What type of water for your tank...?

[e burna]

What type of water is best for a community freshwater tank? I have a 29 gallon, and just use regular tap water, but I was wondering, is spring water better? What about distilled? Anyone know if a certain type of water is better for tanks than others?

 

[TCTFish]

R/O (reverse osmosis) or distilled water with a reclaim chemistry additive is best.

 

[Guest]

R/O (reverse osmosis) or distilled water with a reclaim chemistry additive is best.

But tapwater treated with a declorinator is fine and should never be an issue.

 

[TCTFish]

But tapwater treated with a declorinator is fine and should never be an issue.

That depends on where you live because the water quality from area to area can differ. Where I'm at, tap water pH can be as high as 9 typically, with some areas with tap pH values below 6.5 (big swing). There's also the toxins and chemicals that are typical in tap water. I refuse to drink tap water and refuse to allow my fish to breathe in all that nasty stuff. It's healthier for the fish and healthier for you too.

 

[Guest]

You should rent a series called "B.S." by Penn & Teller, they tackle all sorts of misconceptions and one that they do is on tap water vs. bottled water. Really interesting.

 

[ace1uno_00]

i saw that "B.S." its great. but regular tap water with the right additives is just fine.

 

[TCTFish]

As mentioned earlier, it does depend on where you live. Here in Southern California, a 400 page report about five years ago or so reveals high concentrations of PCBs, DDTs and relative chlorine compounds and other chemicals commonly ID'd in pesticides. Our tap water is bad here. I refuse to drink it and I won't make my fish breathe it. If I have animals I want to breed, they get filtered water. Too much crap in the tap here. At one point in time, about 6 or 7 years ago I lost several animals and my pregnant animals lost their babies all at the same time when my son and I got sick after taking a shower. This illness I felt was the same when pesticides are sprayed. I got better after a day, but my son was sick for nearly a week.

If you live where there are a concentration of farms or factories, it'd be wise to use filtered water.

 

[Guest]

i use the water that comes out of the bathtub shower head fill up the gallon jugs add the declhor quick shake and into the tank it goes, no death yet(well disease realted ones but thats different)

and when i have time i buy distilled water

although my water has a pH of 7.1 so its good

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I use tap water with dechlorinator. Some people may have issues with the pH, like mentioned before. My brother is tackling a tank with pH 8.8 and the only fish he has ever kept alive in it is African Cichlids. So, it just depends on your tap water quality.

 

[severum mama]

I just use dechlorinated tap water. Mine comes out of the tap at pH 7.0, so I'm lucky I guess. All my tanks have stayed at pH 7.0.

 

[Blucat]

i put the tap water through our drinking filter and then i fill it with a jug, add the dechlorinator/conditioner and in it goes

 

[Lepomis]

Tap water with dechlorinator/conditioner.