Untreated tap water

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
O, here is 2012 report

http://www.ci.woodbury.mn.us/images/stories/publicworks-docs/2012-water-quality-report.pdf

Looks about the same.

I have fancy goldfish (5, about 3" each) and bushynose plecos (2, about 4" each) in a 90 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump. Very light bio load, but in a year or so when the goldfish are fatter it'll be a good bio load. From what I read goldfish are about the least sensitive fish out there to chemicals, hence the old "goldfish cycling" (which I'm against btw, I did mine fishless).

I'll try the plan of adding the dechlorinator straight to the aquarium as I add the water, couple that with small water changes at first hopefully it's just fine.

Thanks!
 
Down here in Florida they routinely flush the systems with chlorine doses up to 5x the normal dose.

That could easily wipe out a tank if you're not treating for it. I spend about $24 for 200,000 gallons of conditioner. That lasts along time and is cheap insurance.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
hello; You may wish to read thru this thread from not too long ago.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?549489-Water-changes-on-city-water

Much was discussed. I have been using the method of storing tap water for a few days and then adding it to my tanks. I have been doing this for over 20 years. My water company only uses chlorine. As you have posted the water companies publish regular reports and you can get them at most any time.
 
Let's say I change 200 gallons a week. Using Jc's #s, that would cost me $.024. (Yes, 2 cents.) Over 30 years of fish keeping, I'd save $37.44. That's 1,560 water changes in 30 years. What are the chances that 1 fish would die as a result of an unexpected amount of chlorine or chloramine in those 30 years?

Well, let's say it's zero. Then I've saved $37.44. That's two more DVDs in the nest 30 years!

Let's say instead it's one fish. I lose 1 whole flipping fish in 30 years. I guess it's fine if the one fish is a guppy. If it was a 4 year old Oscar or a 3 year old Arowana or a 6 month old Gar or a 3 year old RTC, I'd be pissed. None of those fish would remotely be worth just $37.44 to me.

I understand that people do this and say they don't see repercussions. I also understand that it's easy to find posts about dead fish where people do this. For me, it's a trivial step and trivial cost to eliminate a toxic chemical for something I have too much invested in.
 
Maybe I'm wrong here but I don't think fish die as a result of clorines/chloramines in the tap water when not dechlorinating. I mean since those chemicals are used to kill of any bacteria in our drinking water, I believe it kills the beneficial bacteria in our filters causing an ammonia spike and the fish die as a result of ammonia poisoning. I think small weekly water changes of up to 25% with tap water won't make much difference but a 50% WC might kill off a large number of BB in the bio filters to cause an ammonia spike.
Of course there is always a possibility of the water company using an excess amount of chlorine in certain situations that might kill the fish if a large enough WC is performed. I do agree it's safer to use dechlorinator but when ur dealing many with large tanks it is very tiresome.
 
alexanian said:
Maybe I'm wrong here but I don't think fish die as a result of clorines/chloramines in the tap water when not dechlorinating. I mean since those chemicals are used to kill of any bacteria in our drinking water, I believe it kills the beneficial bacteria in our filters causing an ammonia spike and the fish die as a result of ammonia poisoning. I think small weekly water changes of up to 25% with tap water won't make much difference but a 50% WC might kill off a large number of BB in the bio filters to cause an ammonia spike.
Of course there is always a possibility of the water company using an excess amount of chlorine in certain situations that might kill the fish if a large enough WC is performed. I do agree it's safer to use dechlorinator but when ur dealing many with large tanks it is very tiresome.
Click to expand...

This is true. When I did a 75% water change by accident it sent my tank into a mini cycle but I still lost no fish due to it.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
alexanian said:
Maybe I'm wrong here but I don't think fish die as a result of clorines/chloramines in the tap water when not dechlorinating. I mean since those chemicals are used to kill of any bacteria in our drinking water, I believe it kills the beneficial bacteria in our filters causing an ammonia spike and the fish die as a result of ammonia poisoning. I think small weekly water changes of up to 25% with tap water won't make much difference but a 50% WC might kill off a large number of BB in the bio filters to cause an ammonia spike.
Of course there is always a possibility of the water company using an excess amount of chlorine in certain situations that might kill the fish if a large enough WC is performed. I do agree it's safer to use dechlorinator but when ur dealing many with large tanks it is very tiresome.
Click to expand...

When dealing with many large tanks a drip system solves those problems. I run all my drip tanks through a carbon block to remove my chlorine and get notified when a flush is going to be performed.

Correct on the ammonia poisoning though.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
To be honest I don't keep that great of tabs on my water report for my area, though i do always have a copy in my house for refrence. However you have to keep in mind to that in between reports things can change, pipes could be worked on, etc. You can always periodically test your water.

I use my tap. I do it from shower to tank. I add a little prime or amquel just before I start filling. Then as it fills I add more and I also add some after I am done filling. In all I treat for the full gallonage of the tank. It works out fine for me. I've done this for years (I started keeping again in 2004 and have been doing it since.) I just always make sure to treat the water and use a good conditioner.

Where it can make a difference is what the water from the plant is treated with. You have chlorine and then you have chloramines. Chloramines come from chlorine reacting with ammonia. This can burn the gills of your fish and is in general bad for anythings respiratory system.

If your water company uses chloramines then using the method of 24hour+aeration to have it dissapate in the atmosphere is not really doing anything for you (it makes no difference from tap to tank or 24 hour disspation b/c they dont disspate like chlorine does). This is why you see a lot of water conditioner bottles say they treat chlorine/cholramine. I would find what your plant uses to treat the water for bacteria, etc. (I didn't look at your water report). I personally don't know off the top of my head what mine treats with (it doens't mean its not of concern to me). I just do what I have always done and it has worked fine. I just make myself aware of whats in the water periodically to see if I need watch for anything, etc.

If you are super anal and have money to buy a system to truley test a lot of chemicals in your water then you could test for free and total ammonia sepratley (NH3 test and NH3+NH4 test). Depending on how your water is treated and what you are treating with your home test kit may not always give you proper readings. You can also test for free and total chlorine as well. Really if you can get a mini chem lab you can test for tons of stuff in your water. I doubt very many people on here do that though.
 
So morbid as it may be, here it is:

The LC50 kill rate at 95% CI in ppm (mg/l) at 3 hours for Chlorine grade HTH at 12 C (54 F) are:
Code: 
                 ppm
Coho Salmon     .599
Rainbow Trout   .640 
Carp           3.650  
Black Bullhead 8.000 [I] Ictalurus melas[/I]
Channel Cat     .346  [I]Ictalurus punctatus[/I]
Bluegill       1.320
Yellow Perch   1.160
Toxicity does not seem to be affected much by pH.

So, water maintained at a chlorine level of .346 ppm would be expected to kill 50% of all channel catfish within 3 hours.

Chlorine levels of 1.5 ppm have an LC50 kill rate for Rainbow Trout, Lake Trout, Channel Catfish and Yellow Perch in one hour.

EPA guidelines allow for chlorine up to 4 ppm.

The list above should demonstrate how varied the impact is for chlorine poisoning by species. In particular note that 2 catfish (both Ictalurus) are off by a factor of almost 25.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom