct I don't know, but I certainly have seen no loss of bacteria in the filter on the 4ft.

 

[tropical_mommy]

my mom used to always say that if you left the water out for 24 hrs that the chlorine evaporated..i don't know ...but we always used water from a goose neck filter and it went straight in ... here i haven't set up my filter ... the insert is like 40 dollars... so i can't afford it right now!!! so we are using drops!!!

 

[dwarfgourami]

My understanding is that chlorine evaporates and chloramine does not. I do know that many fishkeepers add the dechlorinator straight into the tank; otherwise it would be impossible to use a python. I am still bucketing out my 240 ltr- I have a special relationship with buckets since my archaeologist days and I often inadvertently catch fry which I don't want to water the rose beds with.

 

[cjohnston]

I am very confused.

I have always used Aqua Safe (tap safe) purely because I thought that is what you had to do.

If it is not needed though, I have read notes on the forum of people asking why their fish 'flick' after water changes and then people asking the question if tap safe has been used.

One point though, my father has had koi for many years and used to use a 'pond safe' but he now doesn't as he says the fish get used to it. Is that perhaps the same thing that is happening here?

 

[tropical_mommy]

i couldn't tell you about cloramine...so i will believe you that it doesn't evaporate and continue to use the drops...maybe the levels vary depending on where oyu live???

oh well drops aren't too much of a pain in the arse!!