Oxygenating Water

[newfishaddict]

Hi, I am wondering how long a bucket of water takes to "get oxygenated"?

I am thinking a common 5galon pail filled to about 4g...

I am asking because someone told my friend that if she stirs her water for a few minutes that that will oxygenate the water.

I suspect it would take much longer than that...

 

[freddyk]

If the water is simply sitting in the pail then it will never get oxygenated, there needs to be continuous surface movement. Running an air stone in it for a couple of hours will do the job.

 

[Torrean]

What's the purpose of oxygenating water in a bucket? If you want to remove chlorine I'd just add some dechlorinator. Many commercial dechlorinators remove chlorine and neutralize chloramines and heavy metals.

 

[Conqueror]

^^^ yup. Purposefully "oxygenating" your water is pointless. The only benefit is that it removes chlorine, but you could do the same job better and in less time with a few drops of dechlorinator.

If you're just oxygenating it so the fish can breathe, quit wasting your time. The simple act of filling the bucket with a hose or faucet will oxygenate it plenty to be poured right into the aquarium once it's dechlorinated.

CQ

 

[Bignose]

If the water is simply sitting in the pail then it will never get oxygenated, there needs to be continuous surface movement.

That statement is not exactly correct. The oxygen-water system will always be driven towards equilibrium. So, even with no surface movement, some oxygen will always enter water, if there is less oxygen than the equilibrium point. The rate at which oxygen will enter the water will be less, possibly lot less, but the rate will definitely not be zero.

Now, the act of pouring water into the bucket, stirring in some dechlorinator, and pouring that water into a tank should be more than enough. Water from city taps should be pretty close to saturated with oxygen. Water treatment plants will sometimes add CO2 to water (which is why you should let the water sit out for a while before testing your taps' pH), but the extra CO2 in the water really does not change the amount of O2 the water can hold. (I cannot say 'has no effect' because that is probably not exactly right, but I would bet it changes the saturation point less than a few hundredths of a percent.)

The only thing I can think of would be if you are on a well system and the well is very very very deep. Even then, if the water coming up is devoid of O2, oxygen would enter the water very quickly. It may not saturate with oxygen really quickly, but I would bet like 80-90% saturation again just by splashing it around. The thing is, it takes very unnatural situations to get the air out of water, and I have never heard of anyone killing their fish with underoxygenated water from their taps.

 

[newfishaddict]

What's the purpose of oxygenating water in a bucket? If you want to remove chlorine I'd just add some dechlorinator. Many commercial dechlorinators remove chlorine and neutralize chloramines and heavy metals.

The point is that when you dump the bucket of water into the tank, the water will be high in oxygen. I would think especially important if doing large water changes.

If the water is simply sitting in the pail then it will never get oxygenated, there needs to be continuous surface movement.

That statement is not exactly correct. The oxygen-water system will always be driven towards equilibrium. So, even with no surface movement, some oxygen will always enter water, if there is less oxygen than the equilibrium point. The rate at which oxygen will enter the water will be less, possibly lot less, but the rate will definitely not be zero.

Now, the act of pouring water into the bucket, stirring in some dechlorinator, and pouring that water into a tank should be more than enough. Water from city taps should be pretty close to saturated with oxygen. Water treatment plants will sometimes add CO2 to water (which is why you should let the water sit out for a while before testing your taps' pH), but the extra CO2 in the water really does not change the amount of O2 the water can hold. (I cannot say 'has no effect' because that is probably not exactly right, but I would bet it changes the saturation point less than a few hundredths of a percent.)

The only thing I can think of would be if you are on a well system and the well is very very very deep. Even then, if the water coming up is devoid of O2, oxygen would enter the water very quickly. It may not saturate with oxygen really quickly, but I would bet like 80-90% saturation again just by splashing it around. The thing is, it takes very unnatural situations to get the air out of water, and I have never heard of anyone killing their fish with underoxygenated water from their taps.

I have read that tap water is low in dissolved o2....? You disagree apparently...

^^^ yup. Purposefully "oxygenating" your water is pointless. The only benefit is that it removes chlorine, but you could do the same job better and in less time with a few drops of dechlorinator.

If you're just oxygenating it so the fish can breathe, quit wasting your time. The simple act of filling the bucket with a hose or faucet will oxygenate it plenty to be poured right into the aquarium once it's dechlorinated.

CQ

Well, I see allot of controvosy on this topic...

There is no chlorine in my tap water, it reacts with almost any organic matter very quickly and is not present at my tap at all.

Chloramine is in my tap water at 2ppm and is stable for 6 weeks....As is the case in most tap water in North America anyway....

I have read that tap water is lower in oxygen than tank water....

I am going to test myself and see...

 

[newfishaddict]

What's the purpose of oxygenating water in a bucket? If you want to remove chlorine I'd just add some dechlorinator. Many commercial dechlorinators remove chlorine and neutralize chloramines and heavy metals.

I just thought this too....

If you do not use a dechlorinator that neutralizes ammonia, you should age your water. Because when the chlorine is broken down by a dechlorinator , ammonia is produced. Aging your water will make you require less dechlorinaor and thus produce less ammonia when dechlorinating. This is all assuming your dechlorinator does not neutralize ammonia, I use Prime and it does neutralize ammonia.