water changes controversy

[apistomaster]

In most of the USA the tap water is fine for fish keeping.
Of course a water conditioners should always be used to neutralize chlorine and chloramine when using tap water. Only a few water utilities rely on only chlorine these days and the doses used vary widely by location, individual tech's judgment of how much is enough and for the extra doses added to pipe lines after making any repairs.
There are areas which do have exceptionally hard water or the ground water has been contaminated by agricultural use of herbicides and insecticides. The people living in these areas are well aware of any prevailing water problems and usually have incorporated RO or Deionization units but these are isolated cases.

To have the ultimate control over one's water supply then rain or RO water must be used but only the few that make up the serious fish breeders, many reef tank hobbyists and some deeply involved with aquatic gardening make routine use of pure water to be able to adjust it to their desired parameters.
So for the many who are less specialized and keep fish mainly as a casual hobby most advice must address their needs. The advanced specialist hobbyists do not need advice because they are already well versed in the water chemistry needs of their fish.

I have a 110 gal RO storage system but I only need to use pure water for certain projects at certain stages. My tap water is fine for the majority of fish. I have even bred wild Symphysodon haraldi in blue and brown forms in it and Many of my plecos breed well in my tap water like L333 and sometimes even my L134.

[Bas Pels]

How wonderfull it is not to bother about chlorine in the tap water, as using it is illegal in NL

I put a hose on the tap, and open it. After a while I close the tap, and the filling has been done

[nicofish]

Seachem won't tell you what is in Prime, but you can use the patent for Kordon AmQuel to have a pretty good guess.
I was looking for dechlorinator not ammonia remover but thanks

The amount of ammonia in the tap-water, assuming it's at the absolute limit of chloramine usage will only be about 2ppm - which means that it adds about 1 ppm NO3 if you do a 50% water change. [That's not entirely true, as NO3 is a heavier molecule than the ammonia, but essentially, it's a small amount].


I work in moles so no problem factoring weight into it. what ever I just wanted the formula for knowedge sake and for the 10 mins of entertainment writing it provided me lol. its useless with out the last bit of into I was counting on Nh3 as one of the products tho.