water

[Lipreader]

Hello everyone! I have a question to ask about water. I'm not sure if this is the right place to post, so I'm just going to post it here.

I have owned a betta for over two years and kept him in a one and half gallon tank. All that time I've had him, I've used purified water and he seem fine with it(obviously it was ok because he lived his full life without any problem and died of old age) and now, I am using the same tank with two guppies in it and they are fine and happy. My question is, Is purified water better for the fishes than tap water? I'm just wondering how you fishowners deal with water. I want to know am I the only one that buys water at the store than using tap water? I'm afraid to use tap water becuase of what might be in the water but I guess that is what cycling is for, right?

I'm just thinking maybe I'm being silly buying all that water.

Also another thing, I don't want to sound stupid, but I'm still a newbie, so forgive me.....When you say do 20 -25% water change, what does that really mean? I'm thinking you are saying, take some water out of the tank, not all the water, and add clean water. Is that right? I'm just guessing. I still haven't understand how cleaning the tank works. When I had my Betta, it was easy just him but now I have two guppies and I'm afraid to stress them out. So I guess what I'm saying is, I need a simple step by step of how to clean my tank (pretend you are trying to explain to a ten year old).

Will anyone explain to me? PLEASE??? I just want to do the right thing for my babies.

Thank you so much!

 

[Ace Rimmer]

I'd guess that most people here just use tap water and a water conditioner, as most people here have bigger tanks then 1 and a half gallons (ie ranging from 5 - 60 gallon would be the average)

yes change about 20% of the water once a week (ie take out 20% and add a new 20%)

 

[Lipreader]

Thank you so much. I suppose I would have to start using tap water when I get a bigger tank. It would be silly of me to spend so much on purified water.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

dont forget to get a good water conditioner (stuff that neutralises all the bad fish killing chemicals )

 

[impur]

I use tapwater and have never had a problem. I use stress coat to remove the chlorine. Works great. My tank is 55 gal and i vacuum half the tank a week, removing about 15 gallons of water. I then just fill a 5 gal bucket with water that is approx. the same temp as the tank, add the stress coat to the bucket and dump it in. Has worked well for 6 years.

 

[Lipreader]

Thanks for the info! I will do that when I get a bigger tank. Can't wait!

 

[H2O]

If you are looking for value for money in a water conditioner then I recommend Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Tap Water Conditioner. It neutralises Chlorine and heavy metals and breaks the Chloramine bond.
If you don't have Chloramines in your tap water (like us ) then this is all you need and it is very economical as you only need to add 1 drop per US Gallon!
If you do have Chloramines in your tap water then you will need something like Ammo-lock to get rid of the Ammonia.

 

[Lipreader]

Thanks H2O! I'll write it down so when I get ready to buy a new tank, I'll be ready with other supplies.

 

[cutechic]

i use Wardley Chlor-Out, which removes both the chlorine and cchloramine, as well as a buncha of other harmful chemicals

 

[baseballfan111]

also i would get a gravel vacume

they are cheap

to start one (took me forever to figure out)

put the big part in the water

and then suck on the small end and take it of you mouth fast

and put the running water coming out of the vacume in the bucket

also when adding water put a coaster in the botten then pour the water in so it doesnt disturb the gravel

hope this helps

PS: you have to have a fish only bucket a soap of mopping bucket will kill you fishies