Well Water Help?

I agree with a GH and KH test kit. However they tend to be more important in a planted tank. If you live in an agricultural area I'd also suggest always keeping fresh activated carbon in your tank. Well water doesn't go through as many treatments as city water so it helps takes anything out that it might have picked up. I have a whole house carbon filter, but if that goes bad without knowing and I have no carbon in my tanks, all my fish die within 2 days. Just a bit of a warning.

Typically it's not actually well water that causes problems for fish but water softeners. Fish do well in my well water (given it's been through a carbon treatment), but plants and inverts on the hand can't survive because of how softened my water is. Water softeners take out what plants, inverts, and fish need (but is bad for pipes and appliances) and replaces it with salt or potassium salt which in turn kills the plants and inverts.

Through the years I've went through many battles and tons of testing and research with my water. For my planted tanks I have a reverse osmosis unit that I have to use and then add in only the minerals that I want in.
 
kiddevo said:
That's pretty cool. How do you generate any pressure for showers? Or do I not wanto to know lol...
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The well is uphill about three hundred feet behind my house. It's about 60-70feet elevation above my house..... Lots of presssure. Doesn't need a pump.
 
I have used nothing but my well water for almost 20 years in my freshwater tanks and honestly think it's wonderful! My fish thrive, breed well, plants do fantastic..etc. Only thing I would suggest is to test your water throughout the year. My PH does flucuate after heavy rains or snow melt (In Central Indiana here..but all my family is from TN...Oneida, Elgin area so waving south :D ) I just do smaller more frequent water changes during those time vs. one larger one. Also during droughts. I am a firm believer in the "Fish can't read PH" school of thought and agree with as stated that stable PH is the important thing. Good Luck and have fun with the setup!
 
Thanks for all the help everyone!

flyinggig said:
The well is uphill about three hundred feet behind my house. It's about 60-70feet elevation above my house..... Lots of presssure. Doesn't need a pump.
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Our house is just like that. We don't pay to pump our water.
 
Well water can vary from area to area. The water from my well has a pH of 8.3 and the KH and GH are in the mid 20's. I can keep quite a few types of fish in my water, although some just don't seem to do well. Rams die sooner than I think they should. I've never had them breed. Some tetras haven't done well. On the other hand Rift Lake cichlids are easy, as are rainbow fish.

Find out what your GH and KH are. As high as mine are, my water is quite stable. I never have pH drops. Even a huge piece of driftwood that leaches tannins in the water makes no difference in the pH. I put water directly from the well into the tank. There can be problems with dissolved gases in the water, so I don't make huge water changes (generally 50% or less).

Your local Extension office may be able to test your well water or tell you where you can get it tested. If it is high in nitrates it isn't safe for (human) babies. Because of that, it is usually pretty easy to get your water tested. That will give you an idea of what is in your water. It will probably vary with the seasons a bit, but around here most people who live in town get their water from the Mississippi River, and that will vary with the season also. There is only so much the water plant can do to make it consistent.

Enjoy easy water changes. No de-chlor products to deal with.

Lisa
 
Think I'm kinda jealous of you guys with your well water pH of > 7. Mine sits at 5.5. Very slight creep after 24hrs exposed.
 
So guys, over the course of 36 or so hours my well water has raised from 7.2 to right around 7.9/8.0, and I'm seeing no fluctuations now that it's raised to there. So when I go to do water changes, should I get like a 30 gallon tub and fill it up and sit it out for a few days?
 
What kind of water changes are you planning to do? If it is a max of 25-30% and relatively hardy fish, I wouldn't worry about it. Get the temp close and dump it in. If you are dealing with more sensitive species, it might make sense to hold the water overnight before using it. An airstone to circulate the water will help remove any dissolved gases also.

But really, anything that makes water changes more work, tends to result in less water changes. Keep it as simple as you can.

When I worked at a pet shop, we would vacuum the gravel and siphon out about 30% of the water in each tank, then we went right down the row and filled the tanks back up with straight ice cold tap water. And never lost a fish from it. Again, that was general hardy varieties though.

Lisa
 
Wren said:
What kind of water changes are you planning to do? If it is a max of 25-30% and relatively hardy fish, I wouldn't worry about it. Get the temp close and dump it in. If you are dealing with more sensitive species, it might make sense to hold the water overnight before using it. An airstone to circulate the water will help remove any dissolved gases also.

But really, anything that makes water changes more work, tends to result in less water changes. Keep it as simple as you can.

When I worked at a pet shop, we would vacuum the gravel and siphon out about 30% of the water in each tank, then we went right down the row and filled the tanks back up with straight ice cold tap water. And never lost a fish from it. Again, that was general hardy varieties though.

Lisa
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I'm going to do bi-weekly water changes of about 25%. I'm going to be going with a Lake Malawi Mbuna biotype and it's going to be a species only tank with
Pseudotropheus saulosi.....so yeah, I'll probably have to let the water sit before I dump it in. lol I have plenty of "under-the-stand" room, so I'm thinking I'm just going to keep a 30 gallon tub full all the time. I'm OCD about water changes and I'm home 5 days a week with nothing to do, so the more water changes the better.
 
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