Water ageing

**Futureboy** · 10-23-2007, 07:13 AM

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** · 10-23-2007, 09:56 AM

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** · 10-23-2007, 10:25 AM

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

**Nautilus29** · 10-23-2007, 12:05 PM

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** · 10-23-2007, 01:15 PM

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** · 10-23-2007, 02:23 PM

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** · 10-23-2007, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by 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 ?

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** · 10-23-2007, 02:37 PM

Originally Posted by CAF

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** · 10-23-2007, 02:59 PM

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.