To age or not

[Mgus]

I have very little swing in my ph. I've been aging my water anyways but my barel only holds enough for a 30% change. I've been doing three a week. I am wonder if it's worth doing or if I should just put straight tap water and treatment into the tank. If that's the cas I could do a couple of 60-70% changes a week and have much cleaner water. Does it take a while for the dechlorinator to be affective? I've been looking at larger barrels online and trying to decide if I should by a bigger barrel or a hose kit. Also I've been thinking of switching to seachem safe. I am using seachem flourish and was wondering if safe would have any effect on the effectiveness of the flourish.

[discuspaul]

When you say you have very little swing in your pH, does that mean that you've tested/checked the pH of your water straight out of the tap, then in your holding barrel after a day/overnite sitting there, and the pH in your tank on a regular daily basis, and you've found very little differential between those test readings ?
If that's the case, then no, I'd say you don't need to do any ageing, but can readily do your wcs right out of the tap.

Not sure what you're saying about your comment regarding Seachem Flourish - to my knowledge, that's a fertilizer product. If you mean Seachem Prime, the water conditioning/de-chlorinating agent, just keep using Prime then, it's effective immediately you use it.

[Mgus]

I've tested my tank and tap multiple times they are both always around 7.5. With the safe I was wondering where it breaks down ammonia nitrite and nitrate and detoxifies heavy metals. Was wondering if that has any affect on frets. Thanks.

[discuspaul]

I've tested my tank and tap multiple times they are both always around 7.5. With the safe I was wondering where it breaks down ammonia nitrite and nitrate and detoxifies heavy metals. Was wondering if that has any affect on frets. Thanks.


Never gave a thought to that, but I can't believe Seachem Safe would have much of an adverse effect, if any, on liquid fertilizing agents such as Flourish, if that's what you're concerned about.
But why are you using Safe rather than Prime as a conditioning/de-chlorinating agent.
I may be wrong, but I thought the 'Safe' product was an assist for producing nitrifying/beneficial bacteria, not a water conditioning agent - don't know what I'm missing here.

[Mgus]

I'm currently using api dechlorinator I've read a lot on here that most peoe prefer prime or safe for water treatment and was thinking of switching to one of them

[warblad79]

The PH will not swing that much because you're only changing 30%. Try 80%-90% water change and then test you water. BTW flourish is not dechlorinator, its actually a fertilizer. Sometimes I do 50%-70% WC straight tap plus seachem safe without issue for adult but not on juvenile fish or fry.

[Mgus]

The PH will not swing that much because you're only changing 30%. Try 80%-90% water change and then test you water. BTW flourish is not dechlorinator, its actually a fertilizer. Sometimes I do 50%-70% WC straight tap plus seachem safe without issue for adult but not on juvenile fish or fry.

My fish are sub-adult mostly in the 4.5-5" range. Out of curiosity what do you do for wc for your fry?

[pitdogg2]

I may be wrong, but I thought the 'Safe' product was an assist for producing nitrifying/beneficial bacteria, not a water conditioning agent - don't know what I'm missing here.

you're wrong Safe is dry Prime it is way more economical to use

get some read on :)

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Safe.html

[discuspaul]

you're wrong Safe is dry Prime it is way more economical to use

get some read on :)

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Safe.html

Gotcha - I believe I was thinking of a product called 'Safe Start' or something like that, which is another product that is intended to start, assist or boost the development of nitrifying bacteria for cycling a tank.
So Mgus should be using either Prime or Safe as his water conditioning/dechlorination agent.

[warblad79]

I do 60% daily with aged water and added seachem safe for 2 weeks old fry.

I do 100%- 150% daily with aged water and added seachem safe. for 4 weeks old fry.

[MadMatt]

I have very little swing in my ph. I've been aging my water anyways but my barel only holds enough for a 30% change. I've been doing three a week. I am wonder if it's worth doing or if I should just put straight tap water and treatment into the tank. If that's the cas I could do a couple of 60-70% changes a week and have much cleaner water. Does it take a while for the dechlorinator to be affective? I've been looking at larger barrels online and trying to decide if I should by a bigger barrel or a hose kit. Also I've been thinking of switching to seachem safe. I am using seachem flourish and was wondering if safe would have any effect on the effectiveness of the flourish.
1st you need to find out how much your ph is really swinging. This is what I did, I filled up a 5 gallon bucket, aerate it with a pond air stone, I tested my ph of the water with a digital ph meter ever 6 hrs for 24 hrs and recorded my results. What I discovered is my ph swing the most in the first 6 hrs. I again tested ver 2 hrs for the first 10hrs, again I discovered the ph went from 7.6 to 8.0 in the first 4-6hrs, then it takes 24-30hrs for it to go from 8.0 to 8.3.
You must learn the characteristics of your ph swing to know how it will effect your tank and the health or stress of your fish.
Eventually if your serious about keeping healthy water, you will need to have a system for making treated healthy water.
I think everyone needs to know their city waters, and how to treat it for keeping fish. Discus being one the more attention sensative aquatic life, it's important to know.
So whatever you do make sure you keep good healthy water.

Always rememeber, this; water keeps the discus ,you keep the water.

[kira ken]

IMO aged water will be always better/safer. What about a 60% water change with 30% aged water and 30% tap water. Sounds stupid since you will need to use the dechlorinator for all the water volume but why not ?. or maybe you cant start with 30-30 and see how the discus react.

[Mgus]

I was looking on Homedepot.com and they can get 55 gallon barrels if you special order them. I might go that route. I'm using a 32 gallon barrel and a five gallon bucket now.

[dprais1]

I have done 'quick aging' where I match the tank temp to the water being added to the aging barrel. The I use a pump (mag9.5) to circulate the water in the aging barrel. specifically, I pump the water through a hose and the end of the hose is at least 4" from the surface. by recirculating the water this way I can off-gas the microbubbles and probably get the pH closer to the tank pH. 30 minutes is all I need, if I am in a rush then even 10 minutes will work. 10 minutes probably solves 80% of any issues and 30 minutes probably 95%....IMO.

So, if you have the time, you can age the 32 gallons of water twice in an hour and get around 60 gallons of 'quick aged' water.

Or as kira ken suggested add in the full 32 gallons of aged water then refill the aging barrel and do a 10 minute quick age and pump it in the tank.
You should really have no issues. IMO

[Mgus]

I just picked up a 44 gallon barrel. My fish seem fine with the 32 gallon change but there's always room for improvement. What is everyone using for pumps to pump from barrel to the tank. I've been using a bucket but it makes a big mess.

[MadMatt]

I just picked up a 44 gallon barrel. My fish seem fine with the 32 gallon change but there's always room for improvement. What is everyone using for pumps to pump from barrel to the tank. I've been using a bucket but it makes a big mess.
Try to find a good used pond pump someone is selling... Jump on the transfer pump bandwagon!!!....lol. Once you got pump you never go back to bucket...lol
You only need to age for ph swings (and make sure you remove microbubbles as well, this is a given), for dechlorinating "seachem SAFE" is by the far the most effective and economical.

[Mgus]

I was just checking out safe on kensfish $30 worth will last me a decade!

[MadMatt]

I was just checking out safe on kensfish $30 worth will last me a decade!

You got it buddy!
Seachem SAFE is the way to fly, cheap cheap, helps you save money so you can spend more on discus!
:)