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I would like to get a small aquarium 10/14 gallons for my apartment. I live in the city and obviously have city water. I realize that city water either has chlorine or chloramine (chlorine and ammonia), so my question is, can I use my tap water if I let it sit in a bucket for a couple days and let the chlorine/chloramine evaporate? Or are there other issues that I need to watch for? Will the chlorine/chloramine evaporate faster if I aerate the water?

Thanks for your help!

you should do the bucket thing you said but you should also put some de chlorinater in the water so it can get rid of metals in the water and even after you do all that try cycling the water in the tank for a few days at least a month before any fish get put in just to be safe

>>>>>>a learning experience as an aquarist can be fun but you must be ready to take and obey advice and criticism but most of all be patient<<<<<<<

husky49931

Go to a hardware store and buy a 10-15lt water storage container to start off with.

I store all my water in water containers for a week.
To kill any other nasties in the water I take it directly from my HW service.

Keith

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I have city water also and I used to put it in buckets to sit but I don't anymore. When I let the water set I had more problems than I do now. I now have one of those gravel cleaners that attach to a sink faucet and once I get all the water out that needs out I adjust the tap water so it's about the same as my tank. Before I switch the nozzle so water goes back in the tank I add half the recommended dose of AmQuel Plus fill up the tank then add the rest of the AmQuel Plus.

I used to have a lot of trouble with red gills and fungus like growth on my glowlight tetras when I let the water sit now that I just put it in straight from the tap I have no more problems.

Just when you set up the tank don't add any chemicals to it to get it to balance out it makes for a major headache.

Where about in the USA are you?

Most city water is great to use, but they add chlorine or chloramine to the water. To reduce the problems this causes with your fish, you have to add a dechlorinator to your water.

First get a good idea of the direction you want to go with your fish. This will help you to decide what type of gravel/substrate to get for your tank. Set up your tank with gravel/substrate, heater (if needed), filter, air pump (if needed), and ornaments, i.e, driftwood, hide-a-way tubes, flowerpots, rock caves, etc., fill your tank and let it cycle! You can add beneficial bacteria to help start the process by adding "Cycle", or "Stability" or something similar sold at the fish stores, just be sure to follow the directions on the bottle. Cycling the tank usually takes about 3 weeks to 1 1/2 months. It can be sped up if you have a used sponge or filter material and/or gravel (from a trusted source). You need to have a liquid test kit (not strips). Strip kits are not that accurate and can be hard to read. In the test kit you want to have something that tests for:
Ammonia,
NitrAte,
NitrIte,
and PH.
You can also have GH, Salinity, Chlorine and others. You usually don't need those unless you have a salt water tank or specialized fish with very specific needs. If you fill buckets with tap water and let it sit, it is not removing the chloramine in the water, you will still have to add a dechlorinator to make the water safe. Follow the directions on the bottle of whichever brand you chose. You want to check your levels of ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite at least once a week. You are looking for your ammonia and nitrite to spike and then fall. Once that happens your nitrates will start to climb. The nitrates are needed to keep your ammonia and nitrite levels in check. When your ammonia, and nitrite are at ZERO and you have numbers between 5-20 for nitrates your tank is cycled and ready for you to add your first set of fish. Never add a boat load of fish at once. You'll over whelm the bacteria colonies and have an ammonia/nitrite spike that could kill the whole tank off.

Hope this helps, good luck

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

I've never actually confirmed this, but I have heard that it takes weeks for chloramine to evaporate off; that's why they use it more instead of chlorine alone, as chlorine goes away much more quickly. Kelly is right, you'll want to purchase some good ol' dechlorinator; you can purchase this from your local fish store.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Hi,
Municipal water treatment plants are required to
add chemicals to eliminate bacteria from their water.
At first most used chlorine, now, however most use
chloramine and sometimes chlorine as well. Chlorine
will, over time, evaporate from the water. You can
put an air stone in a bucket of fresh tap water and
let it run for a day and the chlorine will have evaporated
out of the water. Not so Chloramine. It is a compound
of chlorine and ammonia. By combining the two, the
the chlorine remains effective for a very long time.
The ammonia also causes problems in the tank as well.
It takes ammonia to run the nitrogen cycle and the
addition of the extra ammonia can be toxic to the fish.
The only way to effectively remove (neutralize) the
chloramine is to use a dechlorinator that specifically
says it works on chloramine. While most dechlorinators
today do contain chemicals to neutralize
chloramine and the chlorine, some do not, so DO READ
the label on the bottle.

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/waterfaqs/f/faq0050.-5eR.htm

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--