to age or not to age

[cyang]

I have done some searches on the forum but all the stuff I found seems to confuse me more. So…here is my layout for my first discus tank. Let me know what you guys think.

75 gallon aquarium
7 Discus (3.5”)
20-30% daily water change (less than 20 gallons)
Aged water in barrel – aerated with airstone and heated for about 24 hrs

What kind of barrel do you use? I saw some online (baytech etc) but would rather just buy barrels/containers from Lowes or Home Depot to avoid shipping.

How do you guys transfer aged water from the barrel/storage into the aquarium? Powerhead? Water pump? Please let me know what works best for you.

Lastly, let's say I am changing only 20% (15 gallons) daily. Do I even need to age my water if I change such a little portion of the 75 gallon aquarium? I don't think my ph fluctuates. I compared my tap water and my aged aquarium water with ph strips and it was the same color. I know the strips aren't as accurate, but if they are pretty similar is it still ok? After adding water (dechlorinated) straight from tap, the temp shouldn't fluctuate more than 3 degrees and would be heated pretty fast since I have two 250w heaters on a temp controller.

I'm getting my discus from Mike at central ohio discus, and he told me that he uses decholrinated water straight from tap and the fish don't seem to mind.

So is it even worth aging my water? :confused:

Thanks in advance. This is the last big hurdle before my fish arrive on Friday. This forum is a GREAT source of information.

[Lexopt]

I'm fairly new at the discus game, but I like to age my water just to be sure. I also do 50-60% changes, maybe 20-30% would be different.

I have my holding tank (an old 55g aquarium) on a 6.5 ft tall platform, so I just siphon the water and let gravity do the work. The fill rate into your discus tank may also be a factor, mine is pretty fast, ~40 gallons in 5 minutes.

good luck with your fish.

[cyang]

Yeah I am leaning towards aging. But it would be much less $$ and hassle if I could just go straight from tap. Not to mention less of an eyesore of having a huge barrel in my living room (keeping the barrel far away and hidden is even more of a hassle). Anyone have any experience with water straight from tap?

I'm happy to age water if the fish need it, but but I hope they don't!

[pcsb23]

Chaz,

3 degree of farenheit isn't too big a swing. For smallish water changes straight from the tap it is doable, it carries a higher risk, albeit small, than using aged water. Always add the dechlor before the new water.

[cyang]

I could try both ways and see how the fish react...

Anyone else have any similar experiences?

[DiscusOnly]

Everyone's water is different. Just because someone can use water from the tap doesn't mean it will work for you. I use straight tap water from my faucet @84 degree and I haven't had a problem so far. I do WC almost every other day @60 % on my 75gal (only thing I add is prime). I am trying to keep everything as simple as possible. I just don't have the room to age 150gal of water.

There isn't going to be a correct answer.. it all depends on your water.

[cyang]

For those who have storage barrels, would a powerhead work for getting the aged water into the aquarium?

[Peachtree Discus]

a powerhead could be used to start a gravity flow (siphon), but likely not push (or pull) water thru a hose to fill a tank. someone correct me if i am wrong.

get u a submersible pond pump. welcome to the "pumps and hoses"

[Harriett]

Yeah I am leaning towards aging. But it would be much less $$ and hassle if I could just go straight from tap. Not to mention less of an eyesore of having a huge barrel in my living room (keeping the barrel far away and hidden is even more of a hassle). Anyone have any experience with water straight from tap?

I'm happy to age water if the fish need it, but but I hope they don't!

Depends on your water where you live. I live in Evanston, just north of Chicago and I use direct tap. I have researched the city water parameters and check them at home--I know they are safe. I regularly change about 70% or so from any tank without problems. I also watch my fish when I do changes so if there is an issue, I would catch it immediately. In the spring and fall when the weather first changes, I know to be careful and do smaller changes because the city changes their procedures for a period, based on expected bacterial changes and that is when I might expect an issue--this method came directly from Cary strong in Detroit and it has been gold for me. I have been doing it this way with discus for 7-8 years and it's been fine. I do not age. The big barrel aging deal in the living room was more than I wanted to deal with.
Best regards
Harriett

[sharkscott2]

If it was practical for me to age my water I would. Currently I'm on well water I python it out and python it directly back in. I don't have any chlorine in my water. I do daily 25-30% water changes for the juvies that I'm growing out. I've seen no ill effects on my discus.

[Ed13]

I like to use a powerhead or a small pump to move the water and aerate it.
I recommend aging but, not to release chlorine rather to measure and match temp or other params as necessary and to make sure its good water. You never know when the water co. adds extra chlorine or is doing work making the water cloudy

[AADiscus]

I would suggest every other day wc's that are large vs small ones every day. IMO The discus really love that fresh water and a large wc. We have a pump in our tubs for filling tanks. We don't use powers heads to circulate or to fill. It is all pumps. You can find a good pump at Lowe's or home depot, they are alot cheaper there.

We are lucky enough that our water quality is not that bad here. But remember, (like already said) everyones water is different. You have to figure out what works best for you!

[calihawker]

I do both. For my 60 gallon grow out tank I age in a barrel for a 75% w/c. My 300 gallon display however I can't age enough water so I go straight from the tap and use prime.
It's already been said, it really depends on your situation. I have great water for discus and a fish room for barrels.

One of the coolest gadgets I have for running water straight from the tap is called a thrumometer. Just run the tap water line through it and you can easily and accurately dial in the water temp. It's a thing we use for brewing beer and I think you can get one for under 30 bucks.

Here's a picture.

[susantroy1]

I age mine for 24 hrs with a mix of 50% Tap and 50% R/O (bad liquid rock here) I use the BRUTE Cans that you find at Lowe's/HD and are 40-45 Gal. I have two, one to receive the R/O in the garage. and the other is on caster wheels that moves easily around the house (Display in family room and Grow out in spare room) after aging, I do 30% WCs on grow out tank (55G) daily and 40-45 G on display every 2nd or 3rd day. I also us a 1/2HP submersible pump to transfer the H20 from barrel to barrel (takes minutes to transfer 40-45 G). I also use prime even though its aged (better safe than sorry).

All The Best

Troy

[cyang]

What kind of parameters is sufficient for straight to tap? I want to test my water and compare it to some of yours to see if I can do this. Though in the winter I would have to age b/c it gets COLD in Indiana.

My KH/Alkalinity is high around 300 and my DH is fairly hard around 120-180 ppm. Thus, my pH remains fairly stable, but fairly high. I ran out of liquid tests and am going to get some for my pH, but my test strips currently read at around 7.5-8 (but I can't really tell b/c test strips suck). My aged water and my tap water have the same pH.

How about you guys?

[susantroy1]

50/50 mix R/O/Tap : PH: 6.5, KH: 5 GH: 7-8

Straight Tap: PH: 7.5-8 KH: 11-12 GH: 14 (reason why I now use 50/50 Mix)

All The Best

Troy
















;

[Don Trinko]

IMO I would be concerened abought 3 things;
1. if there is clorine or cloramines you need to chemicaly remove (clorine or cloramines) or age. ( clorine)
2. Water temp should be close (2 degrees?)
3. PH should be close. (.5?)
If ph and temp are not close I would refill slowly so the tank ph/temp change would be slow. In no case would I ever want the final ph to be more than -.5 from the original tank ph or the final temp to be less than 82. Don T.

[Crstfr]

. Anyone have any experience with water straight from tap?




That's all i use is tap water. I run a python from the spicket outside. My tap is close to 8, but with my c02 i keep it at about 6.3-6.7. temp about 82..I only do 15% water change once a week. I have a 72bow. i've tried larger waterchanges but the ph swing is to bad.. so i have it down to 15%. this picture is only about a 3weeks old. the pants are filling in nice, i'll try and get an updated pic. i use to run 20 miles to pick up RO water....and then pay for it! .. ..if you can aclimate your fish to tap... make the switch~

[Riche_guy]

It cost money to heat these barrels especially in colder climates. Since I've been keeping more tanks and two barrels that are kept at 85 all year long, my hydro bill is out the roof.