Water Changes?

[Tetra Lover Gurl]

When doing water changes, can I put tap water into my aquarium and the water will go to the corect ph, dechlorinate, and get rid of nitrite, nitrate and ammonia? Or do I need to add the Cycle, Aqua Plus and Waste Control? Or add a cycled bucket of water?
I'm new at this stuff and need all the help I can get!

Thank you!  

 

[dattack]

I add tap water all the time with just a dechorinator.  That's it.  Or if it's a huge volume of water, I let the tap water sit the entire night to get rid of the chlorine.  

I think most tap water in the U.S. is fine but you might want to check out your local water supply online and check what they have.

If you want to keep a certain fish in a certain pH range, you have to check what the pH of the water coming out of the tap is and adjust with chemicals/Co2/buffers/etc.

 

[Cillana]

Unless you are working with delicate fish or you have water out of the tap with a weird pH you don't need to mess with it. When adding new water you do need to add chemicals to get rid of chlorine and chloramine (if your town has it). Some people say that you need to get the water to the same temp as the tank before adding it. Others say that the fish like a nice cool shower. I add cool water straight from the tap with stress coat to get rid of chlorine/chloramine of course. How much you need to change and how often depends on your fish. I do 30% every weekend.

Once your tank is cycled you don't need to worry about ammonia and nitrites. The benificial bacteria will turn it into nitrates that aren't nearly as harmful. Ammonia and nitrites are harmful at just 1 or 2 ppm (parts per million). Nitrates aren't harmful until they get up to 40 ppm. Water changes are done to get rid of excess amounts of nitrates. Live plants also consume some of all three.

Have you set up your tank yet? Do you know how to cycle it? If you haven't added any fish yet, you could consider doing a fishless cycle.

 

[Tetra Lover Gurl]

I haven't got my tank set up yet. I still nedd to buy a few fake plants, test kits, food, extra foam and charcoal, and make sure I have enough for fish before hand! I have a long way to go!

I am going to do a fishless cycle. I'm not going to buy real plants because of the cost and I am only 14 so I don't have a job yet and need to learn more before I use real plants.