Aquarium Question

[Saully]

I have a 10-gallon fresh water aquarium with four low-maintenance fish. I used to fill it with distilled water but a friend of ours told us she just used water from the tap (real hard here) so I tried that 3 years ago and it's worked well ever since.

We just had a water softerner put in and I'm wondering if the soft water would be any worse for the fish than the hard water. Last night I cleaned the aquarium and hauled up buckets of hard water from the yard. Rather not do that again if I don't have to. Anyone have any idea if the soft water would be bad for the fish?

 

[vorra65]

Go to the fish store and buy some starter water (dirty). It will help buffer the water from the tap that you add when cleaning your tank. Never clean/drain your tank completely-always leave just a little bit of dirty in the bottom. I had a 125 with peacock bass in it, and used tap water always-just never completely drained the tank. Score a gravel vacuum from the pet store as well, that way you can clean most all the waste from the bottom while still leaving some of the good (dirty) water to stabilize the tank on refill.

 

[Mitch]

My fish breeder friend collects rain water for this. I do know if you use tap, you need to add chemicals to take out the bad chemicals. Seems to be the reason he uses rain water instead.

 

[sascha]

tap is fine, but use Amquel!!! the only downside is that you might get more algae than you need, so many minerals and phosphates in tap water.

with a 10g tank i wouldn't worry and use distilled.
but I have a 300g saltwater tank, I use tap and Amquel

 

[vorra65]

I wanted to be a fish breeder, when I was growing up.

Just never could get the hold down-they kept slippin away and I couldn't hold me breath long enough.:bouncetau:bouncetau:bouncetau

 

[sascha]

why do you think most of my fish are "blow fish":smokingbo

 

[Angry Bill]

LOL> THat's funny Sascha..

 

[PetersCreek]

Saully, you didn't say exactly what kind of fish you have but if they're your typical, hardy, "low-maintenance" fish, they should be fine in whatever hardness to which you acclimate them. Unless you're keeping a demanding species, stability is usually much more important than a particular parameter. Trying to chase things like pH in a small tank can result in wild swings that are much more harmful than a stable value above or below some ideal.

As mentioned, it's important to remove chlorine/chloramine from your tap water, if it's been treated with such. Amquel is just one good product for that. I wouldn't try to adjust the tap water in any other way. Generally speaking, water changes should be small and frequent, rather than large and rare...especially in small tanks like yours. A change of 10-20% is pretty typical.

I think it's an exceedingly bad idea to add fish store "starter" water to an established tank. It's useful in starting a new tank, as a starter culture for beneficial denitrifying bacteria but I wouldn't expose an established tank to the risk of pathogens or parasites. I never added store water to any of my established tanks. I'd acclimate new purchases in the bag or a bucket, then net them into my tank...and sometimes a quarantine tank, at that. We did the same in the aquarium shop where I ran the salt water section.

 

[Volusianator]

When I had tanks our fish shop had Reverse Osmosis water so I always used that, it's pure. But as mentioned above, I only replaced about 50% of the water at a time as to always have a good dirty water base in there.

 

[Brazilla]

This is a great link to help you understand the nitrogen cycle. http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/80

 

[earnold25]

no matter what kind of water you use, you'll need to make sure its properly cycled. the water from the fish store is a good idea, but it may contain fishy diseases and such, so you're probably better off with distilled water, etc.. there's a ton of info out there on this, so i won't retype it. one of my favorite forums on the subject is

http://www.aquariumadvice.com

and

http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/

 

[Saully]

Thanks, everyone.

 

[Trumpetchris]

yup- just put some water treatment stuff in there to take out chlorine, etc.

 

[Saully]

no matter what kind of water you use, you'll need to make sure its properly cycled. the water from the fish store is a good idea, but it may contain fishy diseases and such, so you're probably better off with distilled water, etc.. there's a ton of info out there on this, so i won't retype it. one of my favorite forums on the subject is

http://www.aquariumadvice.com

and

http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/

Thanks -- a thread in the top link answered my question specifically. I'm gonna replace the water with soft as it evaporates and then a little at a time as I replace the hard water.

Carrying a bucket of (hard) water upstairs from the yard didn't do well for this FOG. :yes:

 

[SmokinOkie]

Thanks, everyone.

Hey Saully.... Reading this thread, sounds like you already got a lot of good advice. I'll throw in my 2 cents. I have had 2 tanks now over the last 8 years, 1st a 37 gallon freshwater, now a 72 gallon bowfront- which is also freshwater- African Cichlids. depending on what fish you have, hard water should not be an issue. I never do anything to decrease the hardness as my fish come from african lakes with hard water. I typically do a 25 percent water chg every other week, sometimes weekly. ( I don't do more than 25 percent unless there is a problem in the tank.) The larger the tank you have the easier it is to maintain water quality, typically. Like was said before, always use Amquel, (I use Amquel and Novaqua conditioners).

If you can get you a Python brand siphon that hooks up to the sink, it may not be an issue with a 10 gallon tank, but it makes it alot easier if you go bigger to be able to siphon/clean and fill.

What kind of fish do you have??

 

[SmokinOkie]

Hey Saully....

Here's a pic of my new tank... you definitely wouldn't want to carry buckets of water upstairs for this one..LOL!! I don't know why my fish were hiding behind the rock, would never know there is 8 of them... I guess the camera scared them! I really enjoy the aquarium, it's a relaxing hobby.. but like Cigars it can get expensive if you let it...