What Water To Use?

[furryrabbit]

shoul i be using the water from the boiler in the bathroom ( 4 washing hands ) - or the water from downstairs wwhich is for drinking water? is there a diff , so far i've been using the boiler water but would this be bad 4 the fish

 

[andywg]

Most water for older heating systems sits in a header tank before getting heated. The problem is with contaminants (such as insects, or animal faeces) getting into the water and fouling it prior to using it.

 

[dgwebster]

not only that but you can also end up with higher concentrations of minerals, increased water hardness etc. from boiler heated water. fresh cold tap water straight from the pipes with kettle boiled water if you need to increase the temp. imo anyway.

 

[mark.w.jones]

shoul i be using the water from the boiler in the bathroom ( 4 washing hands ) - or the water from downstairs wwhich is for drinking water? is there a diff , so far i've been using the boiler water but would this be bad 4 the fish

If you are worried you have a couple of options:

1. Microwave 3litre squash bottle of cold water which comes straight off the mains (only if you have a small tank mind.) This is what I do for my 10 gal UK
2. Buy a spare heater to warm up a bucket / fish tank / bin of water over night.
3. Boil water in kettle / pan to mix with cold water in a bucket. (Neither of which is particularly recommended as contamination or limescale can be a problem.

 

[dgwebster]

hehe no limescale here....

 

[andywg]

To be honest, there is no real need to heat the water before putting it in anyway. I just pump the water straight from the mains into the tank.

 

[dgwebster]

i dunno in winter my tap water can come out a little above zero. 5 or 6 deg is not uncommon.

i personally like to let the water sit from the previos day, though not always possible.

 

[andywg]

On a 10% change on a 24 degree tank, putting in 0 degree water will lower the temp at worst to 21.6 degrees. This is a change that almost any freshwater fish can take for a short term.

 

[dgwebster]

though ive found most people tend to change more than 10% - i myself do 20-25%

 

[andywg]

Putting 20% 0 degree water in a 24 degree tank would drop it by 4.5 degrees, a change a fair few fish could hack, and this is an impossible situation as the water will go in at a fair amount higher than 0 and so the change will be less.

I make a 20% water change at 6 degrees take the water down from 24 to 20.4. Again, nothign too serious to worry about. And this negates the effects of the heater, other things in the tank raising temperature (lights, pumps etc) and the fact that the water will not be able to all enter the tank at once and react with all the other water instantly.

Edit -

Forgot to add, I often do 30% and more on my larger tanks and have found the water to drop by no more than 3 degrees by the thermometer.

 

[dgwebster]

ok.

just one thing id like you to try out.

Go in the bath.

set water temp to 24C
put some ornaments in it, leave light on etc.
stay in it for 20 minutes.
have someone pour a bucket of 20C water in your bath.

do you like it?

I dont disagree about the fact that a fair few fish are comfortable in the extremes of the temp etc etc. Its mostly to do with would i be comfortable if someone did that to me? is it a nice thing to do?

IMO: no

 

[furryrabbit]

ok so.....i think i'll --- take water straight from the pipes , leave it sit for two days and then do a 25% water change , sound ok?

 

[dgwebster]

i think ultimately the agreeable advice is:

dont use your hot water water.

take it fresh from the cold tap.

you can leave for a day or two to warm up, settle down, even get rid of some chlorine.
you can add some boiled water to bring temp up quicker.
you can add it in cold, so long as your fish arent super sensitive and ***** slap you for chucking a bucket of cold water in their bath

 

[andywg]

ok.

just one thing id like you to try out.

Go in the bath.

set water temp to 24C
put some ornaments in it, leave light on etc.
stay in it for 20 minutes.
have someone pour a bucket of 20C water in your bath.

do you like it?

I dont disagree about the fact that a fair few fish are comfortable in the extremes of the temp etc etc. Its mostly to do with would i be comfortable if someone did that to me? is it a nice thing to do?

IMO: no

However we react entirely different to a change in temperature as we utilise energy from food in order to maintain a constant internal body temperature. We are designed to resist sudden changes in temperature, not to mention the fact that we are not aquatic. A better example would be to have a room heated to 24 degrees and have a 20 degree draft coming in, most would not find that awful.

A fish's metablolism is guided by the water temperature. If it is warmer the fish will be more active, grow quicker and need to eat more, cooler adn it will just slow down a bit. What do you think happens when it rains and the colder water from the mountains starts running into the rivers? It gets colder.

And if the fish really don't like the colder water, why do all of mine head over and swim under the hosepipe to see what's around and hang out? If they really didn't like it they would get one hint of it and run to the other end of the tank.

 

[Tolak]

It depends on your system of hot water heating & storage. The type with boiler heated water gravity fed from an open storage tank above the living area is a bad idea for fish. The type of system that uses boiler heated water that is recirculated by your heating system, then used as hot tap water probably isn't much better.

The systems with a water heater with tap water kept under pressure, heated, and used only as tap water is generally safe to use, as long as the water heater is properly maintained. I have this sort of system, and have been using heated water for years, without a problem. I do large water changes, 50 to 80%, on tanks that are 80F to 84F. Using cold tap water which is 50F or less with water changes of that amount would be a bad idea.

I have also heard that hot water tends to dissolve metals out of pipes. While this may be a concern with newer plumbing, especially copper, any scale buildup in older plumbing would seal off the metal pipes from the water flow. I have 50 year old galvanized supply pipes, they aren't a problem.