Using Water From My Hot Water Tap…

[newfishaddict]

I read in an aquarium book that you should never use water from your hot water tap in you aquariums because it could contain elements/minerals that could potentially hurt the fish (I think it was iron that was a concern, but it might have been something else).
Is this true? I live in Canada and now that it is winter the cold-water tap expels VERY cold water, and it takes a very long time for me to heat it up to my aquarium temperature. If I could mix the cold and hot water taps to the same temperature as my aquariums, it would save me allot of time….Any risk associated with using water from a hot water tap in an aquarium?

I should add that the hot water system in my apartment is one of those ones that heats the water upon demand, there is NO hot water tank….(I think the book I read was speaking about contamination from the hot water tank)

Any comments are appreciated…

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

I read in an aquarium book that you should never use water from your hot water tap in you aquariums because it could contain elements/minerals that could potentially hurt the fish (I think it was iron that was a concern, but it might have been something else).
Is this true? I live in Canada and now that it is winter the cold-water tap expels VERY cold water, and it takes a very long time for me to heat it up to my aquarium temperature. If I could mix the cold and hot water taps to the same temperature as my aquariums, it would save me allot of time….Any risk associated with using water from a hot water tap in an aquarium?

I should add that the hot water system in my apartment is one of those ones that heats the water upon demand, there is NO hot water tank….(I think the book I read was speaking about contamination from the hot water tank)

Any comments are appreciated…

For over two years me and my family have added hot water to help cause little stress to fish when doing water changes, and no problems have arisen. It might not be recommended by all, but it has been fine in all of my tanks with no clear deaths that have been proved to be associated with hot water.

 

[The-Wolf]

all my tanks are filled from my powershower, thus I mix hot and cold together to get almost the same temp as the tank. I have never had a problem doing this.

 

[sub.42]

Hiya

My water gets a hot 'boost' to bring it up to tank temp from my hot tap. I also have what we call a 'combi' boiler, ie, no hot store tank, and I have never had any problems, but there might be a few that say it's all wrong....

sub.

 

[rdd1952]

I usually let the water run for 30 seconds to a minute to "clear" the pipes so to speak. I don't think there is any problems with using mixing the hot and cold water to get the temp needed for water changes.

 

[Lexie3787]

I heard from a lot of "fish experts" that adding hot water is bad. It turns on teh water heater and puts other things into the water such as iron or something. I used it once a betta 10 gallon tank and the fish didnt last long.

 

[morgan]

I was advised on another forum (before I joined this one) not to use water from the hot tap as it could contain copper, lead, iron etc. I put some saucepans on the hob and heat cold water, it saves having to wait for the kettle all the time. I was also advised not to do water changes from Fri- Mon as the water companies put in extra chemicals for the weekend. That is true, my stepdad used to work for a water company and he said they do. Not sure if these two facts are important but I was told it very clearly so I don't use water from the hot tap. I think if you have the kind of boiler that heats up water as it goes through it is ok, it is only the sort where the water "sits" around for a while.

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

I was advised on another forum (before I joined this one) not to use water from the hot tap as it could contain copper, lead, iron etc. I put some saucepans on the hob and heat cold water, it saves having to wait for the kettle all the time. I was also advised not to do water changes from Fri- Mon as the water companies put in extra chemicals for the weekend. That is true, my stepdad used to work for a water company and he said they do. Not sure if these two facts are important but I was told it very clearly so I don't use water from the hot tap. I think if you have the kind of boiler that heats up water as it goes through it is ok, it is only the sort where the water "sits" around for a while.

Hmm.. I think most aquarium books use this as a precaution only to cover their backs. I have used hot water since I started fishkeeping, and it has never harmed any of my fish in any way.

 

[SamUK]

think im gonna buy one of those big plastic bins (for a kitchen or sumfin) and keep it speciafically for water changes for my tank.

then each morning of the day i want to do a water change i can fill it up.

chuck a heater in and let the water warm up.


the hot water tap in our house runs with a trickle so getting the water up to the right temp to put in the tank is tedious to say the least.

specially now i have 2 big tanks.

 

[rdd1952]

I was advised on another forum (before I joined this one) not to use water from the hot tap as it could contain copper, lead, iron etc. I put some saucepans on the hob and heat cold water, it saves having to wait for the kettle all the time. I was also advised not to do water changes from Fri- Mon as the water companies put in extra chemicals for the weekend. That is true, my stepdad used to work for a water company and he said they do. Not sure if these two facts are important but I was told it very clearly so I don't use water from the hot tap. I think if you have the kind of boiler that heats up water as it goes through it is ok, it is only the sort where the water "sits" around for a while.

If you live in a very old house, the copper might be an issue as it could have copper water pipes but most houses in the last 20 to 30 years have pvc pipes so it shouldn't be an issue. As I said earlier, if you let the hot water run for a minute or so before starting to fill your bucket/tank, you shouldn't have any problems. Any impurities in the tank will be washed out in that time frame. As for extra chemicals being added, I really don't see what the point of that would be. If it's something to make the water purer, does that mean we get unpure water the other part of the week. I have done water changes on every day of the week and also temper the water for water changes to match the tank temp by using hot water. I have had no problems at all.

 

[morgan]

We live in an old house. The tank that feeds the boiler is in the loft and all sorts gets in there! I did wonder if the other forum were being a bit fussy but they are far more experienced than me. We also have a 16ft well but I wouldn't use the water from there as it runs down from it's source past some market gardening place so it is probably full of nitrates. Useful for emergencies, like flushing the toilets when the water is cut off!

 

[thefishykid]

i have used hot water to top up my tanks and i have never had any problems i have done this for more than 2 years. so i cant see any problems with this. my house is over 100 years old and i dont know when they were last done.

 

[ccg]

I have been doing it for about 9 years now, and I still have a f ew fish around from when I started long ago... so it has not done any harm to my fish/tanks.

 

[Ami]

Our house is about 100 years old, so still copper pipes. I run both the hot and cold taps and then mix the water in my fish only bucket, so that it's at the right temperature, before adding ammo lock and sticking it in the tank.

Could always check the stats on both your hot and cold tap water to compare them I guess. Would be interesting to see your results.

Ami

 

[Tolak]

Been doing it for years without a problem.