Aging water?

[Raechal]

Okay so I have an unfiltered 10 gallon for my female betta and I do about 50% water changes everyday for her or even more if the nitrites are up (which hasn't happened yet) so I am running out of dechlor for my other tanks. It seems like everytime I buy a new bottle, the next day it is gone.

So can I just use aged water? What do I do, just fill a big bucket full of tap water and let it sit out for a few days. If it becomes too cold can I microwave it to make it a tad bit warmer for her?

Does anyone else use aged water?

 

[WILDER]

You need an airstone also to age water.

 

[Raechal]

You need an airstone also to age water.

So just throw an airstone in there, plug it in and let it blow the bubbles in the water for a couple of days? How many 2-3?

 

[WILDER]

I think it's 2 days, no what you mean by always buying declorinator.

 

[Slyspy]

Buy more dechlorinator. Most get rid of other chemicals in tap water that "aging" alone will not. The larger the bottle you buy, the better value for money you get.

 

[ger87410]

Old wives tales, the whole lot of 'em. I have very high ammonia in my water. I use aged water in water changes almost exclusively. Here's what I do: let it sit overnight. There's only a few chemicals in your water that could hurt the fish. Chlorine/chloramines, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite. I've never heard of a fish getting hurt by anything else. (Unless you add rat poison or something to the water.) De-chlorinator only gets rid of chlorine/chloramines, but so does aging. The only thing that gets rid of everything is Amquel (sp). Aging works fine. Let it sit overnight at least. I let mine sit for days sometimes but the water change I'm doing today is going to be done with night-old water (55g w/ oscar). Chemicals never go anywhere near my water unless absolutely necessary, like an emergency water change. What fish U got?

P.S. I don't use an airstone.

 

[emo]

Airstone helps get rid of any undissolved C02 in the water.

 

[Matchu]

Heating gets rid of a lot of stuff in water, like chlorine which has a lower BP than water.

 

[Raechal]

I only have a female betta in her 10 gallon. But I think I will run out and buy some dechlor today as I have to fill up my 120 gallon again.

 

[ger87410]

Chemicals suck!!!

 

[freddyk]

Heating is a good way to kill bacteria and such, but it won't get rid of the metals in our water that could harm our fish. If you do heat the water, it drives out all of the oxygen, so running an airstone while it cools is a good idea.

Chemicals suck, but de-chlorinators have been proven to be effective with no side effects, and I do not include them as a suckie chemical, I count them as the one and only necessary chemical. The other elements in water that can harm fish will not be noticable - the effect would be long term.

In addition, you'll regret it the day your water company decides to use chloromines without telling you. Chloromines are not gassed out like chlorine, and aging will not do a thing for it, just like it doesn't do a thing for the metals in the water.

I understand that people like ger have their own methods that work, but I don't believe this is good advice for the average fish keeper. Not everyone has the same quality of tap water either.

 

[ger87410]

Good point Freddy.

 

[Slyspy]

Ger if you have high ammonia in your water you should definitely get onto your supplier about it!

 

[Dubby]

Raechal:

You should check out with your water co. if they use Chloramine. If not you should be able to manage with just Ageing the water !

 

[rich]

Just straying slightly from the subject...

Why do you do 50% water changes every day? Because of a lack of filter? Seems like a lot of work to me, congrats on keeping to it.