Water Changes?

I got on my cities website and got the water report. I don't know what you all want so I will just put some stuff on here. If there is any other info you need let me know

Chronium: 50 ppb
Copper: 1.3 ppm
Fluoride: 2 ppm
Lead 15 ppb
Nitrate: 45 ppm (this might be a problem)
Chlorine: 4 ppm

Let me know if there is anything else and if there is any other info you need or want. Thanks again
 
joeyg2100 said:
I got on my cities website and got the water report. I don't know what you all want so I will just put some stuff on here. If there is any other info you need let me know

Chronium: 50 ppb
Copper: 1.3 ppm
Fluoride: 2 ppm
Lead 15 ppb
Nitrate: 45 ppm (this might be a problem)
Chlorine: 4 ppm

Let me know if there is anything else and if there is any other info you need or want. Thanks again
Click to expand...
I don't think the nitrates are really a problem at the moment, but make note of that for future reference. That is kind of high, but I'm sure I read here that most people don't worry about it too much unless it gets up and over 80ppm.

It is rather interesting, though, that you are not showing any nitrates yet, but you are throwing 45ppm in there with every water change. Strange. Maybe someone can explain that one.

I should think that 4ppm is a lot of chlorine, but I'll have to leave that to the chem people on here.

Treat the water with Prime for now. That'll get rid of any chlorine problems and we'll wait and see what the others come up with on this list, kay?

Roan
 
I'm going to guess the chlorine in the water is the biggest problem. Letting it sit for a couple of days should allow some of it to gas off, but I bet not all of it. I think it needs some sort of agitation to be a really effective way of removing chlorine, and if you're doing 50% changes we're talking 25+g of water. Pick up some prime ASAP and start using it with your water changes. Then you wouldn't even have to let the water sit if you don't want to!! There are other conditioners too that are fine to use as long as they remove chlorine (since your water doesn't have chloramine), but you use so little prime to treat such a large amount of water, its really one of the best deals:).

What fish do you still have in the tank? Only having the 3 in a 55g should make your life alot easier, the ammonia should take longer to get to a toxic level, so if you monitor it really well, you should be able to get away with smaller water changes, just more frequently. It might be easier.
 
Chlorine and chloramine will not kill your fish with one or 2 doses. I've kept fish in unconditioned city water for a long time (a year, maybe?). It definately isn't healthy, but death won't be instantaneous.

Prime is a good brand for large tanks. You won't be using it in place of changes though. You may be doing 25 % changes daily until cycled to keep your tank healthy. Since ammonia burns the fish gills, it is important to remove. PRIME binds to ammonia and you will still get an ammonia reading on your tests, however it won't be metabolized by the fish, but rather by the bacteria.

And nothing removes Nitrites or nitrates except changes.

Nitrites are also deadly and need to be kept at 0 with the ammonia. Nitrates can be in your tank, but not at too high of a level- around 20ppm is healthy.

http://www.thekrib.com/Chemistry/
There is a link about water chemistry. When you get your numbers, it will help you decide if you need to make changes.
 
FisheyLisa said:
Chlorine and chloramine will not kill your fish with one or 2 doses. I've kept fish in unconditioned city water for a long time (a year, maybe?). It definately isn't healthy, but death won't be instantaneous.
.
Click to expand...

Maybe you had some super tough fish or not much chlorine in the water?? I had some guy fill up the majority of my bag with tap water and the fish was dead before I got home :( I'm sure it could have been something else too, but I figured it was the untreated water primarily. Either way, I wouldn't want to test it and find out :joke:
 
Ok I just got back from the lfs. They tested my water and everything was at 0
A = 0
N02 = 0
n03 = 0

I asked her about the Lincoln water and she said that we have very high Chlorine levels, and that without properly ageing or conditioning the water that it would kill the fish.
I wish they would have said this to me before I started buying fish.

So if all my levels are at 0 then is my tank cycled? It has been going for a little over two weeks. What do you all think?
Thanks for the help.
 
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