please tell my dad how to age discus water.

[discusjoe27]

he thinks I should just dump the water in then squirt prime in. I told I need a rubber maid big round container to age discus water in. he goes well isn't that just like putting water in the tank and going though a cycle. GRR:mad: no offence to petco/smart but he listen to those people and won't come here to ask questions and get answers to questions. to him discus are goldfish. :(

exp. a girl at petco told my dad to get amquel because it a ammonia,chlorine etc killer, and prime
just helps with fishes slime coat.. grr

[DiscusOnly]

It all depends on the condition of your tap water. There are quite a few of folks here that uses strait tap water for WC.

[Elite Aquaria]

It depends on your PH...My tap comes in at 7.4 and my tanks are always at 6.5. When I do a 50% water change that changes my PH by about .4. I never age my water for my grow outs....

Now breeders and fry tanks are completely different. I have 2 55 gallon storage tanks one with pure RO the other is a mixing tank. I mix 60% RO to 40% tap then I age it for at least 24 hours and I let the water temp settle to room temp. I do not use heaters since I live in Florida.

[discusjoe27]

It depends on your PH...My tap comes in at 7.4 and my tanks are always at 6.5. When I do a 50% water change that changes my PH by about .4. I never age my water for my grow outs....

Now breeders and fry tanks are completely different. I have 2 55 gallon storage tanks one with pure RO the other is a mixing tank. I mix 60% RO to 40% tap then I age it for at least 24 hours and I let the water temp settle to room temp. I do not use heaters since I live in Florida.

thanks, think you might be able to help with my sick discus questions,
;)

[Elite Aquaria]

There are many others who know far more than I do regarding sickness...Not an area, knock on wood that I have a lot of experience.

[rickztahone]

i use straight from tap water and add prime to the transport barrel, that's all

[discusjoe27]

thanks, hope I can get my tank under control my friend is interested in it:confused:

[Daniella]

Prime is a complete conditioner. It neutralize ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. It nutrilize chlorine and chloramine and provide slime coat protection.

no need to age water when using prime. One can just add Prime to the aquarium and slowly fill it with tap water. I do that for my quarantine tank for 2 months now and have no problem but I refill slowly and at the same water temperature. I do this 2 times a day, about 80% of the water.

I see no point of using a water conditioner if you are aging your water unless your tap water contain chloramine. You should first contact your local water supply company and ask them to confirm if they add chloramine or not. My tap water contain only chlorine and in such small quantity that my water company says it is gone in 3 hours or so.

I am not sure what you mean by "like putting the water in the tank and going though a cycle" ??

Do you mean that you think that adding tap water will kill your biofilter? If you use Prime while refilling your tank, you must add enough prime for the full tank. So if it is 100 gallon, you must put 2 full cap of Prime. If you add Prime before putting it in the tank, then you only add the amount that you need for the quantity of water.



he thinks I should just dump the water in then squirt prime in. I told I need a rubber maid big round container to age discus water in. he goes well isn't that just like putting water in the tank and going though a cycle. GRR:mad: no offence to petco/smart but he listen to those people and won't come here to ask questions and get answers to questions. to him discus are goldfish. :(

exp. a girl at petco told my dad to get amquel because it a ammonia,chlorine etc killer, and prime
just helps with fishes slime coat.. grr

[Daniella]

If your fish are sick then that's another story. You should probably get some help with that first.


thanks, think you might be able to help with my sick discus questions,
;)

[Ardan]

I see no point of using a water conditioner if you are aging your water unless your tap water contain chloramine. You should first contact your local water supply company and ask them to confirm if they add chloramine or not. My tap water contain only chlorine and in such small quantity that my water company says it is gone in 3 hours or so.



A note of caution: My water only contains chlorine (usually in small amounts) so I use to only age the water to dissipate the chlorine. But, one time the water company increased the chlorine dramatically because of some work they were doing on a water tank. I used the aged water and lost all my discus.

Now I always use a dechlor agent.

hth
Ardan

[Daniella]

How long has you aged that water? Is not chlorine supposed to be evaporated from the water if aerated in 24 hour max no matter the amount it is? How much chlorine was in that treated water that killed your fish? And how much of the water had you changed?

Is it not better to buy a chlorine test instead of having to spend money on dechlorinator constantly? The man which I buy my discus from is never using dechlorinator. He's using only aged water and RO water for breeding discus only. He never had a single loss due to aged water. I guess this is something quite rare. Also the advantage of doing more frequant water change in less amount instead of doing hudge water change once or twice a week.




A note of caution: My water only contains chlorine (usually in small amounts) so I use to only age the water to dissipate the chlorine. But, one time the water company increased the chlorine dramatically because of some work they were doing on a water tank. I used the aged water and lost all my discus.

Now I always use a dechlor agent.

hth
Ardan

[Chad Hughes]

I have heard of many people just aging their water to gas off the chlorine. It's true that within about 24 hours, the chlorine gas will come out of the water. Although that works for some, I wouldn't recommend it if you do not have an extremely intimate knowledge of what is in your water. City water has more than just chlorine. I promise. Using a conditioner (like Prime) does more than just make chlorinated water safe. It nuetralizes heavy metals and guards against ammonia. It makes the water safe wihtout having to guess what's in the water to begin with. Naturally it won't due much for water contaminated with pesticides or other contaminants.

The only real reason to age water is to achieve the true Ph of the water once the CO2 content of the water is released and the Ph stabalizes. Some poeple do not have high levels of CO2 in their water and do not experience huge spikes in Ph once the water sits for a day. That being said, they can use their tap water straight from the tap. All you really need is a conditioner to deal with any chlorine and such.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes!

[rickztahone]

Prime is a complete conditioner. It neutralize ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. It nutrilize chlorine and chloramine and provide slime coat protection.

no need to age water when using prime. One can just add Prime to the aquarium and slowly fill it with tap water. I do that for my quarantine tank for 2 months now and have no problem but I refill slowly and at the same water temperature. I do this 2 times a day, about 80% of the water.

I see no point of using a water conditioner if you are aging your water unless your tap water contain chloramine. You should first contact your local water supply company and ask them to confirm if they add chloramine or not. My tap water contain only chlorine and in such small quantity that my water company says it is gone in 3 hours or so.

I am not sure what you mean by "like putting the water in the tank and going though a cycle" ??

Do you mean that you think that adding tap water will kill your biofilter? If you use Prime while refilling your tank, you must add enough prime for the full tank. So if it is 100 gallon, you must put 2 full cap of Prime. If you add Prime before putting it in the tank, then you only add the amount that you need for the quantity of water.


I have heard of many people just aging their water to gas off the chlorine. It's true that within about 24 hours, the chlorine gas will come out of the water. Although that works for some, I wouldn't recommend it if you do not have an extremely intimate knowledge of what is in your water. City water has more than just chlorine. I promise. Using a conditioner (like Prime) does more than just make chlorinated water safe. It nuetralizes heavy metals and guards against ammonia. It makes the water safe wihtout having to guess what's in the water to begin with. Naturally it won't due much for water contaminated with pesticides or other contaminants.

The only real reason to age water is to achieve the true Ph of the water once the CO2 content of the water is released and the Ph stabalizes. Some poeple do not have high levels of CO2 in their water and do not experience huge spikes in Ph once the water sits for a day. That being said, they can use their tap water straight from the tap. All you really need is a conditioner to deal with any chlorine and such.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes!

i must agree with Chad here. many people have unstable pH and that is the reason they need to age the water. if you up and tell them that there is no need for it then you are setting up other members that might not know the actual parameters to their water to problems. pH swings are no joke and are a big contributor in taking discus lives. always check pH if you are not sure if your pH is stable. if it is then yes you can use it without aging (which i do, but i still use Prime).

[Daniella]

When we did not have prime or all of the other stuff that we have today, people were still keeping discus successfully. heavy metal were even worse than today I think since there were less awareness for these many years ago.

Are we getting slave of these products like Prime? We used to do fine without them. I never used them before when I had my aquarium and never had a problem.


I have heard of many people just aging their water to gas off the chlorine. It's true that within about 24 hours, the chlorine gas will come out of the water. Although that works for some, I wouldn't recommend it if you do not have an extremely intimate knowledge of what is in your water. City water has more than just chlorine. I promise. Using a conditioner (like Prime) does more than just make chlorinated water safe. It nuetralizes heavy metals and guards against ammonia. It makes the water safe wihtout having to guess what's in the water to begin with. Naturally it won't due much for water contaminated with pesticides or other contaminants.

The only real reason to age water is to achieve the true Ph of the water once the CO2 content of the water is released and the Ph stabalizes. Some poeple do not have high levels of CO2 in their water and do not experience huge spikes in Ph once the water sits for a day. That being said, they can use their tap water straight from the tap. All you really need is a conditioner to deal with any chlorine and such.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes!

[Daniella]

are you saying that we must absolutely age the water or the Ph might swing? what about those hundreds of people using python and directly pouring tap into the tank with dechlorinator? that's what I do often. Dechlorinator won't fix Ph. So in any case, if you age the water you do not need dechlorinator to fix the Ph. You only need it if you have chloramine or heavy metal.

Is heavy metal so much of a problem? then I would not drink that water myself if it was.




i must agree with Chad here. many people have unstable pH and that is the reason they need to age the water. if you up and tell them that there is no need for it then you are setting up other members that might not know the actual parameters to their water to problems. pH swings are no joke and are a big contributor in taking discus lives. always check pH if you are not sure if your pH is stable. if it is then yes you can use it without aging (which i do, but i still use Prime).

[yim11]

I think it’s all relative, 5-10 yrs ago we did not have to deal with chloramines, now we do.

Many years ago there were significantly less hobbyist breeding discus, now keepers get eggs when they aren't even expecting it. This could be explained in part with water conditions and treatments from then vs. now.

The more city utilities change the water conditions the more we will be dependent on chemicals to offset those changes.

-jim



When we did not have prime or all of the other stuff that we have today, people were still keeping discus successfully. heavy metal were even worse than today I think since there were less awareness for these many years ago.

Are we getting slave of these products like Prime? We used to do fine without them. I never used them before when I had my aquarium and never had a problem.

[DiscusOnly]

If I look a water report in my county from 5 years ago, they don't even list Chlorine as being used but I am sure that it was used as TTHMS was the byproduct. Maybe it was a different reporting method or a lower dosages.

2002 - 2004 without listing Chlorine as disinfectants.

TTHMs
2002 - .45 - 27.71 (ppb)
2003 - 2.82 - 20.62 (ppb)
2004 - 1.87 - 34.33 (ppb)

2005 - 2007 with listing Chlorine as disinfectants.

TTHMs
2005 - 10 - 29 (ppb)
2006 - 10 - 29 (ppb)
2007 - 10 - 24 (ppb)

[rickztahone]

are you saying that we must absolutely age the water or the Ph might swing?



with all due respect, you need to read carefully before you snap at someone. the advice you give i thought might hinder beginners into thinking that all of them could just add water from tap which is not the case. you say that before nobody use to age water and what-not but look at the stock we deal with now-a-days. why not do everything possible to make them grow to their full potential? there are people that pH swings and those are the ones that need to age their water. if you do not believe me, use the search function here and find out yourself. have you ever tried to add straight tap water to your tank? i have, and believe me they start breathing heavy and stress bars show and you know there is something wrong. from what you wrote it seems like you are encouraging everybody to do the same.

[texasdiscusman]

If your using city water.One day you will caught in a pipe burn out and you will be sorry.If your not aging your water

[Ardan]

How long has you aged that water?
I aged the water 24 hrs with aeration (although the aeration was not as strong as usual...)

If I remember correctly the chlorine was normally .3 ppm chorine. On this day it was 3.0+ ppm chlorine (my kit did not go higher). I did a quick 75% WC and went outside. I think it was a couple hours later (maybe 3?) I came in, fish were gasping laying on the bottom, some were gasping at the surface. It was too late , the gills were burnt.

The ppm was comfirmed by the city chemist.


*** Important note on aging water for ph stability. (mostly for well water, but can be for other sources.
IF THE PH is NOT stable , meaning
A. take a sample from the tap, measure the ph
B. leave the water sit in a bucket overnigh with aeration
C. check the ph
D. if the ph has changed more than .2 then you have unstable ph (probably because it is high in CO2)( the more it changes, the more you need to worry about it)
E. if it is unstable, then you need to "age the water in a water barrel with aeration/ circulation (pumps can be used) to "offgas the CO2"

* If the ph is stable and does Not change overnight in the bucket, then you don't need to "age " the water

hth
Ardan

[Eddie]

When we did not have prime or all of the other stuff that we have today, people were still keeping discus successfully. heavy metal were even worse than today I think since there were less awareness for these many years ago.

Are we getting slave of these products like Prime? We used to do fine without them. I never used them before when I had my aquarium and never had a problem.

It doesn't matter, are some people slaves to tobacco. Come on, if people use a dechlor, are they being slaves to the product. Are we being slaves to our fish? If you look at it that way than yes, we are slaves to everything we enjoy. ;) I'm a slave to dark chocolate too. :D

Keep your fish how you keep them and everybody else will keep them the way they want. If you have success, and others have success, than that is all that matters.

Eddie

[discusjoe27]

Prime is a complete conditioner. It neutralize ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. It nutrilize chlorine and chloramine and provide slime coat protection.

no need to age water when using prime. One can just add Prime to the aquarium and slowly fill it with tap water. I do that for my quarantine tank for 2 months now and have no problem but I refill slowly and at the same water temperature. I do this 2 times a day, about 80% of the water.

I see no point of using a water conditioner if you are aging your water unless your tap water contain chloramine. You should first contact your local water supply company and ask them to confirm if they add chloramine or not. My tap water contain only chlorine and in such small quantity that my water company says it is gone in 3 hours or so.

I am not sure what you mean by "like putting the water in the tank and going though a cycle" ??

Do you mean that you think that adding tap water will kill your biofilter? If you use Prime while refilling your tank, you must add enough prime for the full tank. So if it is 100 gallon, you must put 2 full cap of Prime. If you add Prime before putting it in the tank, then you only add the amount that you need for the quantity of water.

he(my dad) doesn't understand the point in aging water for discus. I hear him well would that be, just like adding water to the tank and putting dechlornator in it.

[Eddie]

he(my dad) doesn't understand the point in aging water for discus. I hear him well would that be, just like adding water to the tank and putting dechlornator in it.

Joe, you mentioned that your PH dropped 1 point over 1 day. Your KH is low and you need to condition your water before WCs. How you go about it will be your decision. The most important thing is PH stabilty. Aging your water is not just for dechlorination. You can go straight tap and add dechlor but again, your PH is gonna drop. Either use Baking Soda or crushed coral. Fix your water before you attempt to fix your fish. Usually things ends up fixing themselves when you get the water down. ;)

Eddie

[discusjoe27]

Joe, you mentioned that your PH dropped 1 point over 1 day. Your KH is low and you need to condition your water before WCs. How you go about it will be your decision. The most important thing is PH stabilty. Aging your water is not just for dechlorination. You can go straight tap and add dechlor but again, your PH is gonna drop. Either use Baking Soda or crushed coral. Fix your water before you attempt to fix your fish. Usually things ends up fixing themselves when you get the water down. ;)

Eddie

thanks that's what I try to tell him, that aging the water helps get the ph stable.

[Eddie]

thanks that's what I try to tell him, that aging the water helps get the ph stable.

Good article Joe ;)

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/water_chemistry/general/ph_nochange.shtml

Eddie

[discusjoe27]

Good article Joe ;)

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/water_chemistry/general/ph_nochange.shtml

Eddie

thanks,that is a good article.

[Chad Hughes]

When we did not have prime or all of the other stuff that we have today, people were still keeping discus successfully. heavy metal were even worse than today I think since there were less awareness for these many years ago.

Are we getting slave of these products like Prime? We used to do fine without them. I never used them before when I had my aquarium and never had a problem.

Water conditioners for aquariums have been around for as long as I can remember and I'm 35. Maybe they didn't have conditioning products 100 years ago, but I bet they weren't very successful fish keepers.


are you saying that we must absolutely age the water or the Ph might swing? what about those hundreds of people using python and directly pouring tap into the tank with dechlorinator? that's what I do often. Dechlorinator won't fix Ph. So in any case, if you age the water you do not need dechlorinator to fix the Ph. You only need it if you have chloramine or heavy metal.

Is heavy metal so much of a problem? then I would not drink that water myself if it was.

I just don't trust my water source. I carbon block filter my tap plus use RO in the mix and I still condition with Prime.

Best wishes!

[Daniella]

first off, I did not snap at anyone. where is that coming from?

In fact, I was more asking a question than anything else.

I do beleive you about the Ph swing. I did not know about it.

As for your question, yes I do add tap water to my tank directly since I have a python. I add prime to the main tank for the full volume of water and then pour the water very slowly in the tank.

Never saw any of the sings you mention though. Is not Prime supposed to deactivate everything on contact? Of course I would not put straight tap water directly without dechlorinator. I never suggested that either, that's dangerous. Why would anyone do that?

I was only saying that if someone age the water long enough and do not have chloramine or heavy metal, then there is no need to add dechlorinator. I know plenty of people who are breeding and raising discus without ever resorting to dechlorinator. they have been doing this for years and never had a problem but here we do not have chloramine in the water, only chlorine wich evaporate fast. If someone has problem water then it is a different situation.



with all due respect, you need to read carefully before you snap at someone. the advice you give i thought might hinder beginners into thinking that all of them could just add water from tap which is not the case. you say that before nobody use to age water and what-not but look at the stock we deal with now-a-days. why not do everything possible to make them grow to their full potential? there are people that pH swings and those are the ones that need to age their water. if you do not believe me, use the search function here and find out yourself. have you ever tried to add straight tap water to your tank? i have, and believe me they start breathing heavy and stress bars show and you know there is something wrong. from what you wrote it seems like you are encouraging everybody to do the same.

[Daniella]

Does chlorine really dammage RO menbrane? mine has been running for 3 months and still produce 0 reading. How much of the menbrane life running chlorinated water through will it cut? I don't really have a way to pre-filter for chlorine before the RO since it's plugged to my faucet outlet. Is this really a problem?



I carbon block filter my tap plus use RO in the mix and I still condition with Prime.

Best wishes!

[shawnhu]

...
I was only saying that if someone age the water long enough and do not have chloramine or heavy metal, then there is no need to add dechlorinator. I know plenty of people who are breeding and raising discus without ever resorting to dechlorinator. they have been doing this for years and never had a problem but here we do not have chloramine in the water, only chlorine wich evaporate fast. If someone has problem water then it is a different situation.

It's all about evolution and trust. The Discus hobby has evolved, there's many breeders now, and very successful at it. I believe this may be somewhat contributed to the different chemicals that we have available today. I find that fish back then, came with less disease, and was more hardy, not Discus in particular, but other fish. Now, I'm very affraid to purchase anything from a LFS without QT first.

Trust; how would you rate your city water company? I don't know about you, but I won't trust them with my Discus' lives. As some has mentioned, loss of stock due to the city's changes in the water is a sad way to lose your pets. It could have been prevented, by simply using a conditioner like Prime. You may have no chloramines one day, and then the next, BAM! Dead Discus everywhere.

In the end, it's up to the individual to care for their aquatic pets the way they see fit. I do not have chloramine in my city water, but I still use Prime, same as yourself since I do not have a holding container. I use straight tap+conditioner. There's the risk of temp shock, and PH swing, but if careful enough, it's neglegable and manageable.

Shawn

P.S. OP, please tell your dad to read the bottles next time he's at PetCo/Pet Smart, it clearly explains what it's used for and how to use it.

[discusjoe27]

yeah I wouldn't trust city water with out chloram-x or prime. it says at the creek by my house "NO SWIMING,FISHING,OR BOATING" and there is a good reason why.

[Eddie]

yeah I wouldn't trust city water with out chloram-x or prime. it says at the creek by my house "NO SWIMING,FISHING,OR BOATING" and there is a good reason why.

Hey Joe, that's because there are alligators in the creek and they are multiplying by the thousands. :waaa:. LOL

Eddie

[discusjoe27]

Hey Joe, that's because there are alligators in the creek and they are multiplying by the thousands. :waaa:. LOL Eddie
and snaper turtles, and to much polustion(spelling?)

[Daniella]

how much of the water need to be changed for a chloramine contaminated water to kill the fish? Lets say I have a 120 gallons and I change 30% water each day. I mix 1/3 RO with 2/3 tap and let areate for a day.

Do you think I would notice it if there would be chloramine added and how would I start to notice this? What is the effect on fish?

I guess a good way to test for chloramine is to use a dechlorinator that does not remove chloramine and see if there is any ammonia left?

Or is there a test for chloramine?

What about other chimical? I am guessing that Prime would nto remove desinfectant if the company woudl use it one day to cure some local problem?

Doing water change seem to always be a wild guess. I have read so many horror stories after water change. This is why I prefer to do smaller change and more often than larger ones.



It's all about evolution and trust. The Discus hobby has evolved, there's many breeders now, and very successful at it. I believe this may be somewhat contributed to the different chemicals that we have available today. I find that fish back then, came with less disease, and was more hardy, not Discus in particular, but other fish. Now, I'm very affraid to purchase anything from a LFS without QT first.

Trust; how would you rate your city water company? I don't know about you, but I won't trust them with my Discus' lives. As some has mentioned, loss of stock due to the city's changes in the water is a sad way to lose your pets. It could have been prevented, by simply using a conditioner like Prime. You may have no chloramines one day, and then the next, BAM! Dead Discus everywhere.

In the end, it's up to the individual to care for their aquatic pets the way they see fit. I do not have chloramine in my city water, but I still use Prime, same as yourself since I do not have a holding container. I use straight tap+conditioner. There's the risk of temp shock, and PH swing, but if careful enough, it's neglegable and manageable.

Shawn

P.S. OP, please tell your dad to read the bottles next time he's at PetCo/Pet Smart, it clearly explains what it's used for and how to use it.

[shawnhu]

The chlorine and chloramines are not targeted for animals, but bacteria and other pathogens. Unfortunately, like bleach, these chemicals does not differentiate between good and bad bacteria. It will go after your bio-filter, causing your tank to cycle again. How much is needed to knock back, or kill your bio-filter is the question here, and I don't have that answer.

The signs would be the normal signs you'll see when doing a fish-in cycle.

Shawn


how much of the water need to be changed for a chloramine contaminated water to kill the fish? Lets say I have a 120 gallons and I change 30% water each day. I mix 1/3 RO with 2/3 tap and let areate for a day.

Do you think I would notice it if there would be chloramine added and how would I start to notice this? What is the effect on fish?

I guess a good way to test for chloramine is to use a dechlorinator that does not remove chloramine and see if there is any ammonia left?

Or is there a test for chloramine?

What about other chimical? I am guessing that Prime would nto remove desinfectant if the company woudl use it one day to cure some local problem?

Doing water change seem to always be a wild guess. I have read so many horror stories after water change. This is why I prefer to do smaller change and more often than larger ones.

[Ardan]

To check for chloramine (chlorine + ammonia), use a dechlorinator (not prime), (just for removing the chlorine part), then test for ammonia. If there is ammonia, then you know there is very likely chloramines in the tap water.
Call the water company to verify.

hth
Ardan

[Chad Hughes]

Ardan,

Out of curiosity, what is the advantage to conducting a test for chloramines when modern conditioners take care of that for us? Thanks for the test instructions. Interesting.

[shawnhu]

The comfort of knowing Chad!

[Chad Hughes]

Yeah, I guess so. But I use prime with everything anyway. I would feel more uncomfortable not using a conditioner. I guess it's like unprotected sex. You never know what you might get. Be safe! LOL!

[Ardan]

Hi Chad,
Yes, if you want to find out if you have chloramines. Most water conditioners will render chlorine and chloramine harmless.

*If you ever have to use Cupramine, a copper based antiparasitic, then it states to be careful not to overdose "dechlorinators such as prime" or it changes Cupramine from CU+2 to CU+. CU+ is much more toxic. I don't know if that applies to all dechlorinators or not, but prime is mentioned for sure. When I used CUpramine, I was careful with a regular dechlor agent just to be safe.
http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Cupramine.html
(2nd fact in article)

ALso SOmetimes people have trouble with an aquarium and are not aware they have chloramines. Breaking the chlorine ammonia bond with their dechlor agent we can then test for ammonia and tell them to use prime or a similar product.
hth
Ardan

[Chad Hughes]

Ardan,

That is great information! Thanks! I never dove that deeply in to compatability based on water conditioners. That's good to know. Thanks again!

Best wishes!

[tcyiu]

thanks that's what I try to tell him, that aging the water helps get the ph stable.

If that doesn't work, try this:

Tell your dad to imagine he is in a sealed room. Someone pipes in second hand tobacco smoke (from some nasty smelling cigar). BUT almost immediately, someone also throws in a pretty powerful air purifier. After a reasonable amount of time, the air will be cleared of smoke.

But it's too late, he's still going to smell like second hand smoke. Ask him if he thinks mightn't it be better if the smokey air was purified FIRST before sending it into the room.

Same principle applies. Why douse your fish with chlorinated water first and have it burn their gills? It is better to dechlor the water BEFORE introducing it into the tank.

Tim

[Daniella]

well, chlorine will kill a fish by burning its gill so it affect fish as well, not only bacterias.

I am not afraid of aquarium cycle here but more about my fish.

Is chloramine acting the same way on fish gill?




The chlorine and chloramines are not targeted for animals, but bacteria and other pathogens. Unfortunately, like bleach, these chemicals does not differentiate between good and bad bacteria. It will go after your bio-filter, causing your tank to cycle again. How much is needed to knock back, or kill your bio-filter is the question here, and I don't have that answer.

The signs would be the normal signs you'll see when doing a fish-in cycle.

Shawn

[David Rose]

For Discus, consistency is very important. Even though the PH might not be an issue out of the tap, and barring any other metals, or chemical shifts etc. that may require pretreatment before adding directly to your Discus tank. I don't see mentioned that consistent temperature is a factor and adding a heater to bring water up to temp is usually an important part of the aging process.

From my experience, the aging process is to set aside the amount of water you want to use for your water change in a contaminant free dedicated container, pretreat as needed depending on your pretested tap water quality parameters, provide aeration and heat to bring the new water to your aquarium temperature to oxygenate and stabilize PH over a 24hr period. It may best to retest before adding to your aquarium to see where the PH ends up for the first time or so to be sure it won't cause too wide of a shift in PH.

I guess I just prefer to play it safe and be proactive.

I have a well water instead of city water, so there is no chlorine or chloramines to worry about, so temp and aeration are pretty much it.

Good luck!