Good water???

[Sarkis]

i am about to do a water change, Water is very clouldy. My question is, I have a water store ( "clean drinking water") next to my building. They sell water in those 5us gallon blue containers. Would it be safe to add one of those in the tank. And the rest just tap water and us water contditioner in all of it. BTW its a 46gallon tank i plan on changing 25-30%

 

[jrd77]

Has your tank fully cycled? What do you have in you 46 gallon? Are you having any trouble with fish deaths or anything? What are you chemical levels in the tank and of your regular tap water (pH, Ammonia, Nitrites & Nitrates, even phosphates)?

In general, you should be doing water changes every week anyway...I think it's really cool you can get 5 gallon jugs of drinking water next door but it really might not be necessary and could just be an additional expense you do not need to pay for. It's probably just a bacterial bloom (assuming the cloudy color is milky white and not some other color) in which a water change will probably solve it....

Keep me posted as I have had to deal a with multiple "cloudiness" problems and have learned a lot from all the 3 different types of cloudiness I got....

 

[pendragon]

When you say "water is very cloudy", do you mean the water in the aquarium, or your drinking water you want to put in?

Generally speaking, unless there are particular attributes of your tap water that make it unusable, there is no real reason to need to put 'specialty' water in the aquarium. In fact, there are some who hold the opinion that most commercial, so-called 'pure' drinking water - which may have had electrolytes and other trace minerals extracted during treatment - is not as healthy for fish as water from the tap.

Having said that, I do know at least one fishkeeper personally who uses only bottled water in her aquarium and has had no apparent problems - she just doesn't trust her tap water; but I think it's generally unnecessary (as well as unnecessarily expensive). But if it makes you more comfortable to use some bottled water, it's probably not a big issue, but I personally wouldn't recommend using only bottled water. I'd use at least some from the tap - again, unless your tap water proves unhealthy for some reason. In the long run, you're really going to need to know the chemical properties of your tap water anyway (pH, does it contain ammonia, NO2, NO3, phosphates? etc.).

Also, be mindful that if your bottled water contains chlorine, you still have to treat it with water conditioner, just as you would tap water. Find out whether it contains chlorine if you can, but if in doubt treat it anyway.

Hope that helps,

pendragon!

 

[Sarkis]

Did a water test last night results are
Ph 7.4
High range Ph- 7.8
Ammonia- 1.0
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- 5.0ppm
First time doing a water test i follwed the instructions i hope i did it right

 

[pendragon]

Hmmm... Are those readings from your aquarium, or from the tap?

If they're from your tap, you have ammonia and nitrate in your water. Not the end of the world, but not good, either.

If they're from your tank, it looks like you have some sort of funky mini-cycle going on, as you should generally not have detectable ammonia and nitrate, unless you've just increased your bio-load (added fish). Are you cycling the tank right now (is this a new tank set-up)? Your cloudiness might be bacterial bloom, which is common in the cycling process.

Either way, pH looks fine.

pendragon!

 

[Sarkis]

Hmmm... Are those readings from your aquarium, or from the tap?

If they're from your tap, you have ammonia and nitrate in your water. Not the end of the world, but not good, either.

If they're from your tank, it looks like you have some sort of funky mini-cycle going on, as you should generally not have detectable ammonia and nitrate, unless you've just increased your bio-load (added fish). Are you cycling the tank right now (is this a new tank set-up)? Your cloudiness might be bacterial bloom, which is common in the cycling process.

Either way, pH looks fine.

pendragon!

those readings are from the tank. Yes the tank was recently cylced and i added fish about 5days ago 4 tiger brabs for now. Should i do a 50%water change or is that to much

 

[pendragon]

I think chemistry-wise you're doing okay. I don't see a real need to start water changes because of 1 ppm ammonia. If you just added tiger barbs, that's the reason for the mini ammonia spike. If the tank was truly cycled before, your bacteria should catch up within a couple or three days and levels should even back out again. I would monitor every day or so for the next week though. If the ammonia increases much more, or if it doesn't go away in just a few days, then something is amiss, and you may need to do some water changes to keep the toxins at acceptable levels until the cycle does catch up.

pendragon!

 

[kev_kb]

Isn't ammonia toxic to fish at and above 1ppm??? I've been water changing to keep my level below that using fish to cycle, and they always appear happier and more active after a change.

 

[skimpy]

Isn't ammonia toxic to fish at and above 1ppm??? I've been water changing to keep my level below that using fish to cycle, and they always appear happier and more active after a change.

I agree, 1ppm would really worry me for my fish. I would do a water change at that level

 

[pendragon]

Well, yes and no. The toxicity of ammonia is directly dependant on the pH value of the water. At a pH of 7.4, a concentration of 1.0 ppm ammonia is only marginally 'danger' level, although it's not far off from being serious. 1.25 ppm is time to start worrying and 1.5 ppm is the 'take action immediately' range (at pH 7.4).

But no, all things considered, you'd rather it not be as high as 1.0 ppm (again, at 7.4 pH; at a lower pH 1.0 ppm would hardly be worth concerning yourself with); however, in a cycling tank it's going to involve a lot of water changing to keep it below that. IMHO, as long as you keep it limited to 1.0 ppm, you're probably okay as long as you don't have particularly delicate fish.

Having said that though, it is your aquarium; feel free to water change however frequently makes you feel comfortable. Your fish will appreciate it (they would appreciate zero ammonia), but the more frequently you water change the more likely you may delay the completion of the cycle.

pendragon!

 

[skimpy]

Well, yes and no. The toxicity of ammonia is directly dependant on the pH value of the water. At a pH of 7.4, a concentration of 1.0 ppm ammonia is only marginally 'danger' level, although it's not far off from being serious. 1.25 ppm is time to start worrying and 1.5 ppm is the 'take action immediately' range (at pH 7.4).

Hi Pendragon,

Just for the sake of understanding. If you had a high (say 8.0 PH) or Lower (say 7.0 PH) would the ammonia be more toxic with the higher or lower PH???

 

[pendragon]

Just for the sake of understanding. If you had a high (say 8.0 PH) or Lower (say 7.0 PH) would the ammonia be more toxic with the higher or lower PH???

As pH goes up (and to a much lesser extent, as temperature goes up), ammonia becomes more toxic very quickly. For example, at a completely neutral pH of 7.0 the 'deadly' range for ammonia is about 3.5 ppm. At a pH of 8.0 as little ammonia as 0.5 ppm is deadly serious (at pH 8.5 ammonia is deadly in practically any amount); but at pH of 6.5 ammonia is relatively safe up to around 10.0 ppm, unless you have very delicate fish.

For a better description, see the 'How Much Ammonia Is Too Much' portion of this FAQ.

If your water is slightly acidic, ammonia is much less of a concern for you than for someone (like me) who's water from the tap gravitates to the 8.0 range.

High pH = Ammonia highly toxic
Low pH = Ammonia less toxic

Hope that helps.

pendragon!

 

[skimpy]

Thanks for that - I found it very informative.