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Water storage (was Re: Wood)


> 
> Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1999 20:26:24 -0400
> From: Neil Frank <nfrank at mindspring_com>
> Subject: Re: wood
snip...
> 
> I can never understand why people are so hung up on storing water. I have
> been changing water for 20 years and never aged a drop. Put it in directly
> from the tap, squirt the chloramine remove in, and ta da!!  In the
> pre-cloramine days, i didn't even use chlorine remover if the water change
> was 25% or less.

That is nice when you can get away with it. Many people have well water with
large dissolved gas content, and/or water way too cold for doing that. When
I lived in Santa Clara, a glass filled from the tap looked like milk, at
first, and slowly cleared from the bottom. Even though we had no chlorine,
direct tap filling often caused considerable distress with bubbles (mostly
nitrogen) all over the glass (and gills). Tempering by mixing hot and cold
makes the bubbles even worse.

In Fremont, where we have chloramine now, I used to fear that Amquel would
sequester ammonia that plants needed. I set up a dual carbon filter system
for tap water, and a second for RO.  2 trash barrels are used for storage
(with a waterfall pump and 60' of clear hose to distribute it). The carbon
filters *only* work at all if the flow rate through them is much too slow
for practical tank refilling.

Even after finding my fears about Amquel were misplaced (thanks to some very
observant plant folks), I liked the system for it's convenience and the
ability to have much warmer than tap water for changes. I do add a little
Amquel to the barrels now, as the carbon filters are sometimes less than
perfect at removing all chlorine and ammonia from the chloramine. The system
is in a closet, and the barrels have swamp-cooler float valves ($5 at Ace
Hardwares) to allow a slow-trickle auto fill and never any overflow onto the
carpet (until my puppy chewed the hose :-)).

The stored water is convenient in many ways. I can dip a pitcher of
tempered, warm, gas-free water out to start a bbs hatch mix, knowing there
is no ammonia. I have a lot of small hatching containers in the same closet.
I can keep it warmer for them, so dipping same-temp. water is easy for
frequently changing water on eggs or fry.

Water storage depends on your situation and need for tempering. In my
situation I do a lot of 100% changes on very small containers. Severe cold
shock and gill damage would result if I did the change from the tap and
*then* squirted in some Amquel. Control of water chemistry and temperature,
plus frequent easy changes lie at the heart of successful fish or plant
husbandry. For me, storage is a very handy part of my system. I wouldn't
live without it, now.

Wright

-- 
Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679  huntleyone at home dot com

         "DEMOCRACY" is two wolves and a lamb voting on lunch.
     "LIBERTY" is a well-armed lamb denying enforcement of the vote.
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