What is better for the aging barrel - hot or cold tap water?

[CammieTime]

What should I put in my water aging barrel - hot tap water or cold tap water? Which contains more dissolved solids? At my house both are soft.

[Paul Sabucchi]

Really interested to hear the answer... As I am planning my 1st discus tank. For both my 120 gal mbuna tanks in winter I have been putting 40gal warm water in the aging barrell. I leave it overnight with a head pump (and a heap of baking soda and epsom salts) so the following morning it is at the right temperature and ready to use. I think hot water sheds the excess gas a lot quicker than cold (obviously, as any high scool physics teacher will waste his time trying to explain to his students). My water pressure is quite high and if I use the water at 70 C it actually "fizzes" to start. Within 6 hours the pH will have risen by 0.4 and stabilized. As I would like to set up a 90 gal to grow out 10 or so juvies I know that for them to reach their full potential over the folliwing year I am planning to change 45 gal daily. If I had to warm the water up from stone cold it would be a major pain in the backside...

[Akili]

I usually fill my aging barrels with warmer water than my tanks and after 24 hours of aging the temperature has dropped to what I want.I do have heaters in my barrels which do not let the temperature go below 82 degrees.

[Paul Sabucchi]

Really interested to hear the answer... As I am planning my 1st discus tank. For both my 120 gal mbuna tanks in winter I have been putting 40gal warm water in the aging barrell. I leave it overnight with a head pump (and a heap of baking soda and epsom salts) so the following morning it is at the right temperature and ready to use (I stick a heater in too, just to ensure the temp does not drop too low). I think hot water sheds the excess gas a lot quicker than cold (obviously, as any high scool physics teacher will waste his time trying to explain to his students). My water pressure is quite high and if I use the water at 70 C it actually "fizzes" to start. Within 6 hours the pH will have risen by 0.4 and stabilized. As I would like to set up a 90 gal to grow out 10 or so juvies I know that for them to reach their full potential over the folliwing year I am planning to change 45 gal daily. If I had to warm the water up from stone cold it would be a major pain in the backside...
By the way my gas boiler has a stainless steel heat exchanger (not copper) and all my pipes are the modern multilayer kind, the inside is some kind of PVC plastic. Ciao

[Phillydubs]

If you are aging your water then it doesn't really matter... The point of the age is to let this all gas off and settle anyways. So you can add what you like after 24 hrs it should settle at the same figures no matter what...

You may want to factor in cost, but again, I think it may be minimal. If you think its cheaper to pump 80 degree water in from the tap then letting your heater do the work to bring say 60 degree water in then go that route.

I don't have the option. My filling station is in our show boiler room here at work... Depends on the time of year, sometimes the water comes out 70 degrees other times 50, I fill it, turn on the air stone and heaters and 24 hrs later I am good to go.

[BmoreBraap]

Sometimes hot water will have a much higher metal/copper count especially if you have copper piping...

[BmoreBraap]

If you are aging your water then it doesn't really matter... The point of the age is to let this all gas off and settle anyways. So you can add what you like after 24 hrs it should settle at the same figures no matter what...

You may want to factor in cost, but again, I think it may be minimal. If you think its cheaper to pump 80 degree water in from the tap then letting your heater do the work to bring say 60 degree water in then go that route.

I don't have the option. My filling station is in our show boiler room here at work... Depends on the time of year, sometimes the water comes out 70 degrees other times 50, I fill it, turn on the air stone and heaters and 24 hrs later I am good to go.

Just curious why you add the air stone to your aged water...does it really help the oxygen count even if you have air stones in the tank?

[TexMoHoosier]

Warmer water will have less dissolved gases and more dissolved solids and cooler water will have more dissolved gases and less dissolved solids, so it depends on your plumbing. I prefer to use slightly warmer water and allow it to cool to my tank temp. Instead of ageing for 24 hours running a heater and pump, i run a pump only for an hour or 2.

[RogueDiscus]

If you know your water is soft (do you have a tds meter?) solids may not be an issue, but it may be worth checking. I have hard well water, 380 ppm today cold, but my hot water is at 720 ppm. I may need a new water heater soon, too.

[DJW]

If you know your water is soft (do you have a tds meter?) solids may not be an issue, but it may be worth checking. I have hard well water, 380 ppm today cold, but my hot water is at 720 ppm. I may need a new water heater soon, too.

You should check your TDS meter to see if it has temperature compensation. Some don't compensate and will give a higher (false) reading in warmer water, and a reading that is too low in cold water.

[Paul Sabucchi]

I am lucky enough to have soft mains water, 100 ppm and KH = 3 (measured in cold tap water) and as mentioned no copper in my water plumbing so I should be ok. Over here it is a lot cheaper to use water heated by the gas boiler rather than by the electric immersion heater (by the time i set up the discus tank I will already have over 1000w of heaters in the fish tanks alone). Ciao

[Akili]

Just curious why you add the air stone to your aged water...does it really help the oxygen count even if you have air stones in the tank?An airstone in a aging barrel helps to get rid of the micro bubbles and balance out the pH, also gets rid of chlorine in your tap water.

[Neptune]

your TDS may not be a whole lot different from the hot to cold. A typical house has one incoming water main and the same water source is split to the water heater.
Warmer water holds less gas than cooler, but your TDS's may be closer than you think because they both come from the same source.

[Kyla]

i have been using cold water but it gets so cold that i am afraid to even put the heater in until the next day... i was worried the hot water would pick up metals in the hot water tank... but my hot water tank is new and the water runs clear when i drain it, so maybe i will try warm water next time

[CammieTime]

What should I put in my water aging barrel - hot tap water or cold tap water? Which contains more dissolved solids? At my house both are soft.

I meant dissolved gases, not solids.

[BmoreBraap]

An airstone in a aging barrel helps to get rid of the micro bubbles and balance out the pH, also gets rid of chlorine in your tap water.

Thank you, good to know.