Well Water...

[bundydude]

I live in a trailer park and our water is supplied by a well. I have not set up/started the aquarium yet, but I did have a small 5 gallon plastic hexagon tank that ran a year or so ago. The only fish in it was a male Betta. There was no heater, but it did have a air stone(no filteration). I aged the water for some time prior to any type of use and used a chlorine remover. The fishes fins were raged and tattered. Sometimes they would start to heal and become healthy, only to return to the unheathy state and eventually leading to it's death. So, before I start to run the 20 gallon tank that I have recently aquired, I was wondering...Is there a problem with using well water? And if so, what is the issue with it? I do not have a water testing kit to check and see if/what the problem could be/is. If anyone is familiar with using well water and/or it's issues to run a freshwater aquarium, please post and let me know what you think the problem may be, as I do not want to harm the fish or struggle with maintaining the tank. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing your opinions...

 

[fluttermoth]

There shouldn't be a problem with well water; if it's safe for you to drink it ought to be safe for fish. I think your problem is that fish can't really live with no filtration unless you're doing massive water changes on a very regular basis and i would never advise anyone to try it.

What will have killed your betta is a build up of ammonia and nitrite from the fish's wastes which would normally be made safe by good bacteria living in the filter.filtered water. Have a read of the articles on the nitrogen cycle in the beginner's resource centre; the link is in my sig. I would strongly advise you to save up and buy yourself a filter and, at the very least, an ammonia test if you want to keep fish.

 

[bundydude]

Fluttermoth, thank you so much, it's much appreciated. I definitely will have/use a filter for the 20 gallon that I'm going to set up soon. I know about the ammonia, etc...build up within the water. But, being that Betta'a are one of the few fish that can live in a bowl, I guess I figured that he would be o.k., forgetting the fact that there would be a build up of several toxens. I did partial water changes on a weekly basis and complete water changes/cleanings every pther month or so. Anyway, I will check out and read the articles/information you suggested and again, thank you for your time and consideration.

 

[Tolak]

Use a water conditioner (dechlorinator) that deals with heavy metals when using well water. Well water is often harder, with a higher pH, test your tap water & try to choose species accordingly.

Don't be surprised if you find readings of nitrite/nitrate in well water, this is from years of agricultural use of fertilizers that have traveled down over the years to the water table. This is often where heavy metal contamination can come from.