I am using ground water, I still aged it for a few days though, which is not really necessary.
Distilled water
Aged water
I am using ground water, I still aged it for a few days though, which is not really necessary.
Talking about distilled water, where is the cheapest place to get it? I got from NTUC at $0.95 for 2 x 1.5lit which I supposed is the cheapest I can find in Singapore right? I went JB and saw in Jusco selling RM 3.99 for 5.5lit of distilled water but didn't have the chance to go Giant there to compare. In Singapore, the Giant don't sell 5.5 lit of distilled water, they only have 1.5 lit and price is more expensive then NTUC. If I didn't remember wrongly, the price should be $0.69 for a 1.5 lit bottle.
Any guys have cheaper lobang for distilled water, please do state here. I am not interested in getting those over $100 self fix over the tap type yet.
Ideally u should top up with distilled water for fan-chilled tanks. Else water hardness will increase if top up with aged water.
There is a thread discussing this already
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...istilled-water
I do a mix of both aged tap and distilled. I also check my GH often to ensure it gues not go past 5, if it is too high I will use full distilled.
Note that rather than just topping up, you should remove some of your tank water as well before adding aged/distilled water. Especially if you do not have much plants to keep your nitrate level low
Why would aged water increase hardness?
When using fan based cooling, water is evaporated but other things like minerals are still left in the tank. Take the anology of salt water, if you put under the sun or use fan to blow a dish of saltwater, the water will start evaporating making it more salty. If you add saltwater won't it be saltier compared to you add tap/distilled water?
Over time the evaporation of the water in the tank will cause GH and also TDS to increase slowly. So if you add aged water, which has higher GH than distilled water, you are like adding GH to your tank.
another way to show increase of hardness thru topping up with tap water.
you have 2 glass of water A and B with 1 spoon of salt in each glass.
glass A is covered with a lid and glass B is left uncovered to evaporate.
after all the water evaporates in glass B, you top up glass B with water from glass A
now you have 2 spoonful of salt in glass B
glass A is aged water and glass B is your tank water.
CRS - CRazy about Shrimps
- Alan Phang -
You can't explain it simply, you don't understand it (well enough )..." - Albert Einstein
Most people do water change to take out the excess nitrate in the water column.
If you can have a filtration good enough to clear all nitrate, you basically just need to top up.
But, we add alot of suppliments into the tank too. No matter what, we still needs to do the minimum waterchange.
Send from my GT-P1000 (Overcome 7 Series v4.0.0)
CRS - CRazy about Shrimps
- Alan Phang -
You can't explain it simply, you don't understand it (well enough )..." - Albert Einstein
Do note this i have did some test myself after a bro told me that some people commenting about the tapwater. Previously was still okie but recently seem to have got worst.
Test 1 - 10 litre pail with tapwater
Using Mosura software to bring down the Ph stop for 2 days before waterchange cause i add in alittle tds and gh + to buffer to tank parameter. Notice this Ph crawling back up from 4 - 5.6 and climbing
Test 2 - 10 litre pail of tapwater
Using Mosura Ph down this time i mix in those bottle before i dose into pail 1night dose ph hit 4.5 stays overnight raise to 6.8. dose again 2nd night hit ph 4 next day raise to ph 6.5
Our Singapore Tapwater cannot be use even with half tapwater and half Distill the ph still will creek back under this condition unless you let it stay for weeks and i mean weeks almost a month with a sponge filter inside running. Under this situation it will deplete your soil much faster.
Distill water will buffer to whatever ph additive you add and stay there. So for quick water change distill water for the supermarket works but inorder not to deplete your soil too fast too i would suggest adjusting the distill water parameter to your tank condition troublesome YES worth the trouble YES or would you rather choose to reset 6 to 8 months down the road.
I've not try or tested the situation on RO/DI water system (currently low on budget) Maybe someone that have such system can do a test.
All the above is base on my own testing and experiemental with the tapwater in my area. So if your area tapwater do not have such issue please don't come and flame me quoting "I say so"
at where i live currently. i think my tap water is gh 0...
Ian
fish: discus/endlers
new addition::: CRS advanture
Try using a spare tank with shrimp soil + UGF for your water supply.
At most 2-3 days will bring your tap water 7+ pH to 6.2-6.3, plus you get the benefit of cycled water after this spare tank has been running for a while and you don't deplete your actual shrimp tank soil too fast. And when this soil is depleted, easy to reset as there is no livestock to content with.
I can't quantify by numbers as I had not collected any data due to busy schedule, but never had any "funny" probelms ever since I used this method and the main shrimp tanks parameters remain stable, hardly any change with the T/UP and WC.
By the way, simple test kit measurements are:
pH: 6.2 - 6.3
TDS: > 80
NO2, NO3 = 0
GH, KH = Below test Kit measurement range.
Last edited by Ebi; 28th Dec 2011 at 17:09.
For my case, I'm using aged water. As I'm doing shift duty in camp, when I book out, I'll do a 20% water change. Next day or the day after next (before book in), I'll top up using aged water. The day before I book out, my sis will help me top up some too. Will this affect GH too much? I had some low grade crs and sakura inside, they still molt and berried. Sometimes I'll spray eros, which I bought cheap from a bro here.
Collect and use rain water? Just have to be careful your neighbour from upstairs don't spit in it!
Should only use distilled water/RO for top ups.. unless you live in the mountains( not in singapore's bukit timah natural reserve) .. using aged water still do have minerals and you will gradually increase the tds and gh..
Aspiring to be.
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