# How do you treat your tap water



## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

Tap water here in the states contains Chlorine and some cities use Chloramines because it lasts longer in the water. 

Seachem Prime detoxifies water of chlorine chlorimines and some heavy metals.

When I do a water change I remove 50% of the water. I fill the tank back up using a hose I add the recommended dose of Seachem Prime before adding water. I add another dose after the tank is full. I have chlorimines in my water which are harder to remove so I double dose.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

5g bucket, use glass tank thermometer to get at tank temp then dose Seachem prime.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Treating water gets way more worry than it requires. While it is recommended to add enough treatment to do the volume of water you are treating, exactly how and when it is done is not a big thing to worry about. If you are treating 5 gallon in a bucket, add the amount for five gallons but if you are adding five gallons to a 55 gallon tank, it is recommended to treat for 55 gallons. The reason for this is the way the chemicals have to find each other. 
I think of it this way. If you were looking for somebody at a party and had a limit to how long to look you might find them easily in a party of 5 people but if you went to look in a party of fifty people, you might need more helpers to find them in the time allowed. 
You want the treatment to find the chlorine in the specified time. 
It works quickly once found so whether you do the search now and wait 24 hours or do it later is no difference. Chlorine and chloramine are both the same chlorine but the latter is tied to a tiny amount of ammonia and since it is designed so that it lasts longer, there is less required to do the job. One of the reasons for chloramine use is that it doesn't react as well with things like the metal pipe, so it takes less to keep the nasties safe for our drinking. Using chlorine , it may dissipate in shorter time and so they have to add far more than when using chloramine. The chlorine is the same, just more there when not using chloramine. Since chlorine does dissipate so quickly when exposed to air, there was no need for water treatments before chloramines came along. It was pretty standard to just let the water stand in a reserve for the chlorine to gas off. If you treat the water ahead of time, it might be easy to test how long it takes for the chlorine to gas off and you could stop using the treatment. Most water supplies are not so loaded with heavy metals that they need treatment. 
I use a store brand and add it to a reserve water barrel as I fill the barrel. I wish I could still just let it stand but we do have chloramines here and it would not work as they may take weeks to dissipate. 
Chlorine is simple, chloramine, not so simple. The ammonia in chloramine is not enough to worry about.


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## BBradbury (Nov 8, 2010)

Hello Mr...

The best water conditioner I've used is Seachem's "Safe". It's a powder. A quarter teaspoon treats 5 gallons of tap water. No ageing is needed. I treat the water and I can put it directly into the tank. I typically make the new water a bit warmer than what's left in the tank after I remove 60 percent or so. The flush of pure, treated tap water that's a bit warmer is all the females that are close to dropping their fry need to do their thing.

B


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## goodbytes (Aug 18, 2014)

I just use the API stuff my LFS uses because they'll fill my bottles for half price. I match the water temp within a few degrees with the tub faucet and then fill my 5 gallon buckets, dumping a little bit more than the recommended dose in as they fill up. Then I pump the water right into the tank, no problem. As I understand it, aging water is really just an old school way to get around using water conditioners altogether as the chlorine will dissipate out of solution as a gas. Using water treatment and aging seems like overkill.


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

As long as you're using tap water, there's no need to let it sit unless you've got really sensitive fauna, and that's mostly regarding very large temperature differences. My advice is fill a bucket in the tub and dump it in straightaway, then treat with Prime for the entire tank volume and walk away. While I understand wanting to be cautious, it sounds like you're putting too much thought into this.

My routine, with larger water changes, is to hook up a hose to the bathroom sink, run it to the tanks, and let it run. I turn up the hot water a bit to minimize temperature difference, but it's an unnecessary step IMO. While I wait for one to fill, I treat with Prime for the whole tank. Then I use the shutoff valve I have installed at the end of the hose and move the hose to the next tank. The hose has a faucet adapter at one end and a PVC "U-turn" at the other end to hang over the edge of a tank, with a "T" and two HOB intake plastic mesh screens at the ends of the T to spread out the flow. I use the same hose to drain to the tub, btw.

*Edit* I edited the super-high-resolution photo to be a little clearer and add the shutoff valve and PVC faucet piece that keeps the hose from kinking.


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## Timmy!! (Jun 26, 2014)

I think I'm going to start using a hose, the buckets are getting heavy lol

Sent from my SM-G386T using Tapatalk


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

If there is some other reason to let the water sit for 24 hours, do that. It does not matter when you add the dechlor. 

Reasons to wait:
1) If there is air dissolved in the water it can become bubbles in the fishes' gills and elsewhere and can kill the fish. My tap water is like this in the winter, when the water is cold. I run a mix of hot and cold water until the water in the barrel is the right temp, or just a degree or two warmer, then I run a pump for half an hour minimum to off gas whatever air is in the water. 

2) If you are keeping fish in room temperature tanks, and want to use only the cold water tap. Aerating it or not, but letting it sit in the room overnight will bring it to room temperature. 

3) If you are doing some other treatment such as adding minerals, or peat moss it may take time for the minerals to dissolve, or the peat moss to work. I would circulate the water overnight with a nylon stocking of peat moss for soft water fish. 

No matter what reason I had for letting the water sit, I would always add the dechlor when I filled the can. Then there is no questioning if I had added it or not.


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## Dingleberry (Jul 26, 2014)

I usually don't.... If I'm doing a 1/3 water change or less I don't use dechlor. Been doing it like that for ten-ish years. No negative repercussions as far I can see. Plants and fish all super healthy. I'm not saying it's the best way, but somehow it has worked for me.


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## nonliteral (Aug 20, 2012)

Many years and tanks ago, I happened to be talking to a guy who formulated one of the popular water conditioners of the day, and he swore up and down to me that dechlorination was effectively instantaneous and that there was no reason not to put the dechlorinator in the tank and turn on the hose. I hesitatingly tried it, and have never looked back. I just try to avoid more than a 5 - 7 degree temperature swing. We do have relatively high levels of chloramines, but I've never had a problem with it on a freshwater tank, including with inverts, discus, etc. I'm not saying that everybody should do this, just mentioning that it's worked for me for 25 - 30 years and counting, and I'm never going back to lugging buckets


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## Wilderman204 (Mar 5, 2015)

I have a private well. Water comes from a limestone aquifer. Mother Nature treats it by filtering through an underground limestone shelf. Water comes out pretty hard, but no treatments needed. I still let it sit for a day when it comes out of the well, as there are lots of micro bubbles and gasses in the water.


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## Econde (Oct 13, 2015)

I just kinda squirt some at the bottom of my 2 gallon bucket and fill it up with cool water. Adjusting hot and cold as i see fit. As soon as the bucket is filled, i pour it slowly into my tank using my hand to diffuse the water.

Bump: By squirting some, i mean Seachem prime.


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## Tessa (Dec 8, 2015)

On the morning of the water change day I fill a few buckets with tap water and let it sit all day with a bubbler; just before using it I add boiled water to get the correct temp, pour in Prime, let it sit a bit more, then in the tank it goes.

I used a different method in the beginning: just put temp matched water from the tap into the bucket, added Prime and poured it into the tank, but we have very gassy water and that caused plenty of BBA. That's why I'm letting the water sit in a bucket all day.


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## bsherwood (Nov 22, 2007)

I use prime on the big changes. 10% change I don't do anything...(at least on my larger tanks)


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## matt769 (Jan 7, 2020)

Just thought I'd revive an old thread as I haven't got a 100% answer

I am in the process of getting an 800 liter tank and will obviously be doing water changes

My plan is to syphon a hose from the tank to the drain/kitchen sink to do the water changes

My plan is to run a hose from my kitchen tap to the tank then to refill, using the mixer to put in roughly the correct temperature water (so not just cold tap water).

In previous tanks with fish, I have never de-chlorinated water and never had any issues, however id like to do it properly this time

Im in the UK so the chlorine level isnt as high as the states

I was wondering is it possible for me to do for example a 20% water change so around 160 litres or whichever someone would recommend at x intervals. Would it be possible to refill with tap water and then add something to the tank to de-chlorinate the water in the tank with the fish in there?

I know this is probably not ideal but I cannot be leaving buckets out etc or tubs full of water to treat the day before as I simply do not have the space

Would anyone recommend a product that I could add that would help with this?

Many thanks in advance


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## Quesenek (Sep 26, 2008)

matt769 said:


> Just thought I'd revive an old thread as I haven't got a 100% answer
> 
> I am in the process of getting an 800 liter tank and will obviously be doing water changes
> 
> ...


I use a product called a python water change system which does basically just what you're planning on doing.
I siphon out the tank and then flip it to fill using only cold water as here in Florida it's around 65-70 degrees year around typically and I add the dechlorinator in as it's filling up the tank.
In 15 years of doing things this way I've never had anything bad happen by doing things this way such as fish dying from the chlorine or the fish not being able to handle the change in temp or a mini cycle happening from the chlorine killing the BB.


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## kgbudge (Feb 8, 2019)

I keep it pretty simple. I draw water from my bathtub at a temperature that feels "comfortable" (which I've learned by experience is about the same as the tank temperature) and add sufficient of a stock solution of potassium metabisulfite to neutralize the 1 ppm chlorine my utility reports adding. The only fancy part is making the stock solution, and it's not really that big a deal.

Put it in the tank. Add fertilizers as indicated by regular testing.

I may start doing something more complicated, since my water is a bit on the alkaline side with KH of 5-6. I may try neutralizing a couple of degrees of carbonate hardness with hydrochloric acid. That will wait until I've sorted out the effects of my latest changes in routine.


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## Cinnamonamon (Oct 24, 2018)

matt769 said:


> I was wondering is it possible for me to do for example a 20% water change so around 160 litres or whichever someone would recommend at x intervals. Would it be possible to refill with tap water and then add something to the tank to de-chlorinate the water in the tank with the fish in there?


If I am adding chlorinated water straight to the tank without treating it first (which is what you would be doing), then I just dump the dechlorinator into the tank just before (or at the beginning of when) I start adding the tap water. Measure the amount of dechlorinator to use based on your entire tank size though, not just the percent changed (so dose based on 800 litres, not 160). This isn't a problem at all!


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## Aquatroy50 (Dec 6, 2019)

I run my tap water thru a 4 stage Filter (no RO) into a 55 gallon barrel, that has a exchange pump and hose, the pump runs continuously until the water warms to room temp (its right next to my hot water heater) the water runs thru a filter sock at the top of the barrel to keep hose mulm from getting in the barrel. I usually don use the water for a day or 2 so any chems dissapate, if I have to use it faster I just use a little prime, rare but just in case wish I knew how to add pics..


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## Desert Pupfish (May 6, 2019)

For those who refill directly from the tap, what equipment do you use that fits to your sink or tub faucet? One of those coiled hoses with a nozzle on the end? Currently I treat as I fill a 5 gallon bucket, but that gets very tedious very fast for a 55 gallon tank, and I'm about to set up a 75 gallon tank as well. I know a lot of people use a big brute garbage can on a wheeled dolly to prepare their WC water. But living in the desert, I drain my water into a garbage can to water plants, and don't want to buy two sets of cans & dollies. It's over $60 for one can & dolley--if anyone has cheaper sources please let me know. 

Thanks all


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## Cinnamonamon (Oct 24, 2018)

Desert Pupfish -- I would use a hose (like a python) that connects directly from the sink faucet, to the tank if I had a 55! use a water conditioner like Prime that is super concentrated and you won't feel that you are going through as much dechlorinator. Remove whatever amount you plan to (you can use the python for that too -- it will drain right into the sink or wherever!), then dump in your dechlorinator & then fill the tank back up.


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## Kubla (Jan 5, 2014)

Desert Pupfish said:


> For those who refill directly from the tap, what equipment do you use that fits to your sink or tub faucet? One of those coiled hoses with a nozzle on the end? Currently I treat as I fill a 5 gallon bucket, but that gets very tedious very fast for a 55 gallon tank, and I'm about to set up a 75 gallon tank as well. I know a lot of people use a big brute garbage can on a wheeled dolly to prepare their WC water. But living in the desert, I drain my water into a garbage can to water plants, and don't want to buy two sets of cans & dollies. It's over $60 for one can & dolley--if anyone has cheaper sources please let me know.
> 
> Thanks all


Get a $5 food grade 55 gallon drum from Craigslist and a $10 furniture dolly from Harbor Freight. It's a sturdier barrel too.


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## matt769 (Jan 7, 2020)

Brilliant!

My plan is to buy a sink tap faucet adapter from ebay to a hose connection, then simply run the hose through the house, from the sink to the tank

For emptying the tank, I have made myself out of a cut thick plastic bottle a syphon/gravel cleaner. The same hose connects to the bottle top and then by filling it like a cup it starts the syphon and draws water through 

My plan will be to go ahead as you have suggested and dose as/whilst i am doing the water change 

As I said, ive never had any issues with fish in the past, even doing 100% water changes with tap water, but now the tank is nearly 800 litres vs 60 litres haha

Bump:


Cinnamonamon said:


> If I am adding chlorinated water straight to the tank without treating it first (which is what you would be doing), then I just dump the dechlorinator into the tank just before (or at the beginning of when) I start adding the tap water. Measure the amount of dechlorinator to use based on your entire tank size though, not just the percent changed (so dose based on 800 litres, not 160). This isn't a problem at all!


If i dose it to decholrinate for the full capacity of the tank vs the water change amount, is there a possibility of adding too much decholirnator or is there no side effects of accidentally putting too much in?

Cheers


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## Cinnamonamon (Oct 24, 2018)

matt769 said:


> Brilliant!
> 
> My plan is to buy a sink tap faucet adapter from ebay to a hose connection, then simply run the hose through the house, from the sink to the tank
> 
> ...


sorry I missed this question before! From what I have read, you would have to massively overdose (multiple times the recommended amount) in order for there to be any issue -- in fact, many people make no bones about just "pouring in a good amount" instead of measuring, since it is so inexpensive, so I can't imagine it would be dangerous unless you dumped in a whole bottle or something, lol.


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