Phantom Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 I've got all my fish living in a small 100L tank (it's small for the number of fish etc) and I need to get my 350L tank back up and running on the ground. Given we have to boil water, that is going to take a long time to fill it. Are there any products available that help treat the water or anything I can do so that the tap water has the least chance of killing what's left of my fish? I already have a UV filter and a fine particle filter designed to go inline on a hose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3xtcy Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Stresscoat, and two bottles of startsmart, id still boil the water, better to be safe than sorry, what filter do u have? Is it already cycled? Good luck, we all r feeling 4 u guys n gals :tears: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GZ_Loach Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 You could add some filter carbon to remove chemicals and pollutants in the water, check your nitrate levels too, if they are high then there is a good chance dirty water such as sewage is getting into the cracked water pipes. You can also get water from the army or at one of the many water tanks in the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Interesting question actually. Boiling will kill greeblies that may make humans sick, but not all greeblies are bad for your fish and most of those that are are in your aquarium already. (I wouldn't drink water from a stream but fish are happily swimming around in it) Dechlorinators may be important if you are getting tap water as they may be increasing the amount of chlorine just in case (Personally I don't see the point of the stresscoat-type of additives.) The suggestion of carbon is a good one, as is testing for nitrates. Is the tank new? That may change what you need to do. If it were me, due to the sudden high stocking and likely difficulty in doing regular I would probably add table salt (1/2tsp per litre) to prevent possible outbreaks of whitespot or bacterial/fungal diseases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted February 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 I have 4 filters that are all cycled, or at least were running before the quake. I'm now down to 1 x fluval 305 and the filter included in my juwel trigon 350. I also have a CF1200 that hasn't been running for a while. I had to empty my trigon 350 as it was half hanging over the cabinet ready to drop any second. I couldn't save that much water. I managed to keep 110L and have that water running in a 100L hospital tank. I've got the fluval running on my hospital tank at the moment. What I need to do is get my trigon on the ground and running again as I have too many fish for this hospital tank. It's stressing them out and I've had a few further deaths. I can take the 110L I already have plus another 30L I can bring up with me as I'm currently in Oamaru - my rescue plan for what was left of my fish. I do have some breeding tanks which aren't damaged that I can use to treat water in. I can run the CF1200 with carbon on these tanks if that's the best thing for it. I'll use my test kits to test for ammonia and nitrates in the tap water. So I need some carbon and something like stresscoat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GZ_Loach Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Carbon yes, stress coat is only needed if the fish are exposed to cold temperatures or if the tank isn't cycled. For the record, water isn't whats important when it comes to cycling a tank, its all to do with the filter media and the tanks substrate which holds all the beneficial bacteria. You can buy a brand new tank and fill it up and have fish in it a few hours later if your using a cycled filter, doesn't mater if the water came out of the tap or an old tank, like i said its all about the filter and sometimes the substrate. If the water is clear, not murky, doesn't smell off/stale then i would use it. (but still use carbon) p.s "stella" they can't add too much more chlorine than they do allready as cholrine is poisonous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice222 Posted February 26, 2011 Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 On the bottle, stresscoat says it dechorinates water and helps fish build slime coating, I think the suggestion of stresscoat was meant for dechlorinating water? As water from the tap is usually chlorinated so I'd guess that some sort of dechlorinator is important, but I reckon Prime would probably be better. If you're not using water from the tap, then you shouldn't need stresscoat or prime. +1 for the mention of carbon though, I've always heard that carbon is good for removing chems and pollutants in the water. Maybe not all, but definitely should help. If you're worried about the filters not being able to handle the increased fishload, then stability or startsmart could be an option. Just be aware that a lot of cycling chems are a temporary fix, you either have to keep using them, or go through a cycle again when you stop using them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted February 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 Just to clarify, I'm not worried about the cycling part. I know the filters I have available have plenty of good bacteria built up and i'll also be using 110L of existing fishy water, existing substrate etc. What I am concerned with is trying to minimise loss of any more fish as I need to add around 200L of water from our possibly suspect water supplies in order to get my 350L trigon tank running to house my fish. I've already lost over $500 worth of fish and I really don't want to lose any more if I can help it. I do have some prime and cycle. I can run carbon in a CF1200 in a 150L breeding setup I have to filter the water for a while before putting it into the trigon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_elmo Posted February 26, 2011 Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 i have setup my spare tanks to help rehome some of my friends fish...i just added prime to the water and they are all ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Dechlorinators may be important if you are getting tap water as they may be increasing the amount of chlorine just in case (Personally I don't see the point of the stresscoat-type of additives.) At the standard Chlorination rates in NZ I think you can change about 18% water before the levels get high enough to start killing the bacteria in your filter, of course it's not an all or nothing thing either so you may well 'get away' with not using it but could be causing problems you can't immediately see. Also the water ager's do a lot more than just age water (remove chlorine), they bind heavy metals which will otherwise slowly build up in your tank, reduce stress of fish whilst water changes are happening (yes it has been scientifically tested in a lab), and also removed chlorimines which don't naturally disapate like chlorine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Just use the water from the tap. I don't think there is chlorine in the water and that is why we need to boil the water. The bugs in the water are more likely to be a problem to humans than fish. Taking water from a river would be different but our water is artesian and has been underground for 13 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zayne Posted February 27, 2011 Report Share Posted February 27, 2011 Just use the water from the tap. I don't think there is chlorine in the water and that is why we need to boil the water. The bugs in the water are more likely to be a problem to humans than fish. Taking water from a river would be different but our water is artesian and has been underground for 13 years. how is it under the water for 13 years? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 It is not under the water but under the ground as it travels from the recharge area which is out by West Melton to the area under the city where the wells are. There are 4 artesian layers under Christchuch and the water supply is drawn from the second and third strata. It takes that long to get there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zayne Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 so your saying chchs water is from 1998? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 I had little choice but to use tap water for some fish who were in some foul water and the fish are still 100% fine. I have since started using it to do small water changes with no problems at all. The water seems to be no different than before the quake. It is not smelly in any way and is just as clear as it usually is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLB Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 I've been using unboiled water to do small water changes too, no problems so far. But I did hear on the radio today that they are thinkng of chlorinating the supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acara Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 I would look at getting a reverse osmosis unit,that will remove aprox 98% of anything in the water.Couple that with the carbon,just to be extra safe.Only thing is,I usially mix my RO water with about 20% tap water,to help re-mineralise it a bit.That tapwater is always treated with Stresscoat,or JBL Biotopol.If you keep Rift Valley fish,then you will need to buy re-mineralising stuff. Of course the RO unit will only be good on piped water,not bottled water,as it needs the pressure to run. Can't go wrong with the RO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 If you treat to get rid of the free available chlorine and the chloramines it will be fine out of the tap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLB Posted March 5, 2011 Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 Catch some of this rainwater....no treatment necessary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b16a2 Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 maybe use prime and stability? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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