Choosing what kind of water to use in your fish tank is not as straightforward as you might think: Caring for your pet fish requires attention to detail and careful consideration for their environment and living conditions, as small alterations can cause unnecessary stress and lead to illness or death.
You should take into account several facts and considerations to make sure tap water is indeed safe for your fish tank and prevent harming your fish in the process.
How to make tap water safe for my fish tank? Tap water contains Chlorine-based disinfectants, heavy metals (zinc, copper). The first step is water dechlorination. Aeration is a cheap but most time-consuming way. Another option is adding Liquid conditioner. The best option is to use a Reverse Osmosis water filter system. Before adding dechlorinated water to the fish tank, hardness, acidity, and alkalinity need to be checked and if necessary modified.
How to make tap water safe for my fish tank?
There are several methods to remove chlorine from tap water. You should consider which fits your budget and preferences better, always keeping in mind your fish’s health:
1. Tap Water Aeration
Aeration is the cheapest, yet less effective method: It consists on adding air to tap water through the night, driving off most of the chlorine, but it is not too effective to clean off chloramine.
2. Add Liquid Conditioner
Pre-treating the water with a liquid conditioner is an effective method. You can purchase these conditioners at your local pet store or even online, link to amazon, reviews will assure you which one is worthed to try.
3. Reverse Osmosis Water Filters
Reverse osmosis water filters are expensive, but they are incredibly useful as well. It relies on a 3 up to 5 (depend on the type) stage system which assures the water will be safe for your cherished fish. 3 – stage reverse osmosis is available from 50 USD up to 6 – stage reverse osmosis where the price starts from little over 150 USD. Links will direct you to Amazon. The addition is that in some areas with lower quality of drinking water with reverse osmosis you get a new source of drinking water. Investment for good reliable osmosis filtration can save you money and time. Compare to regular hunt for bottled water, reverse osmosis will pay itself back in about a year.
Additional Water Factors To Be Checked
Also, do remember there are other elements to consider: You should use a kit to check the water’s pH, to ensure it fits your fish’s requirements, as well as Calcium Carbonate and General hardness levels. With this recommended aquarium water quality test strips, you are also always sure, when water changes were necessary.
Finally, after making sure the chemical levels are ideal for your pets, do not forget to condition the water: You may go two routes on this last stage:
Chemical Route
These substances allow replicating the fish’s natural protective coating. However, not everyone is in favor of using chemicals when you just spent a reasonable amount of time and money removing them from the water.
Chemical-Free Route
There are several options if you want to avoid using heavy chemicals, such as raising KH through baking soda or adding crushed coral to increase GH levels naturally.
Can I Fill My Fish Tank With Tap Water?
Short answer: Yes. You can, but there are many considerations you need to keep in mind to ensure this water is not harmful to your fish.
Since it is recommended that you renovate the water in your aquarium regularly, it can be very expensive to try any other type of water.
It is preferable to change 10 to 15% of the contents of your fish tank every single week. Keep this under consideration when renewing the habitat’s water supply.
Remember that living in the city means that the water coming out of your faucet will be treated with a lot more chemicals than if you lived in the countryside.
The most usual chemicals you will find in tap water are chlorine and fluoride. These are not harmful for human consumption but can be very detrimental to your fish’s health.
You should also consider what kind of fish you own: Some require a lower PH while others will not survive unless this element is high in their fish tank. You should never apply the same rule of thumb to all your fish unless they are the very same species.
How To Dechlorinate Tap Water Before Adding To The Fish Tank?
There are several alternatives, and it depends on your budget and the amount of effort you are willing to incur on.
- Install an aerating sprayer: This is the cheapest and easiest method, which basically consists of aerating your aquarium to remove unwanted chlorine. Given that it’s a volatile gas, it will be eliminated when exposed to aeration.
- Include a dechlorination chemical to remove both chlorine and chloramine. Be very careful reading the instructions as you can only add so much per liter of water. Add a dechlorination agent to remove chlorine and chloramine.
- Use a Reverse Osmosis (RO) purifier, which ensures the removal of heavy metals through a 6-stage system. This is an often costly option, though there are some reasonably-priced models available.
- Removing chlorine is rather straightforward: Simply letting it rest will allow the chlorine gas to evaporate. This process is called aging. Remember, however, this is not an all-encompassing solution: there are many other elements to keep in mind which can be very harmful to your pets!
- Always remember to condition your tank water after any (or all!) of these methods.
To know for sure what are the levels of chlorine in your tap water, you can call your local water plant.
They will be able to let you know what levels you are dealing with and this will allow you to take the best course of action when it comes to taking care of your pets.
Can Tap Chlorine Water Kill My Fish?
As mentioned before, the answer is not quite so simple. In theory, yes, but it depends significantly on where you live and what kind of fish you own.
If you live in the countryside, where the chemical and heavy metal levels on the water will be lower and own a fish species with few health issues, this might not be a problem in the short run.
However, fish are known for having delicate health and demand specific habitats to survive, so using tap chlorine water without the proper dechlorination process can indeed harm, if not kill, your fish.
If you want to make sure your pets are happy and healthy, you should not risk simply filling their aquarium with tap water and calling it a day.
The best way to go is to test the water before you pour it in, so you have a good previous idea of what you are working with.
Also, keep in mind there are other elements other than chlorine to consider: There is the water PH, it is hardness and many other components. The temperature can also be an issue with many fish species.
Any sudden change in their habitat can heighten your fish’s stress levels, and given this is one of the main issues when it comes to their health, this is a factor you would like to avoid altogether.
If you own a beautiful tropical fish, you cannot simply drop it off in cooler temperatures, and if you acquired a marine fish, it would be highly dangerous to place it in freshwater. Each different species has vastly contrasting requirements.
What Aquarium Fish Can Live In Tap Water?
Each species has different requirements to live a long (or at least long for a fish) and healthy lives. It is a great idea to separate the different types of fish and their necessities.
Tap water works best for freshwater fish, while also having the advantage of being the cheapest option out there.
Reverse Osmosis water is only unavoidable when it comes to saltwater fish, as they will soon grow ill if exposed to regular water with little preparation for their unique metabolisms.
Also keep in mind that the quality of the water if a fundamental factor to consider: If you live in an area with high levels of metal and chlorine residues in the tap, do not ignore this fact.
Low-quality water can be highly prejudicial to your fish, whether freshwater or saltwater, and you should take steps to ensure its quality is improved before adding it to an aquarium.
Whatever you save in using tap water you will soon have to waste purchasing new fish and saying goodbye to your old pets.
Other elements to consider are the water’s PH and its level of hardness, as these factors might also be highly detrimental to the fish’s well-being.
If the elements mentioned above are correctly calibrated, however, you should have no problem allowing your fish to swim happily in tap water.
How To Add Tap Water To An Established Fish Tank?
First and foremost, you must analyze how often and in what quantities you should renew your existing fish tank water.
It is recommended to repeat this process every week and replace about 20% of existing water for a new one, keeping your fish healthy and the water clean.
When adding new water from the tap, make sure you test the pH levels for acidity and alkalinity of both your new and old water, to make sure it is balanced out.
It is also important to make sure water is not too hard, as this means it will contain high levels of minerals and may prove harmful if allowed to grow unchecked.
Changing the water in a fish tank often is a great way to keep your water softer and make sure residues are eliminated naturally.
It is important not to just add the same kind of water each week, but instead include distilled products and chemicals to ensure all levels are appropriately maintained across the tank.
Using Distilled Water In Fish Tank
Pure distilled water is an excellent option to ensure you are not losing water due to evaporation. This kind of water is the softest possible and can significantly improve your fish’s quality of life.
Remember that this should not be used as the sole source of water in your aquarium: It is meant to complement your existing supply and improve the habitat instead.
Distilled water holds no minerals, which can be greatly harmful, and you should rely on other sources combined with this type. These minerals include magnesium, calcium, and iron.
Also keep in mind that distilled water is acidic, at 7 pH, so it needs to be toned down by using tap water or other water sources.
Distilled water, however, can be a great choice if used properly:
- After remineralization, it can prove a good alternative to tap water, allowing you to utilize it during water changes.
- It is a perfect way to diminish the hardness of tap water, mixing in a gallon of tap with a gallon of distilled. This allows you to keep the best of both worlds.
- It is a great alternative to keep your saltwater reef tanks healthy when used in moderation.
How Long Does It Take For Tap Water To Be Safe For Fish?
Again, this is a complicated answer to a simple enough question. In short, it depends on your fish and the quality of the tap water in the city or town you reside in.
Chlorine alone will evaporate mostly in 24 hours if left on an open receptacle, through a process called aging.
This process, however, will not be effective if the water in question also has residues of chloramine, nitrogen, and chlorine combined.
To ensure the water you are using is safe for your pets, however, you should use a proper water conditioner.
Chemical de-chlorinators act instantly, but it is always important to follow the instructions to the letter and check your tap water for the presence of other nocive elements.
So, what is better? Aging or chemical treatments?
- Aging allows for a more natural method and is entirely inexpensive. All you will waste is 24 hours waiting time.
- Chemical treatments render the tap water safe for use instantly, and can also neutralize heavy metals which aging does not eliminate.
In big cities, where water can be rather hard, chemical treatments are highly beneficial as they include stress coats, allowing the skin of your fish to be soothed and stress diminished in the long run.
How Long Can Fish Survive In Tap Water?
As with every other question in this article, there is not a single, easy answer: It depends on the type of fish, the quality of the water and what treatments you put it through before adding it in the aquarium.
To make sure the tap water at your address is adequate to use in your aquarium, you should take into account the levels of:
Nitrite
This is another dangerous chemical which should be kept at 0 ppm, since in any higher doses, it can cause irreparable damage, and even death, to your fish.
If you have a highly populated aquarium, you should remain alert to the nitrite levels: The greater the number, the higher this chemical’s concentration can grow.
To keep nitrite levels from becoming dangerous, you need to remember to clean out uneaten food and waste from the tank.
The most obvious signs of poisoning are brown gill and gasping for air at the water surface.
Carbon Dioxide
Though fish do not process oxygen the same way we do, carbon dioxide can still be lethal to them.
There are several factors which can contribute to high levels of this dangerous gas, including lack of lighting, rendering the plants unable to absorb it from the water.
Easy ways to notice poisoning in your pets include them gasping for air and rapid breathing.
Ammonia
This dissolved gas is highly toxic to fish of all kinds, and you should check to make sure it’s as close to 0 as possible.
Even a concentration of 2 ppm can severely harm your pets.
Some of the traits which will indicate ammonia poisoning in your fish are lethargy, red gills, bleeding and lack of appetite.
A good way to solve high levels of pH and ammonia is to conduct a partial water change, as well as scooping excess organic matter which floats on the surface of the tank.
Heavy Metals
Metal residues can stain your tap water due to old pipes or other unforeseeable factors, and they are highly detrimental to your fish if left unattended.
The most common metals you might notice in your tap water are iron and copper. Counting on a good filtration system or adding water softener might prevent these metals from affecting your fish.
Can I Use Well Water For My Fish Tank?
In short, yes, but not without the proper precautions to ensure it is safe to use.
Though in some ideal cases well water can be indeed pure enough to use on your tank, it might have dangerous substances or levels which might be detrimental to your fish’s well-being.
Thus, you should always check the different levels just as you would with tap water. Make sure to test the well water:
- PH
- Phosphate levels
- Silicate
- Nitrate
If any of these are off, you are going to need to purify the water before introducing it in the saltwater aquarium.
When it comes to a freshwater tank, however, you should focus mainly on the water’s levels of:
- PH
- Hardness
- Nitrate
In both cases, you should invest in a Reverse Osmosis Deionization unit, which is perfect for removing chemicals and lowers the total dissolved solids to ZERO, which is the perfect state for any kind of aquarium and drinking also.
