Aging Barrel Question

[underwaterforest]

I finally broke down and decided to age my water to help improve the health of my discus. I went over to the lumber yard and bought a 60 gallon food grade barrel. But my tank is 100 gallon + a 10 gallon sump and I was wondering if this size aging system would be adequate for me or should I get another barrel just in case. Right now I am bleaching and PPing the barrel to get rid of any of the nasties in it. I was thinking of trying to use my transfer pump double duty as an aeration pump inside the barrel to help rid the gases in my tap. Should I also consider an air pump or is the water pump enough to remove chlorine (No chloramines). Should I use dechlor or just wait? Any advice from those using the aging barrels would be great.

Thanks

[LizStreithorst]

IMO there is no such thing as having too much good water on hand. You 60 gallon container is more that adequate 99.9% of the time. Still, it is nice to know that you can do a 100% WC if you needed to. I have more water storage than I need.

Anything that agitates the top of the water will work for gassing off. I'm using $12 2 port air pumps from Walmart right now.

[underwaterforest]

IMO there is no such thing as having too much good water on hand. You 60 gallon container is more that adequate 99.9% of the time. Still, it is nice to know that you can do a 100% WC if you needed to. I have more water storage than I need.

Anything that agitates the top of the water will work for gassing off. I'm using $12 2 port air pumps from Walmart right now.

Thanks for the info Liz. I will try and see how good one barrel works and if I need two I will go back and get another (the lumber yard has a mountain of them so I not worrying they will run out). I just have to throw in some heaters and I'm set.

p.s Nice rock fish by the way.

[tcyiu]

Right now I am bleaching and PPing the barrel to get rid of any of the nasties in it.

I hope not at the same time. Bleach should be sufficient. I wouldn't use PP as well.

As for just chlorine, what you can do is run your pump and have it discharge water (through your return hose) above the waterline. In other words, jet the water straight down at the water surface. The agitation will be more than enough to gas off chlorine and dissolved gases. The one down side is that the water will cool off rapidly.

Be very attentive to your water company. When they slip in chloramine, normal agitation will not be enough to get rid of the chloramine.

Tim

[Ed13]

IMO there is no such thing as having too much good water on hand. You 60 gallon container is more that adequate 99.9% of the time. Still, it is nice to know that you can do a 100% WC if you needed to. I have more water storage than I need.

Anything that agitates the top of the water will work for gassing off. I'm using $12 2 port air pumps from Walmart right now.
What Liz said:D

[nc0gnet0]

Personally, I think your better of with an air pump. Heck they only cost less than 20 bucks, and it will save alot of wear and tear on your transfer pump that is not designed to run 24/7. While yes it will work, it the long run your better of with the air pump, it will do the job faster and cheaper. Plus, you have the added benefit of not having to worry if your hoses sprung a leak or the hose somehow managed to fall out of the barrel leaving you a 60 gallon mess.

[swampy1972]

Do you guys add any dechlorinating chemicals or the like, and how long does it take before you consider a 55gal drum to be correctly aged?
Thanks.

[tcyiu]

As for running pumps continuously, you're right. It depends on what kind of pump. A submersible one would be preferable because the waste heat would go into the water. You can find really cheap ones at Harbor Freight which will move enough water for not much money.

The main question is whether an air pump would be powerful enough driving an airstone submerged a couple of feet. A weak pump pushing a few bubbles will not agitate the water enough to de-chlor a timely way. (I mean it will eventually do it, but will take a lot longer). If a large pump is used, it will use a lot of energy and that would just dissipate into the air.

As for de-chlor chemicals, it depends on each person's water supply. In the case of the OP where he ONLY has chlorine, agitating the water will de-chlor naturally. In the case where a person has chloramine, chemicals are needed.

Tim

[Jhhnn]

My tapwater has chloramines, and I believe strongly in staying on the safe side of water issues, so I:

Use barrels that have only contained food grade products.
Use prime.
Heat, age and aerate the water for 24 hrs before it goes in my tanks.

I created a rather elaborate water changing system so that it's safe for the fish, and easy for me, described here-

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=74240

Not everybody can or wants to do things that way. I figured that investing in the technology to make it safe and easy would be smart, and have had zero water related issues since coming back to discus nearly a year ago.