Bottled Water?

[801]

i just thought of this, so i have no idea what you guys will think...

what about filling a brand new tank with bottled or filtered water?
is it a bad idea? why or why not?
will it cut down cycle time as opposed to tap water?

[crackatinny]

Would work out pretty expensive

[801]

yeah i guess for the big tanks, but i only have a 5 and a 10 gallon.
water at the store is 30cents a gallon.

but can anyone give reasons why this would or would not work?

[Lady Hobbs]

Filtered water removes too much of what the fish need. Even in RO water you can't use all RO and have to use some tap with it.

If you want a faster cycle and have no fish in there yet, you can add enough pure ammonia daily until you get a reading on 5. on your test kit. Just keep adding to bring it to 5. everyday and soon you will see nitrites. When you start to have nitrites, drop back to 3. on the ammonia daily. Test kits are necessary for this tho.

If you have any used gravel or used filter media it will also help with a faster cycle if you have a friend with a tank you can borrow from.

[Cichlid_Man]

Hello,
I agree with Hobbs.
Bottled water doesn't have what fish need.
I would just test your tap water to make sure the PH is someplace between 7.0 and 8.0, depending on what fish you would be keeping, then do a fishless cycle using PURE ammonia as Hobbs said.

[jeffs99dime]

i have mixed bottled water and tap water before i purchased an r.o. filter. if you fill the entire tank with bottled water you're not going to get all the essential minerals you need for the fish to thrive. (very, very expensive indeed) also, your ph will be too low to sustain any fish. most bottled water is around 6.0ph. bottled water also usually lacks a good buffer to keep the ph stable

[danthefishman]

definatly a bad idea, cost a bomb in bottled water and more in putting back all the goodness and minerals

[jeffs99dime]

you could also purchase a tap water filter for about 45 dollars or so. drs foster and smith carries them, among others. the drawback to it is you have to replace the filter after every use. the filters cost about 15.00 dollars a pop! pretty expensive.

[Sin]

water too clean will not support life , water too dirty will not support life , there has to be a balance in between

[jeffs99dime]

water too clean will not support life , water too dirty will not support life , there has to be a balance in between

exactly right!

[801]

^^ that was the answer i was looking for
ok thanks guys :)

[Ascendant]

It's also a myth that bottled water is better for you.
It usually has higher levels of magnesium, and your often paying for the plastic bottle, not the water itself.

Not to mention, plastic isn't a natural organic compound and your storing water inside of it for a pro-longed period of time, often you can taste bottled water to be kinda plasticy apposed to tap water that usually tastes kinda metaly. Metals better for you in my opinion, most plastics contain Carcinogens.


I'd just stick to the tap water, add your salt crystals and your anti-chlorine doses, and leave it at that.