Aged Water a Must?

[iewnuj]

Hi bros

I know that the most prefered method to do a water change using tap water is to age and aerate the tap water for at least a day before performing the water change.

I understand that the purpose of aging is to remove chlorine in the tap water. However with the use of water conditioners, why is there still a need to age the water?

So is it still necessary to really age the water, even if you have fauna that are very sensitive to water conditions?

As for my practice, I usually age the water with Seachem Prime but I do not aerate the water. Care to share your water changing regime guys?

regards

[shanexu]

from what i know, just aging the water might not remove things like metal elements and such from it. also i heard that aging the water don't remove chloramine. they are more stable than chlorine and does not evapourate easily.

another thing is if you have that much space to keep the water and age it.
personally i dont =D

[Jimmy]

I used to just top up my tanks with tap water as I'm using fans to cool the water. It looks ok and nothing really happened. Since then I had stopped doing that. Just get a bucket with a cover, throw in a air stone to generate air into it and leave the water there to age. I didn't add any other stuff to it. At least it is better than adding tap water straight into the tank.

[simplydiscus]

it true that aging water to remove chlorine and aerate the water to remove chloramine.

by the way, i only use aged water for a complete water change.

from what i know, just aging the water might not remove things like metal elements and such from it. also i heard that aging the water don't remove chloramine. they are more stable than chlorine and does not evapourate easily.

another thing is if you have that much space to keep the water and age it.
personally i dont =D

[iewnuj]

it true that aging water to remove chlorine and aerate the water to remove chloramine.

Chlorine can be removed by aging (and preferably with aerating) the water for at least 24 hours.

However unlike chlorine, chloramine is more persistent and cannot be simply removed by aging for a day. It is possible to to remove choloramine in this way, but it is likely to take several day of aging plus aerating to remove it completely.

Another option is the use of activated carbon to remove both chlorine and chloramine but activated carbon is a two-edge sword to use in planted tanks.

[iewnuj]

The space constrains I have makes aging water a hassle and thats why I am thinking of skipping the aging process alogether, which means I have to fully depend on the claims make by Seachem Prime

[simplydiscus]

look like you still have not condition yours to such extent of a portion of water change with direct tap water every other day and then a complete direct water change weekly . . .

well planted tanks maybe an effort

[Rummy Nose]

No need lah! I never age. No conditioners also.

You won't last long in the hobby if you continue to age.

That's why I'm still going strong in the hobby.

For myself, I figured long ago that it's better that sensitive fish die than me die from exhaustion.

wow you never age? Must share your tip how to stay young forever! haha.. just kidding.

Ok, just to share, I don't use aged water as well. But I always add water conditioner to the tap water before adding them. Also, I only change around 10-20% of the water during water change. This will minimise any major flunctuations to the overall water parameters.

[fisherw]

It is my theory that for the majority of us in Singapore who live in high-rise buildings (HDB or private apartments, say 5 floors up), we get our water from the water tanks on the roof. So our water is probably aged for us, a mix of fresh tap and some aged for several days.

Having said that, whether aging works for chloramine, I'm not sure.

It is also likely that tap water in Singapore might have a lower concentration of chlorine/chloramine. It certainly has less of the chemical smell that one might get from tap water in some other countries.

[bryan]

So long as the fish don't belly up is fine.

[fisherw]

I would hope it is covered and not exposed to the elements and for the birds to poo into. But it has to be ventilated and cannot be completely airtight or the water would not be able to flow out.

Unless 100% of the water is used and replaced everyday, the water would not be liken to being straight from the tap. Which is why I said it would be a mix of fresh tap and aged water.

I am just wondering if that could be a reason why many in Singapore do not age their water and do not use conditioners without problems.

[Jimmy]

I ever did a water change of about 80% due to my mistake of adding plant straight into my small shrimp tank w/o doing the necessary steps of preparing the introduction of the new plant. After awhile, I saw my shrimps starts to show sights of dying, in fact majority of them are really like dying. I was thinking siao liao, then quickly took out the plant and did the water change immediately.

The water change managed to rescue the shrimps although a few of them like 3-4 died. So imagine with the aged water on standby, my whole tank of shrimps will be wiped out! Therefore it does help me in this way, haha... just to share one of my mistake. :P

[fireblade]

Actually depends on where you stay.
If you stay up north like yishun or Sembawang, you will need to add water conditioner, I add nutrafin aquaplus to my tank water while topping up directly from the tap, the fishes are ok. if forgot to add aquaplus, I ever lost almost 100 of cardinals and a few big silver dollars when my father-in-law change the tank water.

If you stay central or west area like tiong bahru area, then my fishes enjoy water straight from the tap without any addition of aquaplus. Will normally add a few teaspoonful of salt. but for my malayan shrimps, I will add in aquaplus just in case.

[potato]

i dun keep aged water for wc i just add salt and anti-chlorine&chloromaine solution

[cutecorycat]

From my own experience, I do not age water too. But whether you can just top up with tap water really depends on the maturity of your tank. My first few years of fishkeeping, I NEVER changed with tap water without nutrafin when I changed 25% of the water, sometimes more than I should, since it is very harmless to the fishes. But after the few years, when my tank has fully matured naturally, not via any accelerated means, I just top up 10% of tap water without conditioner if I am too busy to change water. But I have to stress, that aside the maturity of the tank, my fishes were also in it for that same period, plus minus, not new fishes. Based on these stable factors, I was able to get away with it. But if yours have new fishes, pretty young tank, i would advise adding Nutrafin or something before changing water in the tank with tap water.

[citauqa]

Me too, do not aged the water. Just add Nutrafin will do.

[ranmaru1987]

i add anti chlorine and anti chloramine and let it age for 1 or 2 days before i do water change. a good anti chlorine agent would be seachem prime. it works really well.

[beachkrazd]

The pH of my RO water from a sealed container is 7.2 but after 12hrs of sitting out and the CO2 escaping, pH rises to 8. The pH in my tank is 8. So I think 'aging' the water allows the pH to stabilize by allowing dissolved gases to escape. I just thought I would mention this since it applies to tap water as well.

I never used to age my water but I think such a change in pH could likely be stressful to the fish, even if it is only a 15-30% water change. My Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish have a bit of fin rot on their dorsal fin. Since I do weekly water changes I think maybe the pH fluctuation could have stressed them, causing the fin rot. (Just a working hypothesis.) I think I will let my water age from now on to reduce this health risk for my fish.