# how bad is it to put tap water



## KIKI (Mar 20, 2003)

How bad is is for the fish to put tap water straight into an aquarium, after a water change?The water would be roughly close to the parameters of the tank, the same ph, kh etc. and also the same temp.
I know that you usually should wait 24-48 hours before you put the tap water in the tank, but what if you dont have place to keep large amounts of water.








There would also be a good conditioner added directly with it.


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## mori0174 (Mar 31, 2004)

you will be totally fine. Many other people and myself do the exact same thing and have no problems.


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## sadboy (Jan 6, 2005)

I always go with drinking water. Spend a little cash and get yourself a few 5 gallon jugs. I spend about $2 a week on water changes but my P's are worth it. Drink water is clean and filter already. My water never smells or looks nasty.


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## KIKI (Mar 20, 2003)

sadboy1981 said:


> I always go with drinking water. Spend a little cash and get yourself a few 5 gallon jugs. I spend about $2 a week on water changes but my P's are worth it. Drink water is clean and filter already. My water never smells or looks nasty.
> [snapback]928607[/snapback]​


thanks for your reply, but 5 gallon jugs wont do it I do about a 90 gallon change on my 180 g aquarium, every week. That would cost way too much. I was thinking of getting a huge barrel to hold the water in, but have no space for it.


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## KIKI (Mar 20, 2003)

mori0174 said:


> you will be totally fine. Many other people and myself do the exact same thing and have no problems.
> [snapback]928598[/snapback]​


Thanks for reply. I know they will be fine since I have been doing that for years, and have not really noticed much. But What I wanted to know will the water change affect the fishes long term. Will they live shorter lives? Does it do something on their health over long periods of time? I cant tell by looking at them, and they llok healthy, and trust me on that one. But there maight be things happening to its body that you cant see. Meybe somebody did scientific tests on it or something like that so that somebody could share with all of us.


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## Scrappy (Oct 21, 2004)

mori0174 said:


> you will be totally fine. Many other people and myself do the exact same thing and have no problems.
> [snapback]928598[/snapback]​


Same here.


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## sadboy (Jan 6, 2005)

KIKI said:


> sadboy1981 said:
> 
> 
> > I always go with drinking water. Spend a little cash and get yourself a few 5 gallon jugs. I spend about $2 a week on water changes but my P's are worth it. Drink water is clean and filter already. My water never smells or looks nasty.
> ...


That cool but dont you think 90 is a LOT. You are doing a 50% water change a week. That is to much if you ask me. 10% to 20% a week should be fine. At 10% that would be 18 gallons and at 20% would be 36 gallons. Best of luck


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## Scrappy (Oct 21, 2004)

I do 15-20% daily changes.


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## KIKI (Mar 20, 2003)

sadboy1981 said:


> KIKI said:
> 
> 
> > sadboy1981 said:
> ...


I dont think its a lot, its about 50% of water weekly. There are many discus breeders who do 50% daily so I dont think 50% weekly is bad. But thanks anyway for the reply


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## mori0174 (Mar 31, 2004)

KIKI said:


> mori0174 said:
> 
> 
> > you will be totally fine. Many other people and myself do the exact same thing and have no problems.
> ...


I dont see how it would be bad for the fish longterm seeing as the dechlor acts very quickly. Discus breeders do change 50% a day in some cases, but they have a reason. They need perfect water conditions, and they know exactly what they are doing. 10-20% water changes a week are plenty in all reality, at least IMO.


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## hemichromis (Apr 23, 2004)

the chrloine iin tap water is vry unstable usually it is almost all out by the time it comes out of your tap and all the rest will go when the water is even slighly disturbed

dechlorater IMHO is another of those things invented to make money with little effect on the fish


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## Rikimaru (May 3, 2004)

i sometimes do a waterchange abput 50 or 60%

And i fill the tank right up with drinkingwater.

U'll be fine not to worry about.


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## cooldudectd (Mar 4, 2004)

In my personal experience, it depends on the quality of your tap water. When I first moved to Allentown, I added tap water as I always did before in my last town. Disaster!!! It was way too hard and very poor quality. My fish almost died. 
It was bottled water after that.


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## killerbee (Aug 18, 2004)

KIKI said:


> How bad is is for the fish to put tap water straight into an aquarium, after a water change?The water would be roughly close to the parameters of the tank, the same ph, kh etc. and also the same temp.
> I know that you usually should wait 24-48 hours before you put the tap water in the tank, but what if you dont have place to keep large amounts of water.
> 
> 
> ...


In my case i also just add water straight from the faucet when i do my water changes but i add "Prime" dechlorinater. I take out about 20 -30% of water with my Lee's ultimate vac (same as python) add the prime, then add the tap water. Never had any problems. I do about 2 - 3 waterchanges a week on my 60 gallon depends on their mess (i'm a clean freak, especially with black sand).


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## Scrappy (Oct 21, 2004)

I use Prime also. Great stuff because you don't need as much.


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

hemichromis said:


> dechlorater IMHO is another of those things invented to make money with little effect on the fish
> [snapback]928826[/snapback]​


I disagree... Chlorine is toxic to fish even at very low levels. There have been many hobbiests and koi keepers that have killed their entire stock when a water conditioner was not used.

Using a water conditioner in areas that have their water treated with chloramines (most major cities) is a MUST because it will not dissipated over time like chlorine. I agree that many products in our hobby are useless, but not a dechlorinator. I use $5 worth of AmQuel every week to do water changes.


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

its better safe than sorry. how much is conditioner? a large bottle is ten bucks at most, that will last a couple months on a 30-40 gallon tank.


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## ArmourCat (May 15, 2004)

I bought a pint sized genesis over a year ago and do water changes twice a week. I still have more than 3/4 of a bottle left. That stuff only takes a drop a gallon.


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## hemichromis (Apr 23, 2004)

DonH said:


> hemichromis said:
> 
> 
> > dechlorater IMHO is another of those things invented to make money with little effect on the fish
> ...


yes chlorine is toxic to pretty much anything in fact after flourine it may be the most toxic gas but it is a gas and very unstable in water i doub veery much that any would get in a tank.

however cholamines are stable in water and remain permenantly in the water therefore a dechlorinator will be required. sorry i didn;t think of tis its just very rare over here


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