FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Do you age your water prior to water changes and if so why or why not? I know that several members of the site do age water for their weekly or more often water changes and I was wondering why.

I personally never age my water. I take it directly from the tap and since my water is currently not treated with chlorine or chloramine I use no water treatments when doing my water changes.

What do you do?

Jim

---

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

I treat my water but I don't age it. It would be way to combersome to store enough water for changes in 55, 29, 10 and 3 gallon tanks. After storing it to age, I would have to warm it up somehow to get it to the temps high enough to be used. I use a python for my bigger tanks and treat the water as it is being added.

---

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

Hello I am a new member here but I am not new to the hobby. OldTimer the reason these people are probly aging the water is because the clorine will not hold up over time. You could even age the water over 24 hrs. However this is not nessary and I would only do it for small tanks like 10gal or less. As a matter of fact I wouldnt mess with doing that unless I was starting a new 10gal or less. Although I would recommend doing this to start a new 1gal to 5gal betta tank. You can also go to a local food store and buy drinking water for this (NOTE: Only regular drinking water not distilled or anything else.) I will not go into this to much but to rap it up if you have bigger than a 10gal unless you have room for many jugs and a lot of time on your hands and like a lot of work just do 20% weekly water changes with you python or bucket and you will do just fine. I dont reccomend more than a 20% water change for each day. Hope this helped ya.

For my 10gal I leave a 3 gallon water jug next to a heater over night.. I the reason I age my water is so the chlorine will evaporate and holding 9 gallons of water would very much be a burden so I treat the water for my 29gal

"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck

Easiest way to age water for the tank is to use another aquarium under the main tank, and just have a powerhead/mag drive pump to push the water up when it's time. Aeration increases evaporation of the chlorine, so airstones are recommended but not neccessary.

these people are probly aging the water is because the clorine will not hold up over time. You could even age the water over 24 hrs.

Most places use chloramine so you can't just let it evaporate out like chlorine. Unless you know your water company does not use chloramine you should use a water conditioner since it will not go away no matter how long you leave it sit.

I don't age water if I'm doing less than a 50% water change. When changing lots of water though I have to leave it sit for at least 12hours with an air stone because our tapwater is pumped full of co2. The ph out of tap is around 7.0 and after 12-24hours it raises beyond 8. The fish also suffocate from the amount of co2. It doesn't seem to be an issue if I do around 25% water changes even daily but more than that and I have to let it degas before it's safe to use.

I've also been in the hobby for many, many years, and in some cases longer than many members of this site have even been alive.

I understand that the chlorine will dissipate rather quickly from water that is left sitting, however I'm just curious as if this is the reason folks age it or not, as there are so many products that instantly remove both chlorine and chloramine directly from the tap or if they have any other reasons for doing so.

Jim

---

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

I use a python, so my water comes straight out of the tap. Even though I am on a well and have no chlorine or chloramines in the water, there is a high level of heavy metals, so I use Prime to remove those.


Come Play Yahtzee With Me!
http://games.atari.com
Http://www.myleague.com/yahtgames

No, I'd have no where to store it

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I take it straight from the tap. like theresa id have nowhere to store it either!

---

Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

My water is full of chloramines, so aging would be useless. I use a Python as well and Aquasafe water treatment.

---

~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

I do not store it as I've no convenient way to heat it to the right temp. I just fill my 5gal water bottle to the right temp, having added a conditioner first (was a big stresscoat fan but am switching to prime). Even If I tried to store it the wife would dump it out and put the bottle away, complaining about the eyesore.

Water is left to age to let the gases settle (preventing certain supersaturation problems, stabilize in respect to temperature and pH, and allow chlorine to seep out.

That being said, I never age my water.

I just leave the water to settle in 2 big water tanks for 2 weeks & i don't add anything.

Some people add an airstone in the tank, so there will be some water movement, but i don't.

So far it's been Ok.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

I used to to refill the tanks with a python(with water treatment added). Since October, I mixed some hot water from the hot water tank - and resulting the death of 2 corys (apparently, there are harmful elements from the hot water tank).

Now I'm preheating 20G of water in a spare tank for water change. I'm still looking for a better solution - cause there's quite a number of bucket of water to carry from the basement to the main floor where my 75G and 30G are.

I have kept fish since the age of 5 so alot of things I simply do out of habit. My parents aged there water before adding it to the tank, and so do I, but I also use "start right", because the water in my area takes a long time to age to the exact way I want it and even then the pH is usually high

Inky

My water is so awful, that about a year ago, I bought a RO filter. Because it takes so long to collect the water in the little tank that came with it, I have to collect it in one gallon containers until I need it, otherwise it would take forever to do a water change if I had to use it right from the filter - which I sometimes end up having to do anyway..
It also gives the water time to adjust to room temperature.