What is the main reason for aging water
Dee
Printable View
What is the main reason for aging water
Dee
Two reasons Dee, first is to handle any ph swing and the second is gassing off any CO2 and/or Chlorine. Proper aging requires that an airstone is added to the water change barrow to gas off any CO2 and/or Chlorine. If you read around you will see a stable ph is recommended. Subjecting discus to a ph swing during a water change is a stressor to the fish and can affect them health wise over time.
I personally go thru between 80 to 160 gallons per day depending on which tank is due for a water change. I am running two 75s and two 40s. The two 40s have growouts and those fish get two water changes a day (yes, they are BB). The 75s have adult wilds which get a 50% every other day. My aging time is about four hours to handle the ph swing. My ph out of tap is 7.4 and in four hours raises to 8.2. However I age longer to get the temp in the aging barrow up to the tank temp.
hths,
Pat
Usually, any aquarium can handle a 25% WC from the tap with no issues. When volumes are greater, lets say 50% or more, it may have a greater ph swing and more CO2 and less O2 in many cases. You can see these micro bubbles on objects and class after a large unaged WC. Discus require these big WC's; that's why it is preached. Fish going in a higher Ph from low is safer than going into a lower from higher ph.
Pat
Curious have you ever aged without an air stone?
I'd be curious to know how your pH moves in the same time period without airation
Lastly what is the pH in your tank prior to a water change
I do a constant drip changing about 25 to 30% daily.
My tap is 7.0 pH
My tanks are 5.5 pH
Hi John, I have just always used a airstone. :D No sure what the ph is in the tanks, guessing around 8.0. I run my water thru a carbon block and sediment filter before use as my well water has a fair amount of junk in it. Once I get my big tank up and running again I will return to using an R0/tap mix where I generally run a ph of about 4 or so for the wilds.
Pat
Reason I asked is that heavy aeration with no bioload would raise the pH of my tap.
Have you considered a small circulation pump instead to evenly heat and agitate the water.
This is a curiosity on my end never having aged water.
A pump or an air stone work the same.
Again I've never aged water but I would think that an air stone would saturate the water with oxygen more than a small pump, especially if you don't have the pump breaking the surface with its output. . And if the goal is to have the pH head in the opposite direction?
Not saying I'm right by any means... Just curious about others experiences
Pat how are you getting your ph from 8 to 4 and managing to be consistent
Dee
Dee, I use a RO/tap mix of about 2/3 to 1/3 (I think, it has been awhile) to target a TDS of about 40 and a KH of 4 or so for the mix (every ones water is different). Now you add either RO Right or Discus Essentials to bring the TDS to about 70. If you are growing out Altums you bring the TDS to 100. Basically you want to raise the GH, not the KH. Altums need the extra minerals to prevent fin breakage. You start using this mix for your WC water and target a 50% WC once a week. Please note that is on a 230 gallon tank with a low bio-load (about 12 wild discus). You will see the ph slowly drift down using a calibrated PH monitor. As the ph drifts down you could increase the KH to counter the ph downward drift. Note that this took awhile in my particular setup and you must monitor ph and kh over time.
I would think that smaller tanks with different bio-loads could affect the ph and should be carefully monitored.
Pat
Do you use a water treatment to remove all the chemicals that are being added to the water nowadays
Dee
Just dechlorinator. If the water devoid of chlorine is not good for Discus with that alone they let us know. It is then we start exploring more options. Generally, nothing more in needed.
I've used both powerheads and airstones to condition water. Now, I just use an airstone. Amazingly, one airstone can deaerate 125 gal of water in 24 hours.
Willie
Well then I'll take it that water chemistry reacts differently throughout the country.
My impression that aggressive aeration raises pH was from an aquarium I was setting up quite a few years ago. I had multiple airstones set up in it and was letting it run prior to adding fish and within 2 days the pH had risen from 7 to 8.4. When I questioned a marine biologist he told me that it was more than likely caused by the aeration.
Anywho... I don't age water anyway but I'll update the mental database.
Greetings, after the water has been aged 24 hours, and the tank has been drained to the specific water level. What's the flow rate for adding the aged water back to the aquarium?