Fresh water aquarium water issues........can I use spring water?

Question

I moved to a new town and set up my long successful freshwater aquarium with tetra fish. I had a very hard time getting the water chemicals to balance and they pet shop finally told me that the water where I live is really not workable for aquariums because of the chemicals. All of the fish died, despite my experienced efforts.

We have a goldfish that we just use spring water for in a bowl and he is nearly 5 years old! So, I know spring water is ok for that type of fish.

Does anyone know that if I start with spring water and work from there, would it be ok for tetras? Would I even need chemicals??

Answer 1

Part of the problem is where and what the fish are being raised/bred in. Fish that are used to hard water can be bred to tolerate increasing levels of softness, but this requires a few generations. Where is the petstore getting its fish that are able to thrive? Are there any LOCAL breeders?

What kind of chemicals are in the tapwater? Typical chemical fish killer is chlorine, followed by dissolved metals. Both can be addressed. Chlorine is straight forward; age the water. You can do this without chemicals too (I figure one less chemical mixture in the 'soup' you're trying to get your fish to live in). Simply fill clean plastic bottles with tapwater, poke a hole in the caps (to let the chlorine dissipate as a gas) and leave it in a dark, room-temperature place for at least 3 days. The longer, the better.

Dissolved metals are caused by the pipelines being leached into the water over time. First, always draw water from the COLD water tap. Hot water more actively leaches and corrodes the metal into the water. There shouldn't be so much metal in drinking water to begin with, but who knows. And the unfortunate thing about that is metals obviously will not dissipate into a gas like the chlorine. Fortunately, there are many products in the market that will remove metals.

As for the spring water...it's fine for the fishies becuz spring water, coming from a natural source, will also have necessary trace amounts of minerals naturally leached into it (minus the chlorine and excess copper and iron man-made pipes would've added). Check the ingredients on the bottles to make sure it has some of these elements (yes, there IS a list of ingredients on bottled water!)

The problem is, you are going to be spending a fortune on acquiring enough spring water for water changes, evaporation, etc.

Answer 2

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Distilled water is a BAD choice. It is essentially the purest water you'll get, and because of this, there are no electrolytes or dissolved minerals, which are vital for fish respiration and general body function. In pure water, the fish will only last a few days at best. Spring water could work, and if it's really from a spring, it's likely to be at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from distilled water-- very high in dissolved minerals-- which also makes it slightly less desirable. In the end, just using dechlorinated tap water is more economical and even healthier for fish unless you've got something extremely picky about its water (wild caught fish, usually).

Answer 3

Okay so I know your tap water is not good but have you thought of charcoal filtration. you may be able to just get one of those brita filters that attach to your faucet. Charcoal is pretty amazing you may want to do some research. As far as PH you can buy chemicals to adjust and adding a buffer to help stabilize. but don't listen to that pet shop guy, it's not like he could possibly be using bottled water as his source he is able to keep his fish alive on your local tap.my best advice stop listening to that guy. If you do decide to go back to your aquarium I would suggest buying a few feeders to start your aquarium aging process and once you get everything stable find a new home for the feeders and get the tetras as they are pretty delicate fish and do not do so well in a new aquarium

Answer 4

From what I've read, bottled water lacks alot of the essential nutrients found in tap water that fish - especially goldfish - need to stay healthy. I'm not sure, but I'd imagine that it would be the same for tetras. What types of chemicals are you referring to? If you're starting your tank again from scratch, just remember that your tank is going to cycle the first 30 days or so. So you'll definitely need something like Prime or AmQuel Plus to remove the chlorine and other impurities. Also - you say you're keeping your goldfish in a bowl? Typically - they need at least 10 gallons of water to stay healthy. I know you haven't had any problems with your fish in the bowl thus far, but keeping him cramped up could cause a lot of problems in the future. That's just my two cents, though. :)

Answer 5

Spring water isn't good, it runs through the ground, no doubt it's pure, but it cold be laden with minerals which would drastically change the chemistry. Best would be to go for rain water.. soft and no need chemicals. Next time it rains, let it do so for around 20 minutes then put a bucket out and collect the water. The 20 mins are for the pollutants to rain out.... No chemicals needed. This will work in all cases, unless you happen to live in the desert in which case you're screwed....

Answer 6

Tetras are soft water fish, and very sensitive to changes. Spring water is generally hard. I'd avoid bottled water as it can often greatly vary in chemistry. You need to test your pH, kH/GH of your tap water. (Note about 17 ppm equals one kH/GH) Now go to a site that gives you info about the pH, and kH requirement of fish. Select the fish that work with your water.
http://www.liveaquaria.com

Hard basic water- Molly, guppy, swordtail, platty
Hard acidic water- danios, dwarf gourami
Hard water in general- most gouramu, betta
soft water- tetras, angels, discus

Answer 7

Use tap water and treat with top quality dechlorinator/chloramine-remover like Seachem's PRIME. 5ml/5cc treats 50gal of water. At the recommend dosage PRIME removes 3ppm of chloramine and 4ppm of chlorine from treated tap water.

Get the appropriate test kits and monitor your KH and GH parameters and just as necessary. Get a chlorine/chloramine test kit to verify the levels contained in your local tap water (in my area it's about 2.5ppm).

ENSURE your ammonia and nitrite levels are continuously at 0ppm and nitrates kept below 40ppm.

In the long run, this will be much less cheaper than buying spring water. However if spring water works for you and you have no problem buying gallons of it during the life of your fish, go for it.

Answer 8

spring water . natural water is the best cuz distilled water has all the vitimins and nutrients taken out of it . i made that mistake once and had to take all the water out and replace it .

Answer 9

Spring water's good, go ahead with it, you don't need any chemicals either.

Answer 10

yes,you can use spring water.