conditioned or tank water

fishinadish

can someone tell me if it makes a difference if you use tank water or conditioned water to clean your filter pads both have the chemicals removed only difference i can see is that tank water has fish waste in it

this is an ongoing discussion between me and a friend please put this arguement to rest

beetlebz

frankly, it doesnt REALLY matter, in my opinion, provided you dont violently rinse or swish the pad. if you do a gentle swish in a bucket it doesnt really make a huge difference. True, the tank water will have beneficial bacteria in it, which in theory will deposit fresh beneficial bacteria as the old gets swished off, but really the mass majority of the bacteria is on the substrate, plants, so on and so forth. even changing the pad completely will sacrifice alot of bacteria but not necessarily enough to be detrimental.

what kind of filter are we talking about? is there additional bio media on said filter or is it whisper style with just a pad?

iamntbatman

I don't think it makes a bit of difference. The reason it's suggested to use old tank water is simply because you were going to throw it out anyway. If you use conditioned water, you're basically just wasting water and water conditioner.

JohnnyD44

+1, I always just use a bucket of water that i'm removing from the tank

bearwithfish

you got it !!!!! why waist money the hobby can be expensive enough LOL