Kettle Scales

[Fish_Man43]

Hello

Just done a water change and noticed kettle scales at the bottom of the bucket so looked in my kettle and have some in there, so will it harm the fish and i'm off to buy a new kettle

 

[SchottayB]

I don't think so. But i'm not 100% sure. Most kettle's get them, just rinse the kettle befor using it for water changes.

Plus most, if not all kettles have a netting / filter on them where you pour the water out.. that should stop most of it.

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

Why are you using water from the kettle?

 

[Fish_Man43]

Why are you using water from the kettle?

To get it to about the same temp as the tank!

 

[walkers101]

nothing wrong with doing that make sure you are declorinating the water as you go

 

[Fish_Man43]

nothing wrong with doing that make sure you are declorinating the water as you go

Always do

 

[SchottayB]

Why are you using water from the kettle?

Easiest way to get the temp the same as the tank... I thought?

 

[Truck]

There's no need to temperature match with water changes of 30% or less in volume, with larger changes just use the hot tap.

 

[jacko32]

lol just use the hot tap thats the easiest way

 

[Anna Robinson]

Traditionally people used the kettle because domestic hot water tap supplies sometimes come from hot tanks, and may have higher levels of dissolved metals like copper in them. There's debate about how important this is, but if your hot water comes straight off the mains and is then heated as it flows out, as happens in a lot of modern boilers, this shouldn't be a problem anyway.

Kettle scale is only calcium carbonate, so shouldn't do any harm unless in massive quantities, where it might raise pH and hardness.

 

[kaivalagi]

I used to be concerned about using hot water which comes from an old style boiler as in my home, but I since discovered that using most dechlorinaters solve the issue with metals...or so I am told, no problems so far. it is just so much easier, especially with a bigger tank, to mix the hot and cold taps to roughly the right temp for big water changes using a python type gadget. Filter off, water out, water in, dechlorinater in, wait a few minutes then filter back on.

If you don't want the scales in the tank just pour it through a metal sieve

 

[Fish_Man43]

Always thought about using hot water tap but people say don't use it as it's as copper and i was brought up with the saying never drink from a hot water tap so this as stuck in my mind

 

[Fish_Man43]

There's no need to temperature match with water changes of 30% or less in volume, with larger changes just use the hot tap.

This is true but if the fish are anything like be any difference in water temp they will notic lol as i can't go to the swimming pool unless it's same temp as me but thinks it make the fish happy putting the same tamp back in the tank

 

[waterdrop]

I agree with Anna Robinson's answer, about both topics.

kaivalagi, I think for the most part you are right that the large majority of cases in homes are ok but actually I don't think the ability of conditioners to deal with heavy metals is likely to completely cover the case of a hot water system that is putting a lot of copper or lead into the water - those are worse cases than it can handle I believe (although I could be wrong) and I believe that's partly why this is still a valid topic that comes up on a regular basis. It has a lot of answers for the many and varied house situations that people have.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Truck]

There's no need to temperature match with water changes of 30% or less in volume, with larger changes just use the hot tap.

This is true but if the fish are anything like be any difference in water temp they will notic lol as i can't go to the swimming pool unless it's same temp as me but thinks it make the fish happy putting the same tamp back in the tank

It rains in the wild and the temperature of the lake or river in which the fish are living can drop quite considerably, doing a cold water change is beneficial to many species as it promotes breeding and imitates a natural habitat.