Aging well water

[nattyjane]

Can anybody tell me what the advantage to aging well water, which is of course not chlorinated would be?

[LizStreithorst]

It's to make the pH stable. Most well water has a lower pH because it has more CO2 in it. If you gas that water off with an air stone it will be the same as the pH in your fish tank. A constant up and down of pH is stressful to Discus and makes them not do as well and also more acceptable to pathogens that always are in even chlorinated water.

[LizStreithorst]

By the way nattyjane, welcome to the forum.

[RogueDiscus]

Aging is usually used to allow dissolved CO2, which comes from the pressure in most systems, to be released. Like a Coke bottle, only less obvious. This usually results in some degree of pH change. Discus like stable pH, whatever it is, so the aging allows time for it to stabilize. I'm on a well, too, and assuming you have a pressure tank, you'll get some dissolved CO2. It's recommended to fill a container from the tap, test the pH, then wait 24 hours and test the container again to see what the pH change was. Any more than about .2 and folks recommend aging. It has nothing to do with chlorine, which needs to be treated for separately, but that is a nice thing about well water.

Liz beat me to it, but I'll leave this.

[LizStreithorst]

Steve, the only thing I have to add to what you said is that you should re-test the water after having tossed a bubbler in it. And depending on the size of the container I wait 12 hours.

[nattyjane]

Thank you very much Liz and RogueDiscus! This is very helpful.

[LizStreithorst]

Let us know what your water's swing is. I had just a swing of .4 and over time I could see the Discus becoming stressed. That's when I started aging.

[brewmaster15]

My well water goes from pH 6.5 to 7.8 ... I need to age it to off gas the co2.
al

[LizStreithorst]

Wow, that's a huge swing.

[brewmaster15]

yeah.. my fish really hate it if I skimp on the aging and fry go belly up.
Al

[Second Hand Pat]

The ph swing with my well water is 7.4 to 8.2 and requires four hours to age.
Pat

[4eye gold fish]

will aging eliminate micro bubbles by gas off dissolved CO2?

thanks,

[danotaylor]

will aging eliminate micro bubbles by gas off dissolved CO2?

thanks,

Yes, that is a great benefit of aging water!

[nattyjane]

I tested the aquarium water versus water straight from the tap and they both show in the same range (the very highest) but that really doesn’t tell me what the swing is. I’m just going to start aging the water now until I can find a more precise test kit. Can you offer any tips on making this process practical in the home? For now I’ve just got a couple of buckets of water in the bathroom for tonight’s water change.

[bluelagoon]

Try to find food grade drum/barrel. You can find those on sites like kijiji for about $25. Some folks use bubber maid totes. Pumps make WC's A breeze. I would not do without them.