A few questions about going big 150 range

As a followup re: why one wouldn't go straight from the tap.. in my case, there's something in my tap water that's dangerous for fish. I tried filling straight from the tap once (dosed the aquarium with prime before filling), one fish died and a dozen others weren't right for somewhere between 2 hours and 2 days. All else being equal, dosing prime in a bin and agitating the water before it goes in.. the fish are perfectly normal after a water change. My best guess is some agent is being brought out of solution by the agitation in the bin.
 
I see now that I didn't say anything about the first and main reason why I put a circulating pump in, in the first place. :duh:

Which was to circulate the water while filling. So any temp adjusting would be noticable, quicker.
I've became pretty good at fingering the temp anymore. For me there's a fine line between feeling cool and feeling warm. And it's around 79*F +/-2*F. And the tap on my faucet should be real close at about 1* past TDC.

I used to fill my 75g straight through the python.
We're on a community well, and it used to not be very bad with the chlorine. But I walked into the room one time while it was filling and seen a Khuli having fun in the gravel vac section. And had to argue with him about getting out so much I had to take it above the water to get him out of it.
He died an hour or so later.

When I moved back here a few yrs ago. Someone else took the well over. And now the chlorine will smack you in the face, sometimes.
So after we built the pond, I came up with this. We started out with with about 16 swords, and that turnt into 60-70 in no time. I was hauling 10-15 to the LFS once in a while.

=

The pH thing.

I have to agree with Leaving it Alone.

And agree with, the LFS probably 95%+, most likely Doesn't Change theirs either.

I've tried that more than once. And most likely stressed my fish more than helped them. It's kind of like "Loving them to death", literally.
It's also... The more we learn about water, the less we know... thing, for me.

Being as unedumicated as I am. I tend to use my imagination. And alot of thinking.
So the best I've came up with for me, is something like...
There are Alot of reasons, Why, this water is the way it it is. (pH, KH, GH, alkalinity, etc)
So how could 1 bottle of Powder/Liquid be able to fix water from everyhwere in the world?
I says, Nope!
If we were that good, we'd done had a cure for cancer yrs ago.

I'm pretty sure(go ask a health nut) our bodies would prefer a certain pH of drinking water. But our water treament plants make our water drinkable, and wherever you are. You get whatever pH it is. They don't make it 7.0 for us. ;)

We have a catfish in my mom's 55g that is somewhere around 18 yrs old. And I know he has spent a few of those yrs in very questionable water. But I'm betting, it was the consistancy not perfection, that kept him going all these yrs.

Recap, from ramblings:

Try leaving the water chemistry as is.
And don't love them to death.
You'll both be less stressed.

And yea, if you had been following me around for the past yr, you'd be yelling hipocrit. But I'm getting better. :)

And as my saying goes...

"Do as I say... Not, as I do!"
 
I'm lucky I can just add water right from the tap.when I first set the tank up I did Peg the Ph. At 7.0 it has not changed in years. The up side is that tanks of 100gl and up are real stable. With the right filters and fish load I get by with 50% water changes 4 times a year and weekly 25% top up.IMHO If I was going to have to treat the water before I could add it a big trash can filled and treated the night before looks like the way to go
 
I will talk to my LFS, since PH was my main concern. They are on city water and I am on county water, but I think it all comes from the same lake here. I do know they carry Yo-Yo loaches, so I will check what they do with their tanks.

I hate more work, so I will try to get away with path of least resistance.

Though, I personally dislike the water here for showers and drinking, it is nothing like the water I grew up with. If I could change the water at the main for little cost, I wouldn't hesitate. I don't think I will ever get use to it, but hope the fish don't mind.
 
Oh, I do have a very large of piece of driftwood going in the tank too (Still bleeding some after tons of boiling and dishwash action), so that will likely lower the pH some. I will just wait and see. =D
 
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