Tap line from cold water straight into tank?

[GregDoug]

I am back to starting a discus only tank after the last 20 years in salt tanks mostly. I had a planted discus tank with neon tetras a few years ago (poor discus growth and lower temps then discus like), but sold it off when I moved. The new tank is going to be a 125 gallon tank, bare bottom, with air driven sponges, heaters, and maybe a canister filter if needed.

The question/idea that I can not seem to find posted is a tank that drips water from a water line (like an ice maker on your refrigerator) directly into the tank (with a valve to control rate), and the tank would be drilled to allow run off to enter the drain. My water from the tap is as follows, and no adjustments could be made using this method: (max values are higher I assume)

nitrate 20
nitrite 0
hardness 300 (max test reads)
chlorine 0
alkalinity 300 (max test reads)
PH 8.4 (max test reads)

I am on water (from the public utility), which states the following: "Water is pumped from wells on the aquifer and softened. Chlorine is added for disinfection, fluoride is added for dental health, and zinc orthophosphate is added for corrosion control."

Usually, I would age water for a day in a large garbage can, do a water change, then refill from the rubbermaid can. It is labor intensive to some degree but allows for a 50% water change per day (two cans, 1x each can morning/night)

This would allow a volume of water to go from tap to tank to drain everyday, 24 hours a day, with the heaters being set to keep temp steady. The only other "special" water that leaves the tank is the daily suction from bare bottom tank. The water level would decrease but raise again within an hour.

As far as water cost, I can use 2500 gallons per month for free, so about 100 gallons per day (each 750 gallons extra costs $5)

My biggest concern is not knowing some sort of yearly dose of chlorine or something else coming from line. I have read about people having tanks wiped out with unexpected tap water changes (but I dont think most people test water in rubbermaid each day do they?)

Thoughts? There are pro's and con's to this idea but couldn't find any threads where others have tried this.

[jeep]

Chlorine is a concern. You can get around this by using a carbon block pre-filter. If the water company adds chloramines then no pre-filter will neutralize. I'd also be concerned about maintaining a stable temperature if you're doing a constant flow. Inline heater? 20ppm nitrates is pretty high as well...

[Second Hand Pat]

Greg, this is basically a drip system? Another concern is do you have a ph swing when aging water? If you do, exposing the fish to a constantly changing ph can be a stress factor for the fish and perhaps detrimental over time.
Pat

[kev1310]

I'm contemplating something similar here Pat, the theory being that with water constantly being trickled in the PH will be even more stable than ageing water and doing a water change once a day or once a week etc.

[danotaylor]

the pH issue aside I'm not a fan of the drip system. It doesn't adequately reduce nitrates in my opinion because the clean water is mixing with dirty water before water is discharged to the drain.with traditional water changes dirty water is removed first and then clean water is added to the tank thus reducing the nitrate load with a direct correlation to the percentage of water being changed. The drip system does not achieve this and therefore nitrates will always be on the rise and this is not good for discus.

[GregDoug]

My water hardness goes from around 300 to 50 after 24 hours but everything else remains the same (the house has a water softener, I will test again in a few days and see if it changes). Daniel I am in Cincinnati but live in a small area that does not use Cincinnati Water works. Assuming though our water is coming from the same area sort of, does your tap run a Ph above 8? Does aging it change any of the water values for you? Kev, your post is exactly my thought, the Ph or other factors are from the tap, and not sitting long enough in tank to make a difference. In a simple math way (I know it doesn't take into account percentage of the actual odds). Lets say the tank is 100 gallons, lets say you replace 10% (10gallons) per hour, total tank turn around is 240% per day, lets assume half as much due to dilution, it would still be a 100% wc per day, all automatic 365 days a year. With that being said, I am going to just use the typical method as I have less experience than most and there must be a reason why so few use this method.

[kev1310]

Hi Greg, water out of the tap here is PH 7.4 but after degassing and ageing for 24 hours this goes up to 8.3, this high PH doesn't seem to bother discus at all. The PH naturally falls over time in fish systems though due to biological activity so the longer the period between water changes the more the PH swing when you do one.

I do agree with Daniel that with drip systems you would need to change more water per day as a percentage of the water running to waste will be fresh water, although this can be allowed for. If I was just changing water on one or two tanks then I'd probably stay manual, but in a couple of weeks time I'll be up at around 18 tanks or so (not all discus) and apart from spending the best part of an hour and a half a night water changing, I have run out of capacity for ageing water. It makes much more sense just to trickle water directly in from a HMA filter. I'll still have bases to vacuum but it will save me a lot of work every day.

[bluelagoon]

I'm wonder if a water softener is good for discus. What is added to recharge this softener to soften the water?

[jeep]

I'm wonder if a water softener is good for discus. What is added to recharge this softener to soften the water?

Typically, they are not. Most softeners use salt, some use potassium, and you basically end up with something similar to RO water with no trace minerals and high levels of sodium or potassium. I always recommend people bypass the softener and use straight tap.

[pastry]

Just thinking outside of the box, and it might appear mean, but do you have one or two discus that you don't care about? they can always be guinea pigs... again, sorry, I like to think I am Humane but for an experiment like this and with experience he has oh, I'm fairly confident he'll be able to see any stress on the fish and move them back to normal before any fish gets killed. At the same time, of course there is always risk involved.