Filter to attach to hose when doing fill ups?

[Conner]

This is an interesting discussion. I live in Louisville too, right near Poplar Level and Eastern Parkway. Back the last time I tested the tap water (over a year ago), the pH came in around 7.6, and there was no ammonia and just the barest hint of color on the nitrates test. I have a BRAND NEW water line, which was installed about a month before I last tested. It's all flexible tubing and pvc piping, no metal in the entire house except the hot line right after the water heater, which is copper.

The pH in one of my 125g tanks, because of driftwood and other things, tends to hover around 5.5, sometimes lower. I fill straight out of the tap with prime, and the pH can push all the way back up to 7 in the span of about 30 minutes. Then over the span of about a day it drops back down to around 5.5. I've NEVER seen the fish exhibit any sort of distress from this. They are always happy as can be, and usually think I'm going to feed them. I can almost guarantee you that when I do a water change, one of the pairs of fish is going to spawn.

I also fill up with colder water than the tank has (tank sits around 80F, I fill with about 70-75F). I use a sump, with a drip plate, and so there is more than enough aeration. But I still like to add slightly cooler water. It seems to get the fish moving a little bit, and they're always more "in the mood" after a water change .

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

Thanks for sharing conner.

this has really got me thinking that my 50yr old water system in my neighbor hood is why i am getting 20ppm nitrate at the tap.

 

[oswego]

This is an interesting discussion. I live in Louisville too, right near Poplar Level and Eastern Parkway. Back the last time I tested the tap water (over a year ago), the pH came in around 7.6, and there was no ammonia and just the barest hint of color on the nitrates test. I have a BRAND NEW water line, which was installed about a month before I last tested. It's all flexible tubing and pvc piping, no metal in the entire house except the hot line right after the water heater, which is copper.

The pH in one of my 125g tanks, because of driftwood and other things, tends to hover around 5.5, sometimes lower. I fill straight out of the tap with prime, and the pH can push all the way back up to 7 in the span of about 30 minutes. Then over the span of about a day it drops back down to around 5.5. I've NEVER seen the fish exhibit any sort of distress from this. They are always happy as can be, and usually think I'm going to feed them. I can almost guarantee you that when I do a water change, one of the pairs of fish is going to spawn.

I also fill up with colder water than the tank has (tank sits around 80F, I fill with about 70-75F). I use a sump, with a drip plate, and so there is more than enough aeration. But I still like to add slightly cooler water. It seems to get the fish moving a little bit, and they're always more "in the mood" after a water change .

In nature after a heavy rain all the parameters and temps can change rapidly just like yoiur PH and temps.

 

[dadsoldtruck]

Me personally I always use RO water from no less than a 3 stage. You can get one from lowes that has a 2gl storage tank for about $150 bucks. I used to have issues with my fish also gasping for air after a water change till I got that thing. I have spare 5gl jugs laying around so I found a way to slip a hose over the RO faucet and leave it on for a couple of hours to fill the jugs. Our water out here is horrible, the pH is 8.4 and alk is off the chart, but that RO unit takes it to 7.2 and brings my alk down. My friend bought one of those corallife RO units for aquariums... well it's just a really nice filter... his water is still 8.4 and alk is still high...

 

[Conner]

Thanks for sharing conner.

this has really got me thinking that my 50yr old water system in my neighbor hood is why i am getting 20ppm nitrate at the tap.

The water company just upgraded all of the water lines to the houses in my neighborhood last fall as well. If not for that, it had probably been 50-60 years since it had been installed/updated. My house is 110 years old, but all the water lines and gas lines are brand new now, thank goodness.

 

[Conner]

Me personally I always use RO water from no less than a 3 stage.

I don't bother doing anything like this, because I feel that RO units remove all of the beneficial nutrients and minerals that are in tap water. That isn't a natural environment for fish, unless you're using some kind of additive, which IMO completely negates the purpose of RO, since you're just adding back everything you took out in the first place.

The only place I see a usefulness of RO is for Saltwater tanks, since just straight tapwater does NOT recreate the conditions they normally find in the wild.

I also use lots of driftwood, plants, and rocks in my tanks, along with a deep sand bed, which I think helps to simulate their natural environment as closely as possible (at least as close as a glass tank can simulate it).

We actually have pretty good tapwater in Louisville.