100% water change after about 4½ months??

Gill Passman wrote:
nut wrote:




Don't use any water treatment... so long as the bucket has been sitting
overnight all the chlorine in the water will have evaporated.

Although it is true that Chlorine will disapate naturally if water is
left to stand the same is not true of chloramines. If you water company
uses chloramines in your water it is essential that you use a suitable
water conditioner before adding the water into your tank. Personally, I
use it even though, at the moment, my Water Company does not use
chloramines as I prefer to be able to get the water change task done as
efficiently as possible without having buckets of water hanging around
overnight - but then I have 6 tanks - and the number of buckets required
for a water change on a 130g tank make this quite impractical....also
without checking my water company's website each time I change the water
I never know if they might have changed their policy on adding
chloramines....

Gill

That is an excellent point Gill!!

I am no longer in So Cal, but many water districts down there
(especially) in San Diego use chloramines for city water as they are
much more stable than chlorine, and much of the water in these places
is transported greater distances and stored longer before use.
I would use products such as Prime that removed the chlorine then
neutralized the ammonia by changing the ammonia from NH4 to NH3
(chloramines are chlorine bonded to ammonia), the NH3 is much less
toxic. Standard chlorine removing products will still break the
chlorine from the ammonia and remove the chlorine, but they leave the
ammonia in tact for your bio filter to deal with.
I understand not wanting to add chemicals to remove chlorine, but most
standard chlorine removers are simply Sodium Thiosulfate a relatively
harmless Reducing agent that is safely over dosed (of coarse in with in
reason).

Carl

The other thing I forgot to add is that some water also contains heavy
metals that can also be neutralised by the addition of a water
conditioner....When chosing a water conditioner it is good to check that
it has chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals covered - not all do (or
so I've heard) - a lot of conditioners also contain other stuff which
claim to benefit/promote fish health - don't know if they do or not....

Gill

I do not know about the UK, but here in this state they are required
to send out a report of the drinking water parameters quarterly with
all levels of whatever is found in it, as well as what is used or what
problems they encountered with any water supply sources. The also
tellyou from what source the water is being pulled fron, as there are
a few different sources (mainly deep wells or aquifiers) that are used
and on occassion they sometimes pull water from another water
company.

So its easy to see what the water we get has in it, and what levels
are found. Phospates and nitrates are not all that common in this
region as compared to some. When I lived up north heavy metals were a
problem, and lots of locations had high iron contents. Here its almost
non-existent....

On Sat, 06 Jan 2007 16:57:22 +0000, Gill Passman
wrote:

The other thing I forgot to add is that some water also contains heavy
metals that can also be neutralised by the addition of a water
conditioner....When chosing a water conditioner it is good to check that
it has chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals covered - not all do (or
so I've heard) - a lot of conditioners also contain other stuff which
claim to benefit/promote fish health - don't know if they do or not....

Gill



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

Tristan wrote:
I do not know about the UK, but here in this state they are required
to send out a report of the drinking water parameters quarterly with
all levels of whatever is found in it, as well as what is used or what
problems they encountered with any water supply sources. The also
tellyou from what source the water is being pulled fron, as there are
a few different sources (mainly deep wells or aquifiers) that are used
and on occassion they sometimes pull water from another water
company.

So its easy to see what the water we get has in it, and what levels
are found. Phospates and nitrates are not all that common in this
region as compared to some. When I lived up north heavy metals were a
problem, and lots of locations had high iron contents. Here its almost
non-existent....

On Sat, 06 Jan 2007 16:57:22 +0000, Gill Passman
wrote:

The other thing I forgot to add is that some water also contains heavy
metals that can also be neutralised by the addition of a water
conditioner....When chosing a water conditioner it is good to check that
it has chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals covered - not all do (or
so I've heard) - a lot of conditioners also contain other stuff which
claim to benefit/promote fish health - don't know if they do or not....

Gill



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

Here is a list of US Government standards for water, I often have
tested Nitrates above 25 ppm which this report shows a dangerous to
infants.
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/index.html

Carl

Tristan wrote:
I do not know about the UK, but here in this state they are required
to send out a report of the drinking water parameters quarterly with
all levels of whatever is found in it, as well as what is used or what
problems they encountered with any water supply sources. The also
tellyou from what source the water is being pulled fron, as there are
a few different sources (mainly deep wells or aquifiers) that are used
and on occassion they sometimes pull water from another water
company.

As far as the UK is concerned (and I'm aware) this information is
available mainly on the Water Company's website - it is not sent out to
consumers unless they request it....this might just be my water provider
though and not a general UK thing. I'm also not sure of the frequency of
the analysis - The last report I can find published for my area on
Drinking Water Quality is for 2005....

So I reckon I'll work on the better safe than sorry approach - even if
stuff does not appear in the report it doesn't mean that there might not
be the odd mishap and a bottle of water conditioner is an awful lot
cheaper than replacing all my livestock....

Gill

Gill Passman wrote:
Tristan wrote:
I do not know about the UK, but here in this state they are required
to send out a report of the drinking water parameters quarterly with
all levels of whatever is found in it, as well as what is used or what
problems they encountered with any water supply sources. The also
tellyou from what source the water is being pulled fron, as there are
a few different sources (mainly deep wells or aquifiers) that are used
and on occassion they sometimes pull water from another water
company.

As far as the UK is concerned (and I'm aware) this information is
available mainly on the Water Company's website - it is not sent out to
consumers unless they request it....this might just be my water provider
though and not a general UK thing. I'm also not sure of the frequency of
the analysis - The last report I can find published for my area on
Drinking Water Quality is for 2005....

So I reckon I'll work on the better safe than sorry approach - even if
stuff does not appear in the report it doesn't mean that there might not
be the odd mishap and a bottle of water conditioner is an awful lot
cheaper than replacing all my livestock....

Gill

I also have more information about tap water in this blog post:
http://aquarium-answers.blogspot.com...water-for.html

Carl

Thanks for all the help.. I feel much more knowledgeable about my
aquarium since the first post..

One more thing is I have this grey/white goop inside my filter case and
didn't know what it may be..

"JB" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks for all the help.. I feel much more knowledgeable about my
aquarium since the first post..

One more thing is I have this grey/white goop inside my filter case and
didn't know what it may be..
=====================
A bacterial film?
--
ZB....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

"Zëbulon" wrote in message
...

"JB" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks for all the help.. I feel much more knowledgeable about my
aquarium since the first post..

One more thing is I have this grey/white goop inside my filter case and
didn't know what it may be..
=====================
A bacterial film?

if so
look after it
and it will look after ya fish
tis all about growin the poo eatin bacteria hey

"swarvegorilla" wrote in message
...

"Zëbulon" wrote in message
A bacterial film?

if so
look after it
and it will look after ya fish
tis all about growin the poo eatin bacteria hey
===========================
I'm sure it's a bacterial film. It lines all my Aquaclears. I just rinse out
and visible crud and leave the film.
--
ZB....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Troll free pond and fish Forum:
http://www.karlsforums.com/forums/fo...ay.php?fid=104
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*