Can I Use De-Ionised Water?

[ben3486]

As title really....I figured it may be better than tap water as alot of the chemicals will be taken out of it?!

 

[ben3486]

Also could people please fill me in on what i need to do for my fishless cylce? like what i need to do with my water and what i need to look or test for? thanks people and sorry for the noob Q's

 

[OohFeeshy]

You could if you remineralised it, or mixed it with an appropriate ratio of tap water. Fish need many of the chemicals found in tap water, without them they can't survive, so pure deionised water is a no.

 

[ben3486]

so maybe best just to stick with tap water? is there going to be no benefit at all from de-ionised water in a tank?

 

[erk628]

I would just use your tapwater and add water conditoner to it. What the conditoner does is it removes the chlorine and other harmful chemicals and metals in your water. There is a link in my sig below called beginners resource center I suggest you read it. As for the cycling process there is a link in my sig below called fishless cycle and it will tell you how to cycle your tank.

 

[Mikaila31]

While DI water will have all the chlorine and other nasties removed from it. It will also lack any trace mineral ions that benefit the fish.

 

[ben3486]

thanks for that guys.

erk--- ive been having a read through the fishless cycle and the resource centre. Very handy ;D

I'm guessing from reading the fishless cycle.....in a nut shell I need to add amonia (5ppm) every time it goes to zero. Then when Amonia drops to zero over night from 5ppm my nitrite is up (to about 5ppm)...and then wait till both of these are reduced to zero my tank is ready as the nitrates are sufficient to reduce the bad bacteria and amonia.?! Have I got it? lol

Also i read you will prob get a algae or brown film? do i have to clean this away or will bacteria do its shiz and get rid of it? Was my work colleague correct when he said to get a healthy tank you have to go through and aglae bloom? which im guessing you clean away and all will be well?! sorry to ask these questions...I just find it easier trying to break it down like this and have it confirmed i have it right lol

 

[ben3486]

mikaila.....what fish is that in your sig? looks pretty cool...Still unsure of what to stock in my tank, which is going to be a week late , as i was told cichlids are a NO! lol

 

[Mikaila31]

mikaila.....what fish is that in your sig? looks pretty cool...Still unsure of what to stock in my tank, which is going to be a week late , as i was told cichlids are a NO! lol

Its a garra flavatra. I have no idea what size your tank is, but given all the different groups of cichlids I'm betting you can get some of them in your tank. It all comes down to which ones.

 

[ben3486]

how big does that grow? also whats in your avtar? looks like funky finage lol

oh and my tanks gonna be a fluval edge...so 26 ltrs i think....which everyone tells me is far to small

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with all the others, the question of DI or various other bottled waters often comes up early in the game for many beginners and almost always the correct answer is that the beginner should be using tap water. As Mikaila said, the calcium and magnesium and all sorts of other good things that come in with tap water are quite important for fish, so in many ways tap water is great.

About our fishless cycling article, I'd say you've made a pretty good beginning summary but please be aware that the actual details of going about it in the most efficient way often get worked out in your thread by interaction with the members, so its good not to make too many assumptions that you've got it all from the article. For instance, you only actually add ammonia -once- in any given 24 hour period, even if ammonia were to drop to zero ppm sooner than that. That way, not too much nitrogen gets put into your tank over time, which could slow the process later. Its good to pick an "add-hour" out of the 24 hours of the day. You want to pick a time such that you can test and add ammonia but such that 12 hours later you'd be awake and home to do a "12 hour test" halfway around the 24 hour day. Also, pH needs be tested on a periodic basis. Various little tweaks like these examples are not necessarily spelled out in the reference article and we can all help you with them.

The most important prep early on is getting a good liquid test kit and finding the right type of ammonia and making sure your filter has the right types of media in it and has an adequate flow rate for the aquarium volume.

~~waterdrop~~