Crystal Sorings Spring Water for aquarium?

[Mindy2400]

I've been using tap water, but want to switch to bottled water. If I buy the 5 gallon jugs of Crystal Springs Spring Water, do I need to test, and/or treat it first?

[Blueberries]

Hmm I’m not sure about that brand but I get store brand spring water and test and treat the water. My tap water has too much ammonia in it. Since I switched to spring water my fish and little froggers are doing well!

[Aiken Drum]

Make sure it isnt distilled, demineralised, sparkling or flavoured.

Also, unless you are sure it doesn't contain chlorine then use a water conditioner.

[Sicklid]

It’s fine, but be aware that it will be kind of hard with sodium bicarbonate if you’re keeping soft water species... unless it’s distilled as stated.

[rlederer]

At $8 for five gallons, this idea seems pretty pricey to me. I'd seriously think about a reverse osmosis system. You can get one for under $200 and it would pay for itself in 6 months and no lugging plastic bottles around and creating plastic waste; you can remineralize the RO water as needed.

[Mindy2400]

Thanks everyone! I just gave up and put the water in the tank, and it FINALLY cycled! And I have never seen my ammonia level so low! Yaaaaay! The pH is a bit high though.... 7.4? Now I dont know what to do! It feels like I am supposed to be changing the water, stressing about it in some way, spending money, going to the pet store, or some unpleasant thing that completely undermines the entire reason for having the tank in the first place... to enjoy.

[Mindy2400]

The extra money buying the water was worth it, by the way. My tap water was full of ammonia! Horrible!

[Aiken Drum]

Just keep testing daily for a week or 2, make sure that your ammonia and nitrites are consistantly 0ppm. If they are staying at those levels, you can relax, do your weekly water changes. Try and do sufficient water changes to keep below 20ppm nitrate (under 10ppm would be better), either 30% or 50% weekly as needed.

7.4 isnt too high a pH. Mine is around that. Its more important to maintain steady water parameters than chasing specific numbers. As long as it settles out somewhere between 7.0 and 7.5 I would just let it be.

[Mindy2400]

Thank you! The pH tested very low days ago, it was yellow... so, having to use the high range pH test was a bit startling. I will keep testing. Thank you again for all your help!

[Sicklid]

BTW, chloramines are what most tap water contains, rather than chlorine nowadays, and is known to constantly drive us crazy with false positives for ammonia... The "amines" in chloramine IS ammonia, but a different type. You still want to bind it with Prime or similar, but it isn't true ammonia like we think based on our testing equipment.

[Brookster123]

Originally Posted by Sicklid

BTW, chloramines are what most tap water contains, rather than chlorine nowadays, and is known to constantly drive us crazy with false positives for ammonia... The "amines" in chloramine IS ammonia, but a different type. You still want to bind it with Prime or similar, but it isn't true ammonia like we think based on our testing equipment.

This ●●

[Mindy2400]

My pH dropped to 6 today! On top of that, my cory cat appears to be dying. What in the world? I added a cap of seachem flourish for the plants this morning, but that wouldnt change the ph? Any solutions??

[DeepAsHadal]

You might test the bottled water for KH, alkalinity. If it's low there may not be enough buffering capacity for acidifying processes, like the nitrogen cycle, causing the ph to crash.