My tap water is terrible. What can I use for my new tank?

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SoFla94 said:
So, since I probably have to start doing these partial water changes soon because I naively didn't cycle my tank before adding my betta, would drinking water from the grocery store filtered by reverse osmosis be good enough? Would that be better than distilled water?
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I got the 2.5G "drinking water" jugs from Wal-Mart to help fill up my first 20g tank. They are also good for filling up with tap (conditioned) and bringing to my tanks.

My water is wonkie as well for some reason. Mine is public water from Lake Erie.
 
I'm a newbie as well, but I bought some stuff called PRIME by SeaChem and this helps alleviate the toxicity of the nitrates/nitrites in your water without stalling your "cycling period."

I could be wrong; but it has worked for my 10g and 55g... I'm probably going to get hammered for not just doing a fishless cycle. Forgive me guys.

By the way, all my fish survived the Cycling Process
 
Prime is a great product for dechlor and the other things you mentioned in an emergency. It won't fix bad water, cycle your tank or remove nitrates. Look up the word alleviate, it doesn't mean remove.. It's a band-aid for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate

BTW: My dog got hit by a car and survived. I think if he could talk he'd tell you that the time between getting run over and fully recovering were not the happiest of times and the pain extreme. There's an analogy there somewhere.
 
aarongalvan said:
I'm a newbie as well, but I bought some stuff called PRIME by SeaChem and this helps alleviate the toxicity of the nitrates/nitrites in your water without stalling your "cycling period."

I could be wrong; but it has worked for my 10g and 55g... I'm probably going to get hammered for not just doing a fishless cycle. Forgive me guys.

By the way, all my fish survived the Cycling Process
Click to expand...


I was lucky with both my tanks that way... but it can come back to bite you in the butt. Watch out for ammonia spikes!

I made a spreadsheet for when I test my water. It has only been a week or so but it is helping me keep track of changes in my water chemistry.
 
CaptainAhab said:
Prime is a great product for dechlor and the other things you mentioned in an emergency. It won't fix bad water, cycle your tank or remove nitrates. Look up the word alleviate, it doesn't mean remove.. It's a band-aid for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate

BTW: My dog got hit by a car and survived. I think if he could talk he'd tell you that the time between getting run over and fully recovering were not the happiest of times and the pain extreme. There's an analogy there somewhere.
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I get what you're saying. To alleviate is better than doing nothing at all though right? For example, recovery must have been very uncomfortable for your dog, but I would never send him home without pain meds to alleviate the pain! I wouldn't use Prime and the likes so I could ignore my tap water problems, but for now while my tank cycles and I fix my water issue, it's better than nothing I think.
 
On my wildlife rotation in vet school, I did have to take care of a fish tank for 2 weeks (basically I fed the fish and learned to use a gravel vac). The one time I had to do a partial water change, they recommended we use AmQuel for treating the water. Looking through info about AmQuel, I noticed they said using it would give you a false high reading for ammonia on Nessler-type tests which I believe are those test strips you dip in the water. The strips don't differentiate between ammonia and ammonium? I don't know. So, if I were to use AmQuel or something similar to treat my water and I use test strips to test my tank while it cycles, will it always give me a false reading?

At this point, I'm not sure which method I'll use to fix the tap water issue. The RO/DI filters are expensive for me at this point, but it might pay for itself in the long run. Until I figure it out, the water changes this week will have to be done using distilled and treated tap water. I will use the tap water along with distilled since I was told distilled alone does not contain necessary minerals? If that is a horrible idea, please let me know!
 
ok, sound reasoning. For my dog what would have been better was to learn that his breed has a propensity to chase after fast moving objects and given that done what I could to prevent such harm to the animal who had entrusted his well being to me.

Regarding the meds.. Pain meds are great but having prevented the pain would have alleviated the entire timeline.
 
CaptainAhab said:
ok, sound reasoning. For my dog what would have been better was to learn that his breed has a propensity to chase after fast moving objects and given that done what I could to prevent such harm to the animal who had entrusted his well being to me.

Regarding the meds.. Pain meds are great but having prevented the pain would have alleviated the entire timeline.
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Certainly, I agree. Avoiding the trouble all together would have been a much better solution. Hindsight can be harsh sometimes. If only Doc Brown had actually invented the flux capacitor back in 1985, iphones would come with time machines by now.
 
You cannot use distilled water in a tank at all as they need some of the minerals but Spring Water can be used from the grocery store. I have found that some agricultural areas well water can be corrected quite easily by adding real plants to the tank and allowing the nitrates in the water to be used as fertilizer for the plants and they lower the nitrate levels quite efficiently and do a wonderful job of making it fine for the fish. I had nitrate levels as high as 80 one time and simply made a tank with plants in it and one with my fish and the planted tank made the water fine and then I used it in the fish tank to change the water. A hassle, perhaps but it saved a lot of money in buying water.

Chix
 
you dont use distilled water in fish tanks. yes in the long run it will save you then having to go to the store and buy ro water but there is still a cost it isnt $0. even people with well water pays something for their water in the form of pumps maintenance and what not.
 
Just curious, but if you dont feel the water is safe enough to let your fish swim in, wouldn't you feel a bit uncomfortable drinking it yourself?? lol off topic but one ponders these things...
 
Well, rationalization is a powerful tool. Fish are more susceptible to dying with bad water, as we are more tolerant.. if you want to look at it that way. (I drink bottled water and my fish get water from the bathtub for the record.. My tap is pretty nice)

Also, you could get 0 or even a negative if you ended up selling the water to someone else for like a % profit/maintenance.
 
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