mumofthehoarde Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Hi Everyone, Seriously desparate now. I have been praying for rain but to no avail... My tank ran dry a few days ago and now my reserve water is all gone. The coast is flooding and we are bone dry! The problem is my tap water is awful. It comes out of the tap at pH7 but within 24 hours it rises to pH8.6. It just doesnt seem to be very stable. It is hard as nails too. My guys cant build bubble nests in it which is why I changed over to tank water. I got out my still to try to distill some nice water for my tanks but it will take 120L of tap water to distill 5L of good water so until I get a water saver for my still that is out of the question. Now I have raided every cupboard and compiled this list of what I do have on hand (remembering that I live in the middle of nowhere and unless it is on my list I have to order it in) * Several 20L & 30L drums * Purigen * Peat * A truck load of Aquamaster Water ager * Livebearer water conditioner salts * 1/3 of a bottle of Prime * 1/2 a bottle of Stability My tank water was soft and pH6.5. How can I turn the nasty swinging tap water into stable nice water for them??? I have WCs due in a day or so... Anyone with a recipe of making good water?? Thanks Michelle (PS I hate living out here) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_95 Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Soak it in peat, don't add any salt or anything like that. Or you should be able to buy distiller water and mix it with the tap water. Best of luck, I use rainwater too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 (edited) All I can suggest is age it for days with IAL. Do you have any IAL? I could post you some but not an instant fix. Sorry. As Matt said, the peat will help. Edited July 30, 2011 by Busman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_95 Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Do any of your friends or family have a rainwater tank? Maybe they would let you have some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melbournebetta Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Who would have thought living in the dessert would have helped with my fish keeping? Have you thought about devising a Solar Still? (average link, but I wasn't trying very hard with the search) There are a few other techniques such as tying plastic bags around trees for condensation etc.... I know very little about using these for fish water (thoughts?) but it's not a bad place to start. -Ness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kertaz Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 (edited) Hmm.. it is a bit strange that the pH can go high overnight without anything in the water to cause it. The only thing to reduce your pH in your list is peat; as Matt_95 has said. Peat usage I'd suggest that if you drop in to your LFS next time, to get a Neutral Regulator from Seachem and Discus Buffer. They'll definitely help you to get the pH you want. To be honest, I never use Discus Buffer. Neutral Regulator does the job for me. It brings up the pH if its too low; or lower the pH, if it's too high; to 7 and maintain it there. (Then, I put in IAL, and yeah...) Neutral Regulator also claims to soften the water. To be honest, I never checked the water hardness and pH anymore since I use the product, so I can't really tell. But I've had no problems since then. The difference between this and prime is that prime assists in reducing stress, but does not bother with pH. A word of warning though.. This product contains phosphate buffer. Phosphate is one factor of algae growth. Though, if you can maintain the other algae factors; you should be able to keep them under control. Edited July 30, 2011 by kertaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumofthehoarde Posted July 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Like I said it is awful water. I dont know if the council does something to it to bring it down and that is why it rushes up to 8.6 or what. I gave up trying to figure it out as it was doing my head it. My cichlids love it though so long as it has sat for a few days before using it. I have a box of IAL from Block2. Missed that on my list. I am worried that if I do anything while the water is in the drums, that when I go and put it in the tanks it will revert back to the high pH. Is this a valid concern? Or am I stressing over nothing? I had many dramas before when I use to use our tap water so I am pretty hesitant to rush back there IYKWIM. Almost all of my tanks are around the 20L size so a little variant is a lot when dealing with such small amount of water. So if I fill up a few drums, add a couple of IAL and a stocking with some peat in it to each. Let it sit for a couple of days, I should be good to go with the WCs???? I have 26 little tanks needing WC so it is a fair amount of water needed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kertaz Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 IAL should lower the pH of the water. Try testing the water for pH prior to adding IAL, once a day everyday and prior to adding into the tank. If you want, you can try running a test. If you have an empty tank, try putting the water in it, after you aged the water with IAL for a couple of days. Then test the water the next day; or over a certain time period. If all is good; you should be able to use the method for the future. (Unless the council changes how the water is processed again) Otherwise, you could try putting the IAL into the tank. Rip them up and put a little piece in each of the tank to maintain the water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Yep. Agree with all of above. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 Hi Mum We have realy bad water hear in Perth but I use bore water and hold it in 200Ltr barrels with peat and banana leafs and pandanas leafs for about two weeks. Could you get bore water from friends it would be better that your schyme water by the sounds of it. I think you will find that your councile will use aluminium as it couses all the dextrus matter to settle and clorine and fluride and a number of other chemicals that would put you of water for good Another sugestion would be to invest in a revers osmosis filter it would make the water better for the fish andf the family I would think Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 If you're desperate for water, you could buy demineralised water. Available at most supermarkets and also at car maintenance shops like "supercheap auto". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumofthehoarde Posted August 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 at the moment I am using a drum of water we use to make up antibiotics with (nicked it from our pharmacy, desparate times call for desparate measures)....LOL I have set up 6 x 35L drums with 2 small IAL and a bag of peat in each. Hopefully this works because buying water is expensive. I am also running a not treated tank as a control so I can compare. Day 1 pH 7.03 Control pH 7.03 Day 2 pH 7.17 Control pH 7.24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 Thats the way Mum have you asked the water board in your area what they put in the water? Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumofthehoarde Posted August 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2011 (edited) Day 3 pH 7.1 Control pH 7.2 Day 4 pH 7.12 Control pH 7.4 I just hope the pH gets stable REAL soon as I have so many WC due tomorrow, it will be an all day job! 6 months ago the water would have been 8.6 by now. The council says they dont do anything to our water and that we have great water...but we own the pharmacy in town...we know how many tummy bugs go around :o Edited August 3, 2011 by mumofthehorde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les Posted August 3, 2011 Report Share Posted August 3, 2011 an instable PH is a great indicater of addatives so is the tummy bug indicater, chemicals to make it look clean its enough to make a man drink beer Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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