# Tap Water and CO2 Fluctuations



## Greenview (16 Jan 2012)

I am in the early stages of running a non-CO2 enriched tank and having to do fairly frequent water changes in order to control the water parameters, but I am concerned about the potential for CO2 fluctuations and the risk of BBA (I have read that tap water contains a relatively higher concentration of CO2 than water that has been standing around for a while). How troublesome are these fluctuations? Anyone any idea how long the tap water should be allowed to sit before it has de-gassed sufficiently?
Thanks


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## sanj (16 Jan 2012)

Do you need to make water changes and not just top? That is an alternative approach that have been using on a non co2 system for the last 3 months and all seems to ne doing pretty well with no significant issues. 

I remember years ago I used to stand water for 24 hours to allow the chlorine to escape. That would be more than sufficient for co2. However I dont think that is really necesarry unless you are doing large changes in one go.


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## Greenview (16 Jan 2012)

Thanks, Sanj.
Yes, at the moment I am needing a few water changes until the filter gets up to speed on the ammonia/nitrite load. When that set-up period is over I plan on top-ups only.


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## sanj (16 Jan 2012)

Ok, I did not actually do that on my tank, I think I did use some tank water from an established set up but I think it was more the heavy planting at the outset that helped the most. Still no two tanks are alike and may need tweaking in different ways.


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## Greenview (17 Jan 2012)

I don't think that I got any appreciable ammonia leech from the soil either. The ammonia/nitrite levels were my mistake: I suspect my normal tests over a few days after set-up were because of minimal leech, and not the plants and filter dealing with it (as I thought). This, and a heater failure that killed a few plants, probably knocked off the filter culture so much that when I added fish I got a spike. Mature media borrowed from another tank seems to have sorted it, but I thought that I was looking at several large water changes for a few days. The very appeal of this tank is the low maintenance, so I hope for top up only soon.


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