Omg What Have I Done?!?!

[mattyd1701]

right topping up me tank after some of the water had gone and i was just about to dechlorinate the water then the phone rang came back 10 - 15 minutes later, and i just put the water in. i never dechlorinated it!! it was only about half a litre what can i do whats gonna happen !?!?!

 

[colleen0309]

Add the dechlor directally to the tank.

 

[mattyd1701]

that was my first thought of doing is it safe to do with my betta in there? shouldnt harm him will it?

 

[Gytas]

no it will not harm him and many people acc do it that way... just make sure to put in the right amount...

 

[colleen0309]

I wouldn't pour it directally over the fish, but it shouldn't hurt them. I add the dechlor to the tank while refilling with the hose and have never had a problem.

 

[Dan-CR4]

+1 on adding directly to the tank while filling the tank with a hose. Used this method for 18 months and not had any trouble.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

As a rule it never hurts to dilute stuff with some tank water before pouring it into a tank. Then when you pour it into the tank, pour it across the surface as opposed to pouring it all in the same spot.

 

[laura120381]

make sure to dose enough for the ENTIRE tank rather than just the amount of non dechlorinated water you added. it will not harm your fish.

L.

 

[the_lock_man]

right topping up me tank after some of the water had gone and i was just about to dechlorinate the water then the phone rang came back 10 - 15 minutes later, and i just put the water in. i never dechlorinated it!! it was only about half a litre what can i do whats gonna happen !?!?!

If it's only half a litre of chlorinated water, and the aquarium is of a decent size, then I don't think any harm will come, as the chlorine will be so diluted. But if you want to pop some dechlor in as a precaution, then follow the advice above.

 

[This Old Spouse]

right topping up me tank after some of the water had gone and i was just about to dechlorinate the water then the phone rang came back 10 - 15 minutes later, and i just put the water in. i never dechlorinated it!! it was only about half a litre what can i do whats gonna happen !?!?!

If it's only half a litre of chlorinated water, and the aquarium is of a decent size, then I don't think any harm will come, as the chlorine will be so diluted. But if you want to pop some dechlor in as a precaution, then follow the advice above.

+1
Half a litre? I wouldn't think that would do any harm at all.

 

[Tizer]

"half a litre"

seriously?

wtbbqplz

 

[snake007]

"half a litre"

seriously?

wtbbqplz

 

[eaglesaquarium]

agreed. That small dose of chlorine or chloramine in the water won't do a bit of anything to the tank, plus the delay of putting it in the tank helped some of the minuscule amount of chlorine gas leave on its own anyway.


0.5L to 23L is only about a 2% increase.


One thing I will mention though, generally it is better not to "top off" for the water that has evaporated, but rather to leave it be until the next scheduled water change, then remove whatever amount you normally do (I generally do 30%) and then just refill with water back to your desired amount. Constantly refilling for the evaporated is not helpful to the fish. They are still swimming around in the nitrates, etc. that are in the tank, as these don't evaporate with the water. Leaving the level fall until the next scheduled water change will help keep you honest about doing the water changes, which are a vital part of fishkeeping, ESPECIALLY in smaller tanks. Water chemistry is so important and can easily swing on you in a hurry with such a small volume of water. If you haven't been removing water, but merely topping up for a while, chances are that your tank water and tap water parameters are quite a bit different. If that is in fact the case, a large water change would be more detrimental than beneficial. The remedy for that is a lot of small volume water changes, roughly 10% per day for a week should be enough to get it back in line to the point where a 30-50% water change wouldn't actually be dangerous.

 

[trianglekitty]

agreed. That small dose of chlorine or chloramine in the water won't do a bit of anything to the tank, plus the delay of putting it in the tank helped some of the minuscule amount of chlorine gas leave on its own anyway.


0.5L to 23L is only about a 2% increase.


One thing I will mention though, generally it is better not to "top off" for the water that has evaporated, but rather to leave it be until the next scheduled water change, then remove whatever amount you normally do (I generally do 30%) and then just refill with water back to your desired amount. Constantly refilling for the evaporated is not helpful to the fish. They are still swimming around in the nitrates, etc. that are in the tank, as these don't evaporate with the water. Leaving the level fall until the next scheduled water change will help keep you honest about doing the water changes, which are a vital part of fishkeeping, ESPECIALLY in smaller tanks. Water chemistry is so important and can easily swing on you in a hurry with such a small volume of water. If you haven't been removing water, but merely topping up for a while, chances are that your tank water and tap water parameters are quite a bit different. If that is in fact the case, a large water change would be more detrimental than beneficial. The remedy for that is a lot of small volume water changes, roughly 10% per day for a week should be enough to get it back in line to the point where a 30-50% water change wouldn't actually be dangerous.

Just to clarify...

My 10 gallon tank does get a little low and I do top it off. But I'm very committed to my weekly water change schedule. Other than the mindset of "oh, it can wait another day" described above (and I do understand what you're saying and how easily that could happen), there's no harm in topping off, is there? I do it because there's floss over the water outlet, and when the water level drops even a little the water makes more of a splash and the betta gets annoyed.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

As long as you continue to do the proper water changes, there is no danger in topping off. The danger only comes when the aquarist tops off INSTEAD of regular water changes.

I mentioned this only because the OP didn't mention anything about water change routine, and I wanted to put the information out there.