adding water....evaporation problem

nice pirhana

need some suggestions for adding water. been having a lot of water evaporarate cause of the 100+ degrees weather in tx. is it ok to add water untreated?

i have a 55gal and prob need to add a half a gallon or so. anyone got any suggestions for a noob?
thx in advance!

ladayen

1/2 gallon in a 55 gallon tank is not even 1%, assuming the tank is otherwise full. As long as your tap water isn't contaminated it's fine.

zof

keep a 5 gallon bucket of treated water right next to the tank, easy enough to do, then you don't risk adding extra chlorine.

AbbeysDad

what s/he said.

Barbman

Are you using tap water? If so I would say never add untreated tap ... not just chlorine, but it may have chloramine. Pure spring water or well water would be ok. If your worried about parasites etc ... boil it then add it when it cools.

BarbH

Also you could use empty jugs, just treat for the amount of water the container holds, easier to add water when needed, and can keep sealed to keep stuff from getting in. Would not add untreated tap water for the reason stated above

nice pirhana

so spring water like you buy at the grocery store? was also thinking about distilled....would that be ok?

my thinking would be that as the water evaporates that the all the bacteria, chemicals, etc in the tank would get more concentrated....if you added pure water, in theory it would bring everything back to normal. if you added treated water it would bring those levels up. im a noob so you tell me whats right.

i dont know if it is related but i did add about a gal to the tank of my tap water and i had 2 floaters this afternoon.....id say about 15-20 hours after water was added. they didnt seem to be injured or eaten by the other fish like my first 3 neons.

zof

Concentration should not be an issue if you are doing weekly water changes to keep your nitrates in check, assuming your tank is cycled. Never add tap water unless you add a dechlorinator in with it as it is the quickest way to kill off your stock and the beneficial bacteria.

nice pirhana

^ did the 5 in 1 test strip and it shows everything to be at good levels...so hmm?

BarbH

The test strips are not always very reliable. I would suggest in investing in a liquid test kit like the API master test kit, it has all that you would need for checking your parameters and you can get it at your LFS. If you are unable to find one there you can also pick one up online at a site like big al's online, or foster and smith. Big Al's offers free shipping on orders over $75, and foster and smith offers free shipping on orders over $49. You can always add something like replacement filter cartidges to the order to make the price you need for free shipping. I have found that my filter replacements are cheaper to buy that way then at the LFS, and you can keep the extras in storage until you need them.