Water changes

[goldie]

I have a friend who has been told to use boiled water and not just the hot water out of her tap when doing water changes....has she been given the right advise ??

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I use water from the tap personally but I can understand why some would use boiled as boiling the water will get rid of any bacteria. I presume that the water is being allowed to cool before being added to the tank or being mixed with cold?

I don't see that there is any need IMO.

 

[guppymonkey]

Unless there is something wrong with the tap water I don't really see the point to it. If there is large amounts of disease causing bacteria in her tap water I would say to boil it but most water (unless it comes from a well or local lake) is treated at a water treatment plant and that water is treated to get rid of bacteria.

 

[babyfish]

The only "potable " water in your household comes out of the cold water tap in the kitchen.
The water that comes out of your hot tap sits in a loosely covered tank in your loft, this is liable to be contaminated by insects and bacteria which can cause problems in your tank.
It's best to boil water from the cold tap and use it to bring water to the correct temperature or stand containers of water next to a radiator and use when it has reached room temp.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

All I can contribute is that in all my years of keeping fish and using the water straight from the tap, I have never once had a problem.

 

[noelberg]

Well that would explain why water outta the hot water tap tastes like a$$. But doesn't most water get chlorinated, thus potentially killing most bacteria in either side of the faucet?

I know that if you have copper pipes, then you don't want to use hot water.

 

[njparton]

Well that would explain why water outta the hot water tap tastes like a$$. But doesn't most water get chlorinated, thus potentially killing most bacteria in either side of the faucet?

I know that if you have copper pipes, then you don't want to use hot water.

It's not so much the copper pipes as the big copper cylinder the hot water sits in for hours on end. If you have a combi-boiler system instead, it might not be so bad though.

I've read in many places to use hot water from a kettle and not that from the hot tap, including the well respected Practical Fishkeeping Magazine.

Don't chance the poisoning of your fish - use your kettle

 

[crazie.eddie]

If you test your tap water and no additives are necessary, then it should be fine to add directly. Otherwise, you need to add additives (decholirinators, ammonia removes, ph Reducers, etc.). I'm lucky that my tap water is fine to use straight to my tanks. My pH is also just slightly above neutral.

I have heard that using hot water from your tap brings in unwanted metals from the pipes. I don't know how true this is. I have never had any problems using straight tap water for my tanks.

 

[crimsontsavo]

I am really starting to thank the lord we have well water.

 

[dcraveiro]

Just want to let people know that using just hot water from the tap is usually a big NO-NO!!! You get mineral build-up in your hot-water heater that can easily come into the water and mess up the tank! I personally just either buy R/O water from my LFS or dechlorinate and treat my tap water with Prime before I use it.