Water change time

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Plonk

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I am about to do my first 20% water change. I have been told that I need to take the chlorine out of the water before I put it in the tank. Does that sound right?
Another aquarium told me I can just use tap water.
So now Im confused
 
Plonk,

The second aquarium couldn't be more wrong! :mad: All tap water contains chlorine and chloramines which must be removed before adding the water to the tank because they will kill the bacteria in your established tank. So yes, use a water conditioner that will eliminate chlorine and chloramine. Something that neutralises heavy metals would also be ideal, but not necessary.

Jay.
 
The person who told me to remove the chlorine said to boil the water and that will remove the chlorine. Then just add the boiled cool water to the tank. Is that a no no??
 
No don't do that. Just adding the water conditioner will suffice. You can also let the bucket(s) of tap water stand overnight, then add the water conditioner. But adding boiled water to your tank is definitely incorrect...just imagine the temperature crash and unless you wish to have an axie for dinner :p I strongly recommend that you just add the water conditioner to the tap water.

Jay.
 
Ok thanx.
The person told me to make sure the water is cool before I add it. Not add boiling water to the tank.
Is the water conditioner, ph down?
 
Sorry matey, I just re-read your post and noticed the 'cool' part to adding boiled water lol. But still, adding cool boiled water doesn't guarantee the complete irradication of chlorine and chloramine.

The water conditioner isn't pH down- this is something totally different and a product that you should avoid using. The next time you vist the pet store, you should ask for a water conditioner. Any of the products will be fine, as long as it specifically removes chlorine and chloramine. An example of a water conditioner is the product called Aqua plus, which is manfactured by a company called Nutrafin.

Jay.
 
Grrrr Im cranky now. The aquarium gave me some ph down to use to put in the tank everytime I do a water change. I am really tired of getting bad advice from places that sell these animals for a living.
Do you know how much the water conditioner costs. Ill have to go out and get some.
 
Things like boiling water and leaving the water to sit *can* help to remove chlorine not always. Therefore I think you should use a conditioner. I usually add conditioner and leave the water sit for a bit, sometimes for as long as 24 hours.

Water conditioner is about $2-3AUD for a packet where I live. My packets last for about 8 months, so not expensive :)
 
Thanx for everyones help!!!!!!!
 
Another reason to not boil the water is you're in essence removing all the dissolved oxygen, though cooling it down and agitating it would restore it. However, in general you want to increase your water's oxygen content, not decrease it.
 
Ohhhh boy... have I been doing the wrong thing. I been doing 20% water changes daily with tap water (to get rid of my nitrite that hasn't budged off 2.0 for almost 2 weeks now) then once the buckets are in the tank I add the conditioner....is this ok???
 
I think you should add the conditioner to the buckets first MistressofAxies, then put them in the water. Do you take your axolotls out when you put in the untreated water in buckets? If not then this could stress them out as they are getting some chlorine water in the tank. Also adding it to the tank may mean the dosage is wrong.

Also I noticed that I should have put a 'but' in my earlier post (won't let me edit now): "Things like boiling water and leaving the water to sit *can* help to remove chlorine BUT not always." Oops.
 
MistressOfAxies,

You should definitely be adding the water conditioner to the buckets before adding it to the tank. Chlorine will act instantly to kill any bacteria present whether it is good/bad- chlorine will not differentiate between the two. This is the main reason as to why the nitrite levels are still present in your tank. Basically, your tank is doing its job with the biological cycle but it isn't able to do it effectively because every time it generates enough beneficial bacteria (nitrobacter) to breakdown the nitrite, the chlorine that is from the untreated tap water kills it again. Also, it doesn't take much chlorine to kill the bacteria within your tank.

Jay.
 
I am not a fan of water conditioners. I call the local water dept on a yearly basis and ask for a water quality report. They send it out via mail or recently tell you to visit the website for the different values. My exp is that chlorine and chloramine in normal drinking water concentrations will dissipate from a bucket in 24 hours with nothing more than a small pump and an airstone. I prefer this method to adding any chemical to the water. I know of a few folks who have several larger tanks and need more than the occasional bucket of water. For these folks a nalgene tank of 5-50 gallons is used to age tap water. The tank has an airstone and a canister filter running carbon or some other media as needed. The tank runs constantly so there is always clean water available. When 5 gallons is removed, 5 gallons is replaced. Works like a charm.
 
Okies cheers I'll start doing my water changes differently now. Yes the axies were in the tank when I threw the buckets in but they didn't seem to mind they were more interested in what I was doing. I'll put the conditioner in the buckets now is there any time limit to when you add the conditioner in the buckets to when you put them in the tank? Like can you add the conditioner then throw the water in the tank?
 
No, there isn't a time limit. The water conditioner will act instantaneously to remove chlorine/chloramine. However, once when you've added the water conditioner to your bucket(s) of untreated tap water, put your hand in and give it a good mix around to increase the surface area for the water conditioner to take action.

Jay,
 
[FONT=&quot]I normally go to the store and refill my 5gal. jug of water for a dollar. I hope purified water is okay! lol. [/FONT]
 
Shantsdude,

As long as it isn't deionised water then you should be fine ;)

Jay.
 
[FONT=&quot]what's wrong with Deionised water? oh boy, i hope i haven’t been messing up. Im not sure what the exact name of the water is, but it's like distilled water or something like that. I donno! it's cold and chlorine free lol. It's supposed to be purified so you're not drinking all the chemicals you get in normal Tap water. Sorry if that's pretty veg [/FONT]
 
If a water is deionised or distilled it causes more work for the axolotl's kidneys among other things (which I can't remember off the top of my head!), and is considered to be stressful for many axolotls. Here is an article that goes into the use of spring and deionised water: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Spring_water.shtml
 
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