Water Changes - Ro Verses Tap Water

[TetraUk]

Hi all,

Going to be a long post, but please bare with me on this subject as I am keen to hear what everyones routines are!

I have been using RO for around 2 years in my 4ft and was converted over to RO when I started keeping Discus, after selling the Discus and re-scaping the aquarium I carried on with the RO.

Being in a rented house, I don't really fancy having an RO system plumbed in and so have to buy it in which costs £3.00 for 20L, I perform two water changes a week on the four foot both of around 20L a time i.e. spending £6 a week just on water changes + the cost of fuel.


Now looking at the possibility of changing back to standard water and wondered what everyones current routines were. When I was younger and we kept tropical's and we would fill a container with tap water and leave it over night for the chemicals to settle before doing the water changes the following day, never adding anything to the water. Friends currently use standard tap but add a dechlorination product such as Aqua Safe to it and use it immediately.


Thoughts please


Many thanks,

TetraUK

 

[DrRob]

You can plug an RO unit onto a washing machine point (y-splitter on the supply and a tap on the RO line), and then feed the drain line loose (ish) into a drain. Gets around the need for too much fitting.

For tap water I use Prime, and use it within a few minutes of adding.

 

[CezzaXV]

Most good dechlorinators should work instantly. As long as you folllow the instructions on the bottle you shouldnt need to wait.

As for the RO water, I would slowly begin to raise the ratio of tap to RO water so it doesn't shock you fish, but that's just me. Other people with more experience may or may not tell you different.

 

[Norwich keeper]

For years and years now I've just been filling a water butt or buckets with the water I will need for the water change and leaving to stand for a week. This give all the chlorine etc to disperse.

I store it out of sunlight with lid on and air holes.

I've never had a problem doing it this way.

Also the water will be warmer than just coming out of the tap as it has been sitting indoors all week.

 

[juggernuts]

water into bucket straight from tap straight to tank done..... not without wasting money on a RO unit i plummed outside then never used and its probably dead now

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I use a hose directly from the kitchen sink directly to the tank. I dechlorinate for the full volume of water, directly into the tank. Saves a lot of bucket carrying and lifting.


I would second the slowly acclimating your fish to tap. I would say that you could do it by just doing 5% water changes daily with tap only. Removing the water and refilling with tap only will slowly increase the minerals in the water. Of course, this assumes you have fish which are ok with more minerals in their water than discus.

 

[Devilish Angelfish]

Chlorine evaporates from water as soon as the water is exposed to air so leaving the water overnight to do this is really all you need. However, many water management bodies add other chemicals and trace minerals/metals to make the water suitable for human consumption - some of these are copper, ammonia, fluride and algae killers. You can get aquarium water additives to remove these. Living in Australia, our tap water is pretty good as far as fresh water tanks go - adding directly from the tap doesnt bother my fish at all (my corydoras went on a breeding spree after I did my last 20% water change) though I leave the water to sit overnight to deal with the chlorine. However, for my marine tanks, the tapwater carries a huge phosphate load and I'm currently struggling to solve this. Having said that, while my phosphate levels are very bad (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and ph all good), none of the fish, crustaceans, snails, corals or macro algaes seem to bothered by it - all act as they should and seem to be thriving. So I don't know whats with that.
I guess the water quality from your tap depends on what country you live in and what your governing body's standards are for filtration/additives. I know that there are fairly cheap filter systems that you can buy and attach to your taps so your water is filtered as you use the tap - these are aimed at people who dislike the fluride that our government insists added to our drinking water as a matter of course, though it filters out the other stuff too. Perhaps that is the least labor/cost intensive solution?

 

[TropicalJuwel]

I have 2 containers on wheels that hold about 80 litres, 1 remove while the other fills up in the bathroom, i have a small pump and 8 meters of tube that takes the water into the tank. I add api stress coat to remove chlorine and chloramine From what I've been told from people in the know and read from good sources is that leaving water to stand for a day only lets chloramine evaporate while chlorine does not, wether it does over the course of a week I wouldn't know and if different countrys have different levels of chlorine once again I dont know but for the sake of £20 for a 2 litre bottle off ebay, not having buckets of water laying around the house and being able to get the water at correct temp its just worth having the dechlorinator for me. I agree with slowly changing your water over from r/o water to tap as the extra hardness, nutrients and nitrate will all be a factor for your fish.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I have 2 containers on wheels that hold about 80 litres, 1 remove while the other fills up in the bathroom, i have a small pump and 8 meters of tube that takes the water into the tank. I add api stress coat to remove chlorine and chloramine From what I've been told from people in the know and read from good sources is that leaving water to stand for a day only lets chloramine evaporate while chlorine does not, wether it does over the course of a week I wouldn't know and if different countrys have different levels of chlorine once again I dont know but for the sake of £20 for a 2 litre bottle off ebay, not having buckets of water laying around the house and being able to get the water at correct temp its just worth having the dechlorinator for me. I agree with slowly changing your water over from r/o water to tap as the extra hardness, nutrients and nitrate will all be a factor for your fish.

You've got that backwards. The chlorine gas evaporates, while the chloramine does not. Chloramine is chlorine attached to an ammonium ion. This is more stable than chlorine and won't gas off, which is why it is being used now. Incidentally, it is the chloramines that when broken down by a dechlorinator produces ammonia (actually ammonium), which is then dealt with the filter bacteria when a water change is done.

 

[TropicalJuwel]

Yes sorry about that, after quickly writing that out I was more worried that I continually spelt chlorine wrong (was spelling chorline and chorlamine) that I corrected them and not have the right order of evaporation, my spelling isn't all that good at best of times. Did mean it to be chlorine evaporates but just me rushing, thank you for the correction. Although eaglesaquarium dont you go through alot of water condition treating for the whole tank each water change and doesn't treating the whole water with the conditioner harm the fish? Only say that because api says on there bottles to not over dose on the water conditioner.

 

[TetraUk]

Thanks for all the replies

It's great to read everyone's different methods and opinions on the subject...


Reading through the responses, would the best approach be to:

• Continue with the RO water changes of 20L once a week
• Start introducing TAP water changes of 5L on a differnt day on top of the 20L of RO, using dechlorinated tap water
• Slowly build up the amount of treated TAP water changes over the next few months whilst reducing the amount of RO.

Have I understood it correctly that you only add the treatment to the TAP water being added during the water change not the whole aquarium volume each time.

I have 20L RO tubs with screw lids, is there any issue with filling these and treating the water with the dechlorinating agent such as "Prime or even a cheaper store branded product" and then leaving them a day till they reach room temperature? Only I'm concerned with temperature shocks so normally allow all my water to rest and get to room temperature before introducing it to the tank.

Getting an RO system plumbed in or even teporailly conecting one isn't really feesable and using a hose through the house is a definate no no.. but I have to find another source as it's not just the cost but the hassle of lugging 40L of RO weekly from the LFS to home


Many thanks,

TetraUk

 

[TetraUk]

Bump...

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yes sorry about that, after quickly writing that out I was more worried that I continually spelt chlorine wrong (was spelling chorline and chorlamine) that I corrected them and not have the right order of evaporation, my spelling isn't all that good at best of times. Did mean it to be chlorine evaporates but just me rushing, thank you for the correction. Although eaglesaquarium dont you go through alot of water condition treating for the whole tank each water change and doesn't treating the whole water with the conditioner harm the fish? Only say that because api says on there bottles to not over dose on the water conditioner.

No, I don't go through that much dechlorinator. I have a 56G tank, but only 50G of it is actually water. The rest is substrate, decor, etc. So, I add the requisite amount for when I do a water change with the hose. Since I am not dechlorinating the water before it enters the tank directly, I have to add it before I start to fill it back up. I have used Tap Water Conditioner from API, I think. I've used Stress Coat+ and Prime. None of them have caused me any trouble. I'm not "overdosing". Doing this ensures that the active ingredient isn't used up by organics in the water before it has a chance to act on the chlorine and chloramine.

I buy the big bottles, and these last me 3 months or so. Prime lasts the longest, and is my primary dechlorinator of choice now.

Have I understood it correctly that you only add the treatment to the TAP water being added during the water change not the whole aquarium volume each time.

It depends on how you are refilling the tank. If you are using buckets, then yes, only add the amount of dechlorinator for the water you are adding to the tank. If you use a hose, like I do, then you add the dechlorinator directly to the tank for the total volume of the tank.

 

[TetraUk]

It depends on how you are refilling the tank. If you are using buckets, then yes, only add the amount of dechlorinator for the water you are adding to the tank. If you use a hose, like I do, then you add the dechlorinator directly to the tank for the total volume of the tank.

Thanks eagles, yes I will be using containers.

Going to start introducing small TAP water changes next week, but will keep up the RO and slowly reduce it over time as suggested.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

No problem. That's why we all come here, right?


Best wishes with your change over. I would suggest you keep a sharp eye for stress during this process. If you see some, you know what to do... STOP and let them settle in before proceeding any further.