Spring / Table Water

[Fishy_7]

In ASDA, saw battled "Spring Water" on the shelves for 17p for 2 litres. Anyone know what "spring water" means? I am thinking for the price, I could add this water to the tank instead of tap water if it is softer, contains no nitrates and no need to add any dechlorinator due to there being no chlorine? If I do a 10% water change each week, it will mean just over £1?

 

[Fishy_7]

In ASDA, saw battled "Spring Water" on the shelves for 17p for 2 litres. Anyone know what "spring water" means? I am thinking for the price, I could add this water to the tank instead of tap water if it is softer, contains no nitrates and no need to add any dechlorinator due to there being no chlorine? If I do a 10% water change each week, it will mean just over £1?

 

[MermaidMel]

Don't be so sure it doesn't haven't chlorine, you need to check the minerals list on the bottle, it may need dechlorinator still

 

[confusion]

Spring water is typically tap water. There's really no regulation on claims made by the bottled water companies.

But, some of them do treat the water. For those that do treat the water, the process is typically RO with some minerals added back in for taste.

 

[GuppyDude]

If you must buy water, get distilled. Otherwise buy dechlorinate and use your own water (unless there is something seriously wrong with it.)

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Different brands of "spring water" will have varied levels of mineral content. 10% water changes is a little low IMO, especially for an overstocked tank. For example...if you only change 10% a week, 8 weeks later you still ~43% of the "oldest" water left from the start of the 8 week period, but at 50% a week it would be less than .5% left. Now think of that "oldest water" being some chemical that accidentally got into your tank without your knowledge? Also consider what would happen if you had to do a large emergency water change months down the line after your gh/kh was more equaled out with the spring water. Then you'd either have to shell out a bunch of cash for a lot of spring water...or you'd have to worry about rapidly changing the kh/gh and pH of your tank water by using the tap (of course depending on how different the mineral content of the spring water is in comparison to your tap). There isn't anything wrong with using spring water (which has mineral content unlike distilled water), but just be aware of all the factors involved with it's usage.

If you must buy water, get distilled.

Distilled water should never be used alone in an aquarium. It is devoid of minerals which means that it has no buffer for pH, and lacks the minerals that fish need for proper health and growth. If distilled water is used in an aquarium it should only be used for topping up after evaporation, or for "cutting" tap water to reduce gh/kh.

 

[Teelie]

You can use distilled if you add back the minerals and other lost solubles. It's probably better to just use tap IMO as messing with the water chemistry is more a frustration than a solution.

 

[Fishy_7]

Thanks. I would definately like to see what it is in the water but there is no table on the side. Just best value water.

If it is RO water with minerals mixed in - should be better than tap? Looking at alternatives as the tap water in my area has quite a lot of nitrates present.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

How many nitrates is "quite a lot"?

 

[Fishy_7]

About 20PPM straight out of the tap

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

20 ppm isn't that bad at all, and isn't worth investing in other water sources to correct. If it was over 40 ppms then it might be worth it. The only reason I would go with a different water source would be if you needed to correct gh/kh and pH in preparation of planned breeding of some soft water species.