Water ageing

[Futureboy]

So after my large water change today and seeing how happy and seemingly healthy it made everyone i decided i would start ageing my water properly for even healther fish(as opposed to just filling up a bucket putting in conditioner and dumping it straight into the tank)

So i went out and got some supplies

2: 20L buckets with lids $10 from my local hardware
2: Airstones $2
2: Meters of airline tubing $2.60
1: Cheapo Airpump $15.95

Its very easy to do all i did was drill 4 holes in the lids, One for the airline to go through and the other 3 just to let the air out again

ran the tubing through the holes washed the buckets out filled them up and put the lids on with the airline and air stones hooked up

added some conditioner

then attached the bits of tubing to a old T peice connector i had and ran some more tubing from that to the cheapo air pump

DONE!

A easy and cheap way to hold your water while it ages properly for a few days

[Lady Hobbs]

I guess I don't understand why it would be necessary when all it takes is dechlorinator and fish can go in right away. Seems like a lot of work and sure would not be feasible it you have large tanks or several tanks. You still have to remove the chloramines.

They used to say to collect rain water but with so much pollution anymore, I don't think they recommend that any more.

[Azear]

I've read somewhere that Ageing the water could make it "softer"... my LFS proposed me that solution when I realised I had pretty hard water from the tap... tho dunno if it works :S

[Nautilus291]

I guess nobody on here has a cistern!?!? If you have a cistern you dont have to worry about aging your water because thats exactly what it does. At my house my cistern is hooked up to the water heater so it makes everything really easy. Just fill up a bucket with warmed water and its soft no salt or clorine in the water I still use water conditioner.

a cistern just collects rain water that way you can have soft water instead of using a water softener with salt.

[Azear]

Cistern... humm... ^_^...Nautilus, how much time does the water stay in that "Cistern" ? ... and how big is that tank/bucket/whatsoever ? because I have to get something similar for my tank...

also, does letting the water age a while will reduce PH or only hardness ?

[Futureboy]

Because i worry that it wont be mixed compleatly etc so i just want to know its properly aged

plus its handy to have some big containers with water ready to go if i have a leak or something of the sort

[CAF]

Cistern... humm... ^_^...Nautilus, how much time does the water stay in that "Cistern" ? ... and how big is that tank/bucket/whatsoever ? because I have to get something similar for my tank...

also, does letting the water age a while will reduce PH or only hardness ?
Are you on a well or local tap water? The water's pH may drop as aeration causes the pH to go up. However with you bubbling it, I doubt it will drop much if at all.

[Azear]

Are you on a well or local tap water? The water's pH may drop as aeration causes the pH to go up. However with you bubbling it, I doubt it will drop much if at all.

I'm on local tap water (sort-of big city here) but... they provide a ph of 8,0 (old apartment had PH of 7.0 which was much better)... but the fish I'm planning (tetra + guppy) will need something lower like 6.5 to 7.0... so, I was wondering if ageing the water would help in any ways... other than that.. any good idea to lower it to 7.0 ? or I'll have to use RO water ? (I'm actually pondering if I should or should not buy a RO system... could use it for home too ^_^)...

[CAF]

RO water is one way of lowering the pH. Another are the various products using peat such as Marc Weiss Co Ketapeat Nuggets (work outstanding BTW).

Try not aerating the water for a day and test it and see where the pH is at. The problem with most home RO units is they are not designed for what you are looking for. Pure RO is approximently 6.0 pH, however most home RO units only drop the base pH by a few degrees. For example your pH of 8.0 would probably at most go down to 7.4 It helps don't get me wrong, but it can be expensive to do. Another thing is RO water takes on the properties of the water it is mixed with quite readily. So mixing pure RO with a 50/50 mix of your water, would probably only result in a drop of .5 at most.

[Dave-id]

I thought pure PO water would have a PH of 7? What makes it acidic?

[squirt_12]

I guess nobody on here has a cistern!?!? If you have a cistern you dont have to worry about aging your water because thats exactly what it does. At my house my cistern is hooked up to the water heater so it makes everything really easy. Just fill up a bucket with warmed water and its soft no salt or clorine in the water I still use water conditioner.

a cistern just collects rain water that way you can have soft water instead of using a water softener with salt.
hey i am on a cistern aswell...i also have a well too.

[Nautilus291]

I just reread my post and sorry if it looked like I was critisizing you. Water being in the cistern doesnt lower your ph but It makes it alot easier to do so.

Like in my case, before I was using well water and When I added buffers to the water to lower the ph, All of the calcium and other elements buffered the water right back to where it was in the first place. But sitting in the cistern seems to take out those buffering elements and now when I put buffers in the water to lower my ph it stays there. I keep my water at 7.0 to 7.2 and it starts at around 8 to 8.2.

But since you are in a big city you cant put in a cistern, but your idea is pretty good except adding air will (Correct me if im wrong) raise the ph. Adding buffers to water doesnt always work if there are too many natural buffers in your water. Just be carefull on what you choose to do because If you lower or raise your ph and it goes right back to where it was, it can hurt your fish.

[Nautilus291]

hey i am on a cistern aswell...i also have a well too.

Im the same way I have well and cistern water. Its nice for a couple of reasons. One I dont have to buy a water softener and salt to soften my water. And another reason is because now I can use warm water from the tap instead of heating it up on the stove like i used to in my old house. changing my water took an hour longer becuase I had to warm up all of my water.

[squirt_12]

Im the same way I have well and cistern water. Its nice for a couple of reasons. One I dont have to buy a water softener and salt to soften my water. And another reason is because now I can use warm water from the tap instead of heating it up on the stove like i used to in my old house. changing my water took an hour longer becuase I had to warm up all of my water.
yeah that is the beauty of it......lol. that would suck to have to heat up your water all of the time...

and running off of a well and cistern i would almost think would be cheaper....wouldn't it be??

P.S.
sorry for intruding in your thread.

[Nautilus291]

Ya its definatly cheaper since you dont have to buy salt every month. You just have to watch out that your cistern doesnt run out of water( if you have a big family). You should make sure you have your laundry and shower hooked up to the cistern along with some faucets. And then toilets and everything else hooked up with the well.