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Water changes with tap water - method ?

Paul195

Paul195

Member
Joined
31 Dec 2012
Messages
162
Hi all

My tap water is PH 7.5 out of the tap but then rises to PH 8.2 over the next 24 hours. I believe this is from degassing.

Does this mean that I should stand the water for 24 hours and use a heater so that there is not swinging PH levels for flora and fauna?

On my last tank, I always attached a hose to the mixer tap faucet and then adjusted to a tepid feel and filled directly into the tank with a dose of prime, which was easy but I'm just wondering if this could cause problems (algae, distressed fish etc)

I just bought a submersible pump to make water changes easier, but don't have a 120 L container (yet). Current advice is to change water daily for the first week, reducing to once per week. This is a frequent schedule so it needs to be easy!

Any advice appreciated

Paul
 
I've been doing water changes straight from the tap for years, fish have never been bothered by it.
 
Test kits are notoriously inaccurate...either way I wouldn't worry about it too much; just do what is easiest.
Life's complicated enough already...without sucking the joy out of what's supposed to be a fun hobby too.
I doubt it'll make that much if any difference longterm...I wouldn't be worried about pH swings.
 
Paul195 said:
Hi all

My tap water is PH 7.5 out of the tap but then rises to PH 8.2 over the next 24 hours. I believe this is from degassing.

Does this mean that I should stand the water for 24 hours and use a heater so that there is not swinging PH levels for flora and fauna?
Click to expand...

My tap water is at a PH of 6.5 out of the tap. After 24 hrs it goes up to the stable 7.4. The tap water is like soda, full of gas. Same as the advise above, I've been doing water changes straight from the tap for more than 5 years now without any issues to my fish. I always position the python to splash over the surface though, to degas as much as I can, because one time I sent all fish gasping at the surface when the python had dropped in the water while filling. I don't think its a Ph change that sent my fish at the surface though but the high co2 levels in my tap. I've seen my plants pearl straight after water change and I have low tech tanks. CO2 concentration has no bearing on the hardness and alkalinity of the water so fish shouldn't be bothered unless the water is extremely high on CO2.
The swings have never caused algae however and I do 50% water changes on several tanks weekly.
 
Last edited:
Yours plants pearl straight after water change probably because of pressure change in the tank.


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While water change when you pump out water from yours tanks( you have less water in the tank, less pressure on to plants)


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