Water Conditioner Question

Liquid skills · Feb 14, 2012

Well basically I have no money and I was woundering instead of conditioner for water changes can I use filter jug water instead??? Obviously it will be filtered ???

SaTiVa1984 · Feb 14, 2012

Liquid skills said:
Well basically I have no money and I was woundering instead of conditioner for water changes can I use filter jug water instead??? Obviously it will be filtered ???

I believe if you leave the freshwater in a bucket for 24 hours with an airstone it will dissipate all the chlorine, however it is not the same if you have chloramine in your tap water, this takes 14 days or more..

Someone please correct me if im wrong.

Liquid skills · Feb 14, 2012

But will filtered water be ok to use ?

SaTiVa1984 · Feb 14, 2012

Not sure, maybe it will depend on the filter pad/media type in your jug?

Maybe if you looked at HMA filters to see what type of media it uses and which removes chlorine, then see what type your filter jug uses?

"At the heart of the filter is the HMA multimedia carbon. This element is a multimedia resin based cartridge which removes chlorine and large percentages of dissolved metals"

Liquid skills · Feb 14, 2012

Shah k I'll do that tomorrow all I know now is that it's Brita filter pad ( narrows it down I know

)

Noahs ark6 · Feb 14, 2012

Do you mean filtered with a sponge from the aquarium filter? if so no. The chlorine in the water will kill the beneficial bacteria in the sponge and render it useless. The only other method i know is as above, leaving it in a bucket with an airstone in. However it doesnt get rid of chloramine and heavy metals. Don't you have a friend that can lend you some. If not theres a brand called king british that sell realy realy cheap water conditioner

SaTiVa1984 · Feb 14, 2012

Just found this on their website:

# What does a BRITA filter remove from the water?

The majority of BRITA cartridges improve the taste and appearance of tap water by reducing:

* Limescale (temporary hardness)
* Chlorine
* Lead
* Copper
* Pesticides

It does say Reducing tho

Their FAQ page is Here

Noahs ark6 said:
Do you mean filtered with a sponge from the aquarium filter? if so no. The chlorine in the water will kill the beneficial bacteria in the sponge and render it useless. The only other method i know is as above, leaving it in a bucket with an airstone in. However it doesnt get rid of chloramine and heavy metals. Don't you have a friend that can lend you some. If not theres a brand called king british that sell realy realy cheap water conditioner

No he means the water filters you can use to make tap water taste the same lol

Noahs ark6 · Feb 14, 2012

Link to king british conditioner

ShinySideUp · Feb 14, 2012

Liquid skills said:
Well basically I have no money and I was woundering instead of conditioner for water changes can I use filter jug water instead??? Obviously it will be filtered ???

We used to have a Brita filter to soften the water and save the kettle but the filter media was so expensive that we gave up. Assuming nothing has changed I would stop buying Brita filter media and buy Seachem Prime instead, I think you'll find it far, far cheaper. 250ml of Prime will cost about £8 and 5ml will treat 200 litres of water so a 250ml bottle wil treat 10,000 litres of water! How many Brita filters will you have to buy to treat that much water? :crazy:

Essjay · Feb 15, 2012

Try testing the water in a brita jug. Mine dropped my pH from 7.2 to 6.0 or below as that's the lowest the tester can measure. This was comparing freshly drawn tap water with freshly filtered water. This is because the filter replaces the ions that make water hard with hydrogen ions, and the more hydrogen ions, the lower the pH.
The brita filter also dropped my GH from 9 to 6 and my KH from 4 to zero.

So not only a very low pH but also no buffering capacity from brita filtered water.

I'll leave the choice up to you

MBOU · Feb 15, 2012

As a one off,id use Brita Filtered water for a water change if i had no dechlorinator but to be honest, its seriously easy stuff to pick up so dont see why you'd need to...