Bottled water for Tropical Fish tank?

Question

Hi, though I do not use it - but I was reading online and is it true you can use Bottled water (Mineral water) from supermarkets for your fish tanks?! Is this true?!! Gosh, If I did a water change today of a 10 gallon tank, and add 10% mineral water - would this be good for my fishy? My tank is established by the way. Many Thanks, would be good to hear your views and any others who have experienced using mineral water (bottled water) Cheers

Answer 1

Not a good idea really. No doubt the pH and hardness of the bottled water will be different from your tap water and would make a significant change in the tank. Your tank is established and running well with your tap water so don't change a think. Always remember the old saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Meaning, if your tank is doing well as is, why risk messing it up changing something?

MM

Answer 2

Not all bottled water is mineral water. You can change out all the water in a tank with bottled spring water and the fishes will be fine as any clorine that may have been present is long gone from the water sitting. Mineral water, is not a good idea.

Answer 3

Just get a bottle of the liquid that kills the cholrine in the regular tap water. Unless you really want to waste your money then use the bottle but make sure its the mineral cuz there is some really good stuff for fish in the tap water....just not the Chl.

Answer 4

99% of the time your tap water will be fine for fish. Bottled water is just someone else's tap water!!! The only time I would suggest you use bottled water is if your tap water is not really fit to drink, then the bottle of "someone else's tap water" is probably better. A while back a Consumer TV program did some testing on the common bottled waters that we have locally. The water was fine, but they could tell which city the water came from by comparing the water analysis to the local tap waters in those cities. It was identical. Ian

Answer 5

I also have to agree that bottled water isn't necessary. The same minerals may be present in your tanp water, unless you use a special water softening system like Culligan.

Rather than just letting your water sit out for 24 hours (which works if you know your water supplier only uses chlorine to treat), it is better to use a water conditioner. Many suppliers have changed treatments to chloramine because it doesn't dissapear as quickly, and chloramine can be even more harmful to your fish because it contains ammonia. A call to your loval water provider's office can let you know which is used.
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/waterfaqs/f/faq0050.htm
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/chlor.htm

Answer 6

You could use mineral water, but you would still have to treat it with a dechlorinator to remove the chemicals. The fish really wouldn't care weather the water was from the highest spring on a mountain peak, or if it came from your sink.

Nosoop4u

Answer 7

yes you can use bottled water but it is a rather expensive prospect for those of us with 45 gallon + tanks. private well water is usually fine and without chlorine otherwise dechlorinators are widely available for those of us whom use tap water. if you don't have dechlorinator then a 5 gallon bucket of water is usually safe for fish after sitting open 24-48 hours. This allows the chlorine to burn off naturally.

Answer 8

Total waste of money. Tap water that has been sitting for 24 hours to evaporate any chlorine and stabilize the Ph is just fine. Chemicals and water softeners are available in quantities at your pet store that are far cheaper than buying gallon after gallon of bottled water.

Answer 9

people use bottled water so they dont need to condition it.
in my opinion, complete waste of time and money.

bottled watter has nothing to it, just pure water. fish need some dissolved minerals that are found in tap water.
the best and easiest thing to do is buy a big bottle of quality water conditioner. prime is considered one of the best. ive heard of people using the same bottle of prime for years.

Answer 10

I use bottled water for my fish & it works great. The reason for this is that this water is much more cleaner than normal tap water, so it has more oxygen for fish to breath, other than the chemichals in tap water. like chlorine to kill bacteria. I personally think that chlorine is harmful to fish (but who knows?).