Tap water Vs. PUR Filtered Tap water???

[johnpeezy]

okay I'm new to this whole fish tank thing my girlfriend wanted a fish and couldn't keep a tank at her home so now i have one.

This will describe exactly how new i am to this whole fish process.....
The day after the tank was filled with water and i thought it was "set up" and ready to go, I made a B-line to my LFS bought a plant some treatment suff and a puffer fish from my local walmart store (best purchase i made that day, I'll explain) Aclimated hte puffer the the tank and had it all ready to go the next day for my grild friend.

To follow up my kill first ask questions later mentality I was using when I was making my future investment. I began to research on the puffer fish I had just purchased. To my dismay he apparently does not eat flake food, secrets a type of venom through his skin or something has teeth and eat the fins off of all other fish in the tank.....did i mention he needed to be kept alone in a 30+ gallon tank as opposed to the 14 gallon we have? So as I'm sitting in front of my computer making a feeble attempt to try and devise a way to explain to my girlfriend why SHE can't put any fish in HER tank because of MY fish, I ran across a section on the puffer forums about cycling and i was like what the hell is this?

Then I came to the realization of how big of a mistake I have made. I could deal with the whole girlfriend thing but I have place Francis's(thats my puffer) life in JEPORDAY!! Apparently its a big nono to cycle a tank with a puffer fish, however if i were to return him to Walmart he would meet the toilet. Well the next day I call my LFS and explained to them my situation donated francis and hes still buzzing around there Brackish tank happy as all hell ( and I refuse to let them sell him).

So after stupid mistake #1 I was on to stupid mistake #2... more fish I read a post again on the internet of people using dianos and barbs to cycle there tanks, so i bought some, 2 of each and that eaquls four fish in my tank and an MOUND of work on mypart. After about a week of constant reading, water changing, and testing my tank isn't really calming down quite yet. Its ammonia levels will hit about .5 ppm every other day and doing a 2 gallon water change will settle it down below .25 ppm so thats what i have been doing bards and dainos seem fine and happy ( minus one, LFS told me i was chaning my water too much one got dropsey and met her demise that day ammonia level hit some where between 1 and 2). I'm definitley keeping my water changing regiment since it seems to be working pretty good except the time i listned to the LFS... Anyway I was wondering,

Do you think I should use straight Tap water to treat and stick in my tank or my PUR filtered tap water? I have one of those faucet filters on my sink, does anyone have experience with one of these things? thanks everyone

[Tanks Master]

girlfriend wanted a fish and couldn't keep a tank at her home so now i have one.
This was nice of you to do.
This will describe exactly how new i am to this whole fish process.....
The day after the tank was filled with water and i thought it was "set up" and ready to go, I made a B-line to my LFS bought a plant some treatment suff and a puffer fish from my local walmart store (best purchase i made that day, I'll explain) Aclimated hte puffer the the tank and had it all ready to go the next day for my grild friend.
Define Treatment "stuff" as a side note, Wal-farts fish tend to do poorly, while you may find some of decent quality most are 4F (rejects/Culls) from the breeder/supplier

To follow up my kill first ask questions later mentality I was using when I was making my future investment. I began to research on the puffer fish I had just purchased. To my dismay he apparently does not eat flake food, secrets a type of venom through his skin or something has teeth and eat the fins off of all other fish in the tank.....did i mention he needed to be kept alone in a 30+ gallon tank as opposed to the 14 gallon we have? So as I'm sitting in front of my computer making a feeble attempt to try and devise a way to explain to my girlfriend why SHE can't put any fish in HER tank because of MY fish, I ran across a section on the puffer forums about cycling and i was like what the hell is this?
puffers are notorious for being nasty tempered, I dont know about the poison thing but most puffers are, they do need brackish water to survive in the long run

Then I came to the realization of how big of a mistake I have made. I could deal with the whole girlfriend thing but I have place Francis's(thats my puffer) life in JEPORDAY!! Apparently its a big nono to cycle a tank with a puffer fish, however if i were to return him to Walmart he would meet the toilet. Well the next day I call my LFS and explained to them my situation donated francis and hes still buzzing around there Brackish tank happy as all hell ( and I refuse to let them sell him).

So after stupid mistake #1 I was on to stupid mistake #2... more fish I read a post again on the internet of people using dianos and barbs to cycle there tanks, so i bought some, 2 of each and that eaquls four fish in my tank and an MOUND of work on mypart. After about a week of constant reading, water changing, and testing my tank isn't really calming down quite yet. Its ammonia levels will hit about .5 ppm every other day and doing a 2 gallon water change will settle it down below .25 ppm so thats what i have been doing bards and dainos seem fine and happy ( minus one, LFS told me i was chaning my water too much one got dropsey and met her demise that day ammonia level hit some where between 1 and 2). I'm definitley keeping my water changing regiment since it seems to be working pretty good except the time i listned to the LFS... Anyway I was wondering,

Do you think I should use straight Tap water to treat and stick in my tank or my PUR filtered tap water? I have one of those faucet filters on my sink, does anyone have experience with one of these things? thanks everyone[/quote]

brita dosnt remove chlorine in the water. it may remove a little but not all, you need a good chlorine remover, I reccoment prime, it's the best that I've heard of.

[johnpeezy]

This was nice of you to do.
thanks, I enjoy it too though so its mine as well i guess


Define Treatment "stuff" as a side note, Wal-farts fish tend to do poorly, while you may find some of decent quality most are 4F (rejects/Culls) from the breeder/supplier

API aquarium salt( my tank is fresh water but I am under the impression that approximatley 1 tsp of salt per gallon of water is benifcal to my fish (unless other wise notified)

API liquid ammonia NH3/NH$+ test kit use it every day some times twice because im paranoid

"Quick(crappy) Dip" 6 Tests in one multi strip= Nitrate, Nitrite, hardness, Chlorine, Alkalinity, pH. I hate this thing I use it at home to get a rought estimate but i also take my tank water in to the LFS regularly and have it tested, its within a mile so like a 5 minute drive +Francis is there

Quick Cure which prior to using, I discovered its basically green death, so now i use it as a bucket ornament and dust holder, I think its junk i should actually take it back

API stress zyme I'm not real certain what the heck this stuff does but i use it LFS said its not harmful and could be benifical for bacteria

AquaSafe w/bio extract I'm under the impression that this is deffrent from stress Zyme and have been using this stuff to remmove chlorine and the other stuff above to promote bacteria in my tank is that right? or do they do the same thing

Measuring spoon one of those medicne one for toddlers it has mL/tsp so its makes life easier when doing a 2 Gallon water change

A little Vaccum to cleaning poo

and a shiney blue bucket I was unsure what had been in the ones around the house so i figured a few dollars for a bucket was better then a few dollars a lot of times for replacing fish

I think that covers my list of stuff i bought for the tank


puffers are notorious for being nasty tempered, I dont know about the poison thing but most puffers are, they do need brackish water to survive in the long run

Yes they are, i go back to the LFS(right by my school) and Francis has mad a lasting impression on the other puffers in the sale tank they are twice his size but hes got twice the spunk, hes now the tank "boss". when i bought him he was the only one with fins left and im pretty sure he ate all the other ones, as for wal mart yes they have horrible fish Francis was the lucky one because i bought him and gave him to the TROPICAL fish store by my school best 5 dollar purchase i made that day.




brita dosnt remove chlorine in the water. it may remove a little but not all, you need a good chlorine remover, I reccoment prime, it's the best that I've heard of. [/quote]

So from the list above I have two water conditioners I think

Stress ZYME which is labeled as a boilogical Filtration Booster, and Aquasafe which had a small sample package in my little starter tank. This on eis labled as a water conditioner so I had used them both to start my tank and i also add 1mL of aqua safe and 2mL STRESS Zyme to every two Gallon water change i do (thats every other day, its so little is take about 30 minutes if that) I also add about 1 tsp of the API aquarium salt every water change as well.

I take out 2 gallons, and replace two gallons, sometime a little more if i need to "top off my tank" so i atleast add the same up to 1 quart more of water every water change and its a little under a 50% water change per week. I read somewhere that its easier on the fish if you do a bunch of little water changes as opposed to one BIG 50% water change at the end of the week.

I mean now that i have dug my hole in the ground I think I'm doing the right steps, I have been reading alot online and in books.

oh and btw i usually check the ammonia on a daily basis in the morning if I'm ocncerned i check it in mid afternoon also i check the other stuff at the LFS on the days opisite to my water changes.

[Tanks Master]

Ok, I'll tackle some of these,
Aquarium salt, not rly necessary. some people use it. i personally dont. never had the use for it.

Dip strips, you have it right, Crappy. Get an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Testing kit. a little bit of money but worth every penny

Anything with "quick" in the title, I'd stay away from... most of those are what I refer to as "snake oil" chemicals

API Stress zyme *snake oil

Aquasafe. not heard alot about it. but from what I've heard it's in the same category as stress zyme

a seporate bucket is great! you should have individual buckets for your tanks providing you dont have too many running.
---

there's a really handy article around here on water changes, but basic rule of thumb 10-30% weekly change

[johnpeezy]

Would it "shock my fish or system" if i purchase that refregerated bio spira and add it to my establishing tank?

in an attempt speed up the cycle my ammonia levels are managble with constant water changes for me but its probably really sending the fisgh for a loop,

It bounces between .25-1 ppm with my water changed i curbe it to stay around .25 Would bio spira even help me?

[johnpeezy]

Oh and I am still unsure weather or not i should filter my tap water before i use the water conditioner stuff. I know that pure filter removes stuff other then chlorine and chloramine but I don't know if its taking any benifical stuff out of the water for the fish

[Roan]

* Bio Spira will help cycle your tank. It contains the proper live bacteria, which is why it's refrigerated. That's what the other "Zyme" stuff is junk; it's not refrigerated and the bacteria would be dead for the most part

* Use plain tap water. Anything you are filtering out is probably stuff the fish need.

* NO aquarium salt as it will shorten their life span. They're freshwater fish, not pickles.

* Green Spotted Puffers are high-end brackish to full marine fish. Francis may live a few of months or so at the LFS, but if they don't move him to brackish, he will die.

Roan

[johnpeezy]

Cool thanks for the info,
as for francsis, he is actually in a Brackish water tank as we speak at the LFS seems very happy in there ( I could say less about the other puffers in the tank now since they swing near to bottom of the tank because of him hes got attitude) They did an internal parasite treatment on him and all the other puffers in the tank and hes getting rather plump, the LFS seems to be amoused by his anticas so I hope they will upgrade his water condo in the future.

[joephys]

Bio-spria, good stuff if you can find a source that has taken proper care of it all the way from the factory through shipping and retail.

Tap water filter, don't waste the filter on fish water. Fish need the trace elements.

aquasafe is the only thing to add, no salt.

I would consider your tests, or your reading of them not very accurate. If you have a 14 gallon tank and do a 2 gallon water change, your ammonia levels can't drop by half.

Personally I would be doing a 7 gallon water ever day until it cycles, then 7 gallons once per week.

[johnpeezy]

Well my ammonia is going down to trace ammounts now. Now i have invested in a liquid Nitrite test kit (NO2-). But no matter much or how many water changes I do I can't seem to get my Nitrie readings below .25 ppm is that okay for the fish?

[kerpow1622]

How much are you feeding your new guys? Do they eat all of the food? How are you accomplishing the water changes?

[johnpeezy]

Originally Posted by kerpow1622

How much are you feeding your new guys? Do they eat all of the food? How are you accomplishing the water changes?

I feed them twice a day (I was told and researched online that two very small feedings is better then one larger one). There is a trace ammount of flakes ( one maybe two) hitting the bottom of the tank. The barbs usually take care of them after a bit.

as for doing the water changes i usually:

test ammonia/nitrate levels

drain 2 or so gallons of water from the tank

get tap water form the sink (approximate temp)

add conditioner

replace the water i removed

test ammonia/nitrate levels again

[joephys]

Is the test you got nitrite or nitrate? It makes a big difference in regards to the safety to your fish.

[tkos]

2 gallons is probably not enough to dent the level of nitite. Fact is you just have to keep doing water changes (right ina row if needed) until that nitrite is down low enough. once you get it established as a low number you will be able to keep up with it more often.I would start by doing at least 4 gallons next time you do a change and see how that goes. In a 14 gallon tank a 2 gallon change is only about 14% or so, so you are only diluting the current amount of nitrite by 14% then letting it climb back up. a 4 gallon change will be a far more significant change, though may still not be enough. Keep going.

And once a day feeding is fine. Fish are cold blooded so they don't need calories to keep warm. The heater does that. Especially during this cyclign phase you don't need the extra waste in the tank. So feed half of what you have been doing.

[johnpeezy]

ok cool thanks,

I did actually decide to step up my water changes to 5-6 gallons when needed (at minimum every other day)

feed them once got it

[Fractured]

Ive been looking into Pur filters just for kicks and learned that its Ok.

It does remove some nasty things from the water that ive read on Pur site about. I still would add prime to it for safe measure.

There is more good in using that Pur Faucet filter over not using it.

Also with a TDS meter thanks to another poster in a marine site i visit.
Tapp water - 32 tds
PUR filter - 29 TDS

Fresh water is very forgiving with water parameters. Pur filters I've read do reduce some nitrates from the tap. It does remove a lot of other nasties..

Pur site lists what there filters can do minus listing nitrate,phosphate, nitrites..Faucet Mount Systems NSF Certified Contaminants Reduction Claims

About that 14 gallon:
I assume its new and still cycling. you will go through algae bloom stages and will see fluctuations in the Ammonia levels.

If you want to ease the cycling process, one gallon a day change would lighten the blow. After 2-3 weeks...weekly 20% changes would suffice.

Also tap water +Prime are good enough.

Staying on top of your filter maintenance and water changes will be good. If you do have algae issues, you can simply use RO/DI water for changes. That will impact the food source for the algae being that there is an abundance of nutrients in the water.

hopefully I didnt overload you with info...and hope it helps expand your knowledge gathering =0)

[johnpeezy]

This thread is a little old but thanks for the info on the pur filtration deal, my 14 gallon cycled now and has been cycled for a few months mainly due to my LFS letting me seed my tanks with there stuff. I actually just to a few pictures on the cichlids forum from my 14 gallon of my male "Bipindi" ....and algae

[Fractured]

Originally Posted by johnpeezy

This thread is a little old but thanks for the info on the pur filtration deal, my 14 gallon cycled now and has been cycled for a few months mainly due to my LFS letting me seed my tanks with there stuff. I actually just to a few pictures on the cichlids forum from my 14 gallon of my male "Bipindi" ....and algae

Ahh I was googling about Pur and stumbled on this forums.. I just thought I share the info I found on Pur and at the same time give you some info.

[johnpeezy]

I appreciate it man I may just swich over to filtered water again

[joephys]

It would be much cheaper in the long run to just run the water through carbon if you are going to go that route. No need on spending extra money for 'human' carbon for the fish water.