Water Chemistry and refillling tank with python

[Akysten]

OK, people keep saying that you can refill your tank with water from the faucet as long as you treat the tank water at the same time, or while you're filling it.

what about your tap water? A LFS showed me that his waver(city, from a river) came out of the tap at 8.0ph and 1ppm ammonia... of course this isn't an issue with a cycled tank, but the PH is.

My water is from a reservior, and comes out at a 7.0ph and .5ppm ammonia.

During a 15-20% water change, does this hurt your water chemistry?

 

[Roan Art]

If you are doing regular water changes of at least 50% every week, there is not much difference between the source water and the tank water.

If you do smaller changes and/or over longer periods of time, the further away your tank water chemistry gets from your source water.

The key is to keep your tank water as close to your source as possible. The best way to do this is to do a 50% "reset" every week.

Roan