8 replies to this topic

[Delapool]

Just wondering if anyone did a water change today and found their tap water was cloudy?

Was topping up the pool and then a tank water change, when I noticed the tap water seemed to be very cloudy.

It cleared after a bit - possibly a lot of gas bubbles. I can see a lot of small bubbles on the glass walls of tank.

The water surface seems to have a bit of scum on it. A glass of water seems fine so maybe that is from my tank somewhere.

Added extra prime and a new carbon filter just in case.


Craig

[Buccal]

Extra prime should make you safe.
If you phoned up the water authorities, I bet they'd say there was some maintenance in the area, and they had to disconnect a pipeline and re-connect somewhere.

[sydad]

Milkiness due to ultra-fine air bubbles as a result of degassing on pressure drop after air is trapped in mains lines is not an uncommon event, but can be fatal to aquarium fishes, as these near microscopic bubbles can accumulate on gill filaments and in so doing, prevent their proper function. This is one reason why any half serious aquarist uses a reservoir/s for water storage prior to adding water to an aquarium.

 

I have said it before, and I'll say it again; an aquarium should not be regarded as a reaction chamber. I fail to see the rationale behind adding a potentially dangerous amount of a hydrosulphite such as prime. Sulphur compounds, particularly in such a reactive form have a real downside, and their use should be curtailed as far as is possible. As i said, all it takes to do this is to have a reservoir (preferably aerated). Simple!

 

Syd.

[Delapool]

I'd be curious if anyone sees it often. This is the first time I've seen the water do that.


Craig

[BengaBoy]

I'd be curious if anyone sees it often. This is the first time I've seen the water do that.


Craig

 

i'm up the hill in Darlington and when I first started looking at the water here when starting up some tanks last year decidedly pretty quickly the tap water was crap and prone to issues - not sure if the less populated area contributes with water sitting in pipes longer.

using a spare 6x18x18 as a reservoir.

[bigjohnnofish]

darlington is supplied by mundaring weir and with the new treatment plant operational the water is very consistant now so you can prep it accordingly.... i have been breeding some hard to breed stuff lately and havent had any issues....

 

this one is for syd.... when prime was first out on the market we had a rep come to midland pet and aquarium years ago and demonstrated that you could put a whole bottle of prime in a tank and it wont effect your fish - so overdosing was never a problem..... havent looked into the chemical structure of prime as its been a pretty closely guarded secret... but have never had any problems with it for a very long time now... but yes best solution is to have a reservoir

[Buccal]

Delapool only stated he used prime as safe measure,, the problems associated with prime is debatable but it's only said to be a issue if used with every water change or often using.
Using it for emergencies is fine and can get you out of trouble fast.
I don't use prime or even pre-age my water,,, I believe a tank shouldn't be a chemical furnace as Sydad noted,,, so this makes me a believer of more often but much smaller water changes,,,,,,, I go for super stable, breed room gets every 2 hour incremental water changes,,, and display gets daily small changes, I've actually cut down the water change size but still daily.

Prime just uses a sulphur molecule that's attached to the already joined molecules of oxygen, nitrates, ammonia, nitrites.
The toxic ammo, nitrites and nitrates enters the fish by attaching themselves in a molecular fashion the oxygen that the fish uptakes from water.
Adding a sulphur molecule onto the combo locks up the molecule, so the fish can't utilize that molecule combo any more.
So sulphur makes oxygen less usable to fish, this is why instructions say don't use if temp is over 29'c for obvious reasons and also keep heavy airation.

As for the scheme water that's milky with bubbles, always look at water for first 10 seconds before walking away.
The very odd occasions maybe 4 times ever, the milky bubbles were gone in less than 15 mins and I never had any concern in the slightest,,, but I did put prime in on these occasions, not saying it helps but likely does.

The oily surface is the microbial life that lives on inside of pipes getting ruptured at the maintenance join.

[sandgroper]

I agree Sydad, it's a no-brainer your just playing Russian roulette doing it straight from the tap. How hard is it to fill a storage container for your weekly water change and then refill it straight away after doing one ready for the next week. Plus you save on water conditioner as you don't need to use as much because a lot of the harmful chemicals have been gassed off.

[Delapool]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

 

Fish are doing fine and tank has cleared up. I wonder if filling the kids pool first was an influence.

 

The reservoir system is kind of interesting. You can work on convincing me at future meets.