Do you "condition" your water...?

[bmxer4ever]

Reading a lot about water changes and the like here lately, and a lot of people seem to be using water straight from the tap with no treatment or conditioning. Huh? Don't you use something to remove chlorine/chloramines and other heavy metals from your tap water before introducing it to your fish?? Or does the tap water in your areas not have these things in it?
I've always used a drop of Stress Coat per bucket of tap water when doing my water changes. I'm thinking of getting hold of Tap Water Conditioner as it lasts longer.
What do you all do?

 

[Euge]

when i do water changes i just take out 20% to 40% of the water fill it back up. and treat the whole tank with a decholorinator like SeaChem's prime

 

[js302]

I do what u do. I think it's 5ml per 10gal.

A lot of people here "age" new water in a rubbermaid by bubbling air through it and heating it to the same temp as the tank for 24 hrs.

Most people do use dechlorinators unless they age their water, or have very low chlorine/chloramine tap water content, or do very small e.g 10% water changes.

 

[Potts050]

Ever wonder what hapens to those dechlor chemicals that you put into your tank?
Do they acumulate over time or breakdown? What happens to the chloramines once fixed by these chemicals once they begin to breakdown? Are some of the by products of water conditioner breakdown candidates for 'low dose mutual toxins'?
We can never know because the manufacturer of these products is not obligated to tell us whats in it.
Now I'm not sugesting that you stop using them completely. I use them in emergencies if I dont have any aged water around or am doing a major tank cleaning. Just dont rely on them. Aging water is better. If you leave it for a couple of days, the chlorine is gone and the chloramines will be taken up by your carbon filter.
Why tickle the dragon's tail by adding more chemstry than you have to.

 

[bmxer4ever]

Ever wonder what hapens to those dechlor chemicals that you put into your tank?
Do they acumulate over time or breakdown? What happens to the chloramines once fixed by these chemicals once they begin to breakdown? Are some of the by products of water conditioner breakdown candidates for 'low dose mutual toxins'?
We can never know because the manufacturer of these products is not obligated to tell us whats in it.
Now I'm not sugesting that you stop using them completely. I use them in emergencies if I dont have any aged water around or am doing a major tank cleaning. Just dont rely on them. Aging water is better. If you leave it for a couple of days, the chlorine is gone and the chloramines will be taken up by your carbon filter.
Why tickle the dragon's tail by adding more chemstry than you have to.

Interesting point and something I've been thinking about as well, hence why I only use a drop in every bucket now; trying to keep chemicals to a minimum, but worry that chlorine etc. would be worse. I do age water as well, but sometimes don't have enough, or need to do quick water change - hence the use of the water conditioners.... thanks for your input.

 

[Potts050]

If I'm not mistaken the water in your neck of the woods is low in dissolved minerals is it not? If your doing water changes of less than 20 % volume make up water then activated carbon filtration in your main tank will deal with the chloramines completely and permenantly.
Ideally one should age their water with activated carbon filtration anyway but this can be a lot of effort for some depending on how their setup. The reason I question you on hardness is that activated carbons tend to last longer and be more effective in waters that have less nutrient loads which is typical of softer water.

 

[js302]

That is very true.
What happens to heavy metals in aged water though?

 

[id10t]

At home I don't do anything - not even run it thru my water softener. Straight out of my well. Very low phosphates too, 2w/gal and no algae, but my java fern and java moss are lovin it.

At work, I use chlorout, lots of phosphates, but not too much algae.

 

[davo]

never used it, but our water source isnt too bad. just let the water stand for a bit. small but often waterchanges limits the changes

 

[JardiniBoy]

I used to until a long time fishkeeper here told me that he hadn't used any in about 10 years. He says (and this has been echoed by others that I know) that it's sudden changes in temp that kills fish when changing water.

I haven't used any for a few months now and so far so good. I just fill the tanks up really slowly. I change 40 - 60% once weekly..