I am about to do my first water change.?

Question

The tropical tank water is about 26 degrees. Can I add boiling water to the bucket of cold water to up the temperature?

Answer 1

Yes.

Many aquarists will pre-treat their water, and use small amounts of boiled water to raise the temperature before adding it into their tanks. The bennifits of treating your water over a longer period of time is simple, the heavy metals and impurities in the water are removed properly as the dechlorintaors and water treatment chemicals you use for your aquarium water, will have time to set in, and do their work properly.

Most any Salt water fish keeper will likely have water treating with powerheads in large plastic bins all the time...

For reference also, boiled water is not distilled, distilled water is the recondensation of the steam produced from boiling water... Boiling water is just hot...

This said, I noticed you said bucket, and in a sense he was right. The boiling water itself cannot be added to your aquarium. As the fish would likely suffer from drastic temperature changes, they could get burned, or your glass walls could break!

Mixing boiling water with treated water for your aquarium to bring up the temperature is just fine.

Answer 2

Sure you could add boiling water but please do it when your fish are doing something else other then trying to stay alive..
The drastic change in temperature alone will kill off the weak as well as a cat or dog that may be bathing in the tub with your fish..
Here I got an idea, .. if you have a half way decent car lets take this same bucket of boiling water and put it into your gas tank of your car.. Gee do you think it will affect your driving any..?

Answer 3

#1 Do you have a thermostat in your tank to keep the water at the right temp.
#2 Ask at the store where you by the fish at what temp it should be at.
#3 When changing the water never use a container that soap has been used in.
#4 Make sure you have chlorine drops to add to the water if it is tap water you are using and only change half the water in tank.

Answer 4

I guess you can.. Leaving the bucket of water alone at room temperature for a day or 2 will work too.

Just make sure the water temp in the bucket is close to the water temp in the tank. And only do partial water change so not to shock the fish.

Answer 5

when you do a water change you are suppose to do a 25 percent change because at this point your tank is stabilize Don't add boiling water.use warm water from your tap.tropical fish really need a stable water temperature,usually between 78-80 degrees is good I would suggest getting an aquarium heater for your tank they are inexpensive I have a 180 gallon tank with 2 300 watt heaters in it.the heaters were like 25.00 each.

Answer 6

Adding boiling water sounds a little risky, you could easily make the water too hot. I'd just let the bucket of water sit near the tank for a while until they feel about the same temperature.

Answer 7

Celsius right! Other wise you're talking about a block of ice then. Ideally take a reading of your tank temperature first. Then try to match it in the water you are conditioning and replacing in the tank. You can be off a few degrees but 5-10 degrees can make a difference in some sensitive fish.

Answer 8

Yes, of course you can. One point required in adding new water to a tank is to make sure it's the same temperature as the water currently in the tank. To achieve that, you usually need to mix a combination of hot and cold water. I can't think of any other way of doing this. The point is to make sure that it's the same temperature as the water in the tank. And having a heater in the tank will keep it that temperature.

Answer 9

wow that is tooo cold.take the fish out and but them in some bag of the 26 degrees water.take maybe 75% of the water out and replace with warmer water but not too hot.then put the fish bags in the water.DO NOT TAKE THE FISH OUT OF THE BAGS.keep them in the tank like that for 30 min. too quick of a temp. change can kill them. i had this same problem but the tank was too hot.

Answer 10

Take your fish out of the tank and put it into a plastic bag filled with tank water.Then empty two thirds of the water then fill it with fresh water and add dechlorinating drops according to instructions on bottle. when finished, put bagged fish in the tank to adjust to the new temperature for approximately 1 to 2 hours before releasing to clean tank. If you empty out all the old water you may cause a bacterial explosion and have more trouble on your hands and may kill your fish. Or...go to your nearest pet store for advise.