Hot Tap

[george4]

HI is there any reason why i cant fill my tropical tank with water from my warm tap ?

thank you

 

[rowdyburns21]

The main reason is because a domestic hot water storage system relies on the cold water passing through either a tank or an element for it too become hot, storage tanks tend to build up a lot of nasty metals and gases in the tank so the water has higher level contaminants, same goes with an element. hot water pipes will build up limescale and other residues which will come out in the water, all in all hot tap water is no good.

 

[Squidman]

The water may be to hot or cold or the water may contain stuff that is bad for the fish. You can treat the tap with water conditioners to make it safe for the fish

 

[chr15_8]

depends if you have a hot water storage tank.

i dont it comes form the mains though the boiler and out. ive used the hot and cold mixer tap for water changes, ive used it for about a year now and ive never had any problems with health


chris

 

[Ian H]

i use mostly cold water then some hot water from the kettle

 

[shang hi]

i always use cold water only and put in in a bucket with a lid untill it gets to room temprature (about 24hours needed) and ive never had a problem with it.

 

[chr15_8]

as u i saud i use the hot tap mainly due to the fact i use to do 50% water changes on my planted. i beleive if i was to add 90+litres of cold water at once it would shock the fish to much (that was is summer so the winter it will be even colder!)

 

[Darkerwhite2]

I think the reason that some say not to use your hot water is just like said above with the hot water tank building up contaminants in the water, i think mostly it changes the hardness of the waterand the ph also some of the metals that build up in the tank can be harmful to your fish... Because of this i manly use water from the cold tap and when i do larger changes i let the water sit and also use a small amount of hot water...
A good idea might to be test your hot water vs the cold water and see if the hardness and ph are very different. unfortunalty i dont know of any tests to do for individual metals that could be harmful.

 

[Tolak]

From what I've seen it depends on your hot water system. Around here stand alone hot water heaters are the norm, with a storage tank of 35 gallons on up for residential use. If you maintain these properly there is no adverse effect on fish. I have one of these, and use a hot/cold mix on everything from fry tanks to large growout tanks. Everyone else I know does the same, with no problems.

I do know some hot water systems are hooked imto the heating system via a boiler, or have an open stand alone storage tank above the living areas. I could see some problems with these, such as water constantly being recirculated in a boiler system before use, as well as bugs or other creatures getting into an open storage tank.