Don't you love roadblocks in the hobby?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
PDRed302 said:
Man that sucks to hear.

Good luck with re-homing your fish as well as keeping your favorites. Maybe something like a carbon filter on your tap would be enough to keep up with water changes at the new smaller scale, after downsizing.
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Thanks. I've actually started putting filter socks filled with carbon back into my power filters. For years I didn't use it unless I needed to pull medication out of the water but now it seems to be worth a shot. It does at least pull the color out of the water after a few days. Maybe I need to set up some storage barrels and age the water with a carbon filter for a few days and see if that improves anything. It's still a lot of water to store considering my tanks are mostly 150s now. :(
 
ryansmith83 said:
The water also comes out of the tap really warm. :( I got on a local message board for my city and posted about it, and other people had the same issues. None of them are fish keepers though, so they all just said things like, "We just buy bottled water." No one seems to be upset or worried about it.

I called a few people about independent lab testing but most of them want $100 - 200 to run a full analysis on it. Some told me I could take it to the health department, but all they'll tell you is whether it's safe to drink. They told me they wouldn't give me any kind of break-down on what's in it. My city's website claims the discoloration is from "anti-corrosive agents added to maintain the transmission lines" but that it's perfectly safe. I certainly don't drink or cook with it.
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If you are on a well system you will need to test the water yourself, but if you have tap water supplied by a local water district they would have testing results that are required by state law. Contact them to get a copy.
My guess is your aquifer is low from the drought affecting most of the state. Our well water is affected seasonally with fluctuations in iron, sulfur, and oxygen content. These can be pretty devastating if you do big water changes. Our local water district tap water changes over time also, we now have salt in our tap water at much higher levle than normal. Oh, the tap water is hot if you have city water because it gets hot in the water tower and also in the water lines. Well water should come out of the ground a bit cooler, but can heat up in your expansion tank.
Hope this helps.
Oliver
 
Oliver, our city does post their yearly water reports online but nothing looks out of the ordinary. There's a low level of nitrate in the water and all the other typical parameters you'd test for (pH, ammonia, nitrite, hardness, etc.) are the same as they've been since I moved into my house three years ago. But there's obviously something there that I can't test for. When I first moved in here I had consistently clean, clear water and my fish thrived. Some time in the winter of 2010 I started noticing the yellow water. It'd come and go for a week at a time. When warm weather came in the spring of 2011, it cleared up and didn't start again until around December 2011. I figured it was something they were adding to the lines in cold weather and assumed it'd go away when spring came. Here we are in late July and it's still terrible. In fact, it's worse than it ever has been.

I also notice that city utility trucks have been out in the area blowing off water from the fire hydrants. Apparently they're flushing the lines. This is usually followed by a week of the water being extremely chlorinated (you can smell it out of the tap or when you lift a toilet lid) and fluorescent-hued, then it goes back to being yellow.

I do notice that it's worse when we're in drought conditions. The only time my water has been good this year is during that two weeks of nearly constant rain about a month or two ago. Even then the water was only clear and clean for about a week, then back to being dark yellow and cloudy...
 
I think they are required to post an annual report, but the actual testing is done more frequently. See if you can get a copy of the more recent testing results. Also ask about any changes in their water treatment process. For a while our water was yellowish and had a different smell when they added a new filtration process to get rid of trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids. Then it got dark when they were replacing sections of water lines and flushing them. Do you test your tap water for DO, ammonia, pH?
Is it feasible for you to aerate and run carbon through batches of water in a rubbermaid trash bin for water changes? If you can run a small pump or airstone and a sock filter of carbon in a 50 gallon bin for a few days it should help level out the fluctuations. I lost all the fish in a 125 last summer because of extremely low dissolved oxygen in our well water.
 
Sorry for your troubles. Our water company posted an E. coli warning this morning, every restaurant west of the river basically shut down. Now I also have to worry about them re-routing the water sources and fluctuating from what the fish are used to when the warning is lifted. Probably increased chloramine content as well.


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Ryan, try filtering one of your tanks through a DE filter. In another (canister) filter use Pete and carbon in that order. That should remove whatever they put in the water and is a cheaper option than RO. You could then set up a holding tank and filter it with DE before doing a water change, some small pool DE filters are great for this and only cost a couple hundred bucks. Run a few tubs of water for about 8 hours before you do a water change. The pete will help remove some "bad stuff" add some "good stuff" back and the carbon will remove the yellow tint so you can monitor the results. I think DE, pete and carbon is worth a shot here.
 
i had a similar problem when i lived back in trinidad and tobago. mind you I was 11yrs old with a childs logic but supportive parents. the idea was a bit simplistic and extreme but it was within my means. luckily i had 5 or 6 tanks and a small elevated concrete pond but none held over 60 gallons. i had a lot of space so i got an old plastic water tank, the kind we used to supplement our water supply for our entire household as our water supply would from time to time be absent, hooked it up to the supply so the water can sit/age/and be constantly filtered by 3 huge carbon filters and had it capture rainwater when possible. it eliminated that brown tap fish killing water problem for me.....i submitted this knowing i will look like a complete simpleton but i just wanted to show you there are low cost/low tech alternatives you can do...they may entail some work but you don't strike me as someone who shys away from that
 
Man, I'm really sorry about the problems you're having with your water quality and the health of your fish. I've only dealt with municipal water problems temporarily a few years ago. I did lose an Argentea during that time but that was it. I hope you find an answer to your situation in some of the very helpful posts in this thread. I know that the costs of running an RO system can be pricey. Maybe the cheaper solutions will be just as efficient. I've always admired your stock and hate to see you lose it. Don't give up! You'll figure things out and bounce back from this. Let me know if I can help you in any way.
 
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