Plastic tasting water in new tank / filter

[pjbates]

Hi,

I've just filled a new 48"x24"x16" tank. After a few days of running
with just the filter + heater the water tastes like plastic.

I ran the canister filter in the laundry sink with a few changes of
water for a day before attaching it to the tank.

I'm presuming the plastic taste is coming from the filter hoses / body,
maybe as i didn't clean them with warm water, just cold.

Should i empty the tank and start over? (it has no plants or fish) or
can something like activated carbon fix this?

Thanks for the advice.

[Mr. Gardener]

On 22 Feb 2006 07:35:26 -0800, "spiral_72" >
wrote:

>Nitrates: 2ppm
>Ammonia: 0
>pH: 7.2
>Temp: 78 F
>Carbonate hardness: 9dKH
>Taste: plastic
>
>......I should'a been a comedian
>
>Seriously though. You could change the water and likely not make a
>difference. The hardware in your (and mine) aquarium is mostly plastic,
>and plastic leaches stuff. If you would have boiled of rinsed the parts
>with hot water, I'd expect it to be even more plastic tasting. Don't
>concern yourself with it and enjoy the fish :)
>
>Ummmm, in addition to that....
>
>"I ran the canister filter in the laundry sink with a few changes of
>water for a day before attaching it to the tank."
>
>I'd be concerned here. If you run the canister filter using the laundry
>sink as the resevoir to hold water, you undoubtedly have soap residue
>in your filter. I don't have any idea how to fix that...... cycle
>vinegar water through there for a couple days with frequent water
>changes???? I dunno....... Good luck

This also ties in with an earlier thread on smelling our tanks to
check for health. We don't use our senses for much of anything, we
rely on chemicals and electronics to tell us how our tanks are doing.
Yet simply viewing, smelling, tasting, feeling and listening can tell
us volumes about the health of our fish.


-- Mr Gardener

[pjbates]

What i meant to say was that I ran the filter in a bucket of water only
used for the aquariums.
The bucket was in the sink however :)

Yes, soap would be bad.

So its not soapy, just plastic tasting.

I've had advice from some local forums to just ignore it, so I'll see
how that goes.
Just in case I've added some carbon to the filter. I'll see if that
gets rid of the taste, as plastic residue would be mainly organic
compounds.

[NetMax]

"pjbates" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> What i meant to say was that I ran the filter in a bucket of water only
> used for the aquariums.
> The bucket was in the sink however :)
>
> Yes, soap would be bad.
>
> So its not soapy, just plastic tasting.
>
> I've had advice from some local forums to just ignore it, so I'll see
> how that goes.
> Just in case I've added some carbon to the filter. I'll see if that
> gets rid of the taste, as plastic residue would be mainly organic
> compounds.


In the manufacturing of plastic parts, release agents are used so prevent
sticking to the moulds (this might be your odour). For this reason, the
use of activated carbon is highly recommended for breaking in new plastic
equipment such as filter systems (which is usually not a problem as many
come with carbon included).
--
www.NetMax.tk