# Bottled water



## BloOd-Omen (Apr 30, 2005)

Hey everyone, I was just wondering if using bottled spring water instead of tap water would expan the life and health on my piranha's??


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## Phtstrat (Sep 15, 2004)

Doubt it, spring water has very little buffering capacity IME. This could leave you vulnerable to pH swings.


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## piranhaperson (Aug 29, 2003)

I seriously doubt it most bottled water comes right from a faucet anyhow.


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## alan (Mar 11, 2004)

did you win the lottery or what ?


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## Mack (Oct 31, 2004)

OK...

If you had a 55 gallon tank, and you did a 25% water change weekly, (which is not enough anyways), that would be roughly 14 gallons of water. Assuming 1 gallon of bottled water is $1, that's $14 every week, just on water changes.

You're crazy.


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## BrandNew (Mar 8, 2005)

by my understanding bottled water is free from any irons or chlorine. And i'm sure i read that you can get rid of irons by boiling water and letting it sit overnight. But if we drink the tap water why shouldn't the piranhas. aslong as it's de-chlorinated. the only plus side i can think of to spending all that money is that if you drop your toaster in your tank you wont fry your fish. but come on who's stupid enough to do that


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## BrandNew (Mar 8, 2005)

l


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## BloOd-Omen (Apr 30, 2005)

You don't exactly have to spend $14 a week and you don't exactly have to buy the top quality bottled water there is noname water here 1 letre costs about 69 cents which is not to bad...


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## Phtstrat (Sep 15, 2004)

Hmm, go through all that extra work and money to buy spring water, or run a hose to your tank and pour some Stress Coat in......

Your choice.


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## Adam (Dec 23, 2004)

BrandNew said:


> by my understanding bottled water is free from any irons or chlorine. And i'm sure i read that you can get rid of irons by boiling water and letting it sit overnight. But if we drink the tap water why shouldn't the piranhas. aslong as it's de-chlorinated. the only plus side i can think of to spending all that money is that if you drop your toaster in your tank you wont fry your fish. but come on who's stupid enough to do that
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What if a P takes a huge bite out of a wire in your tank. JK this thread is pointless I just wanted to play devil's advocate


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## BrandNew (Mar 8, 2005)

then the piranha deserves everything he gets


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

BloOd-Omen said:


> You don't exactly have to spend $14 a week and you don't exactly have to buy the top quality bottled water there is noname water here 1 letre costs about 69 cents which is not to bad...
> [snapback]1008125[/snapback]​


There are about 4 liters per gallon, so if you did a 25% weekly change on a 40 gallon you're looking at 27 dollars per water change. Not feasible considering your tank is probably larger.

Also, you cannot remove irons by boiling water and letting it sit overnight, that wouldn't actually do much other than kill bacteria in the water, which there shouldn't be much of. If your town uses chlorine and no chloramines letting it sit will cause the chlorine to disolve. Otherwise, you aren't doing anything.

Spring water is not low in buffering capacity, it's actually pretty hard usually from all the dissolved minerals. Alot of bottled water is R/O water however, which does have no buffering capacity.

Fish need trace elements and minerals to survive. All you need to do is get rid of chlorine/chloramine and the rest is something you don't need to worry about. There are exceptions like if you had toxic levels of copper in your tank, but that's just not common at all.


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## mauls (Mar 25, 2004)

^
Good Posting


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## sicklid-holic (Mar 25, 2005)

bottled water is just a waste of money, dont do it.


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## Phtstrat (Sep 15, 2004)

elTwitcho said:


> Spring water is not low in buffering capacity, it's actually pretty hard usually from all the dissolved minerals. Alot of bottled water is R/O water however, which does have no buffering capacity.
> [snapback]1008868[/snapback]​


When most people say spring water, they are talking about bottled water, at least in my area. I doubt most people actually get their water directly from a spring.


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