Goldfish water change

[tskoffina]

I need to do a partial water change on the water in my fish tank. We bought the wrong drops for the water. Should have gotten something we could make smaller amounts of water with. Let the bf buy it, and he didn't listen. I have Crystal Springs spring water in bulk here, or I could go and buy distilled or what ever the other types at the grocery store are. Could I use anything like that instead, or do I have to make a lot of water from the tap?

 

[alli713]

What water conditioner did you get? Can you not just use a smaller amount of it?

 

[InkedupTara]

I always used spring water when I didnt have what I needed. As there is little to no Chlorine in it like our tap water. I agree with Alli, why not just use a smaller amount, even if there is no direction for use for that small, with a little math work you should be able to figure it out

 

[Rickman]

If you put the tap water in clean gallon jugs, you can just shake them to remove the clorine, and add oxygen at the same time - I guess the chlorine just dissapates. I used to do that while "topping off" my tanks, without a problem!
You could also fill one [a few] and let it sit 24 hours, chlorine is gone!

 

[tskoffina]

The nitrites and nitrates are high, way high. The filter I got said to change every month, and it's been in two weeks. I've only had the fish for 2 weeks, but the filter was nasty. I went and bought more filters for the filter, and changed and then tested the water, and way way high. The water drops say 2 drops per 25 gallons. I have a 10 gallon tank, only want to do a patrial change, and my water jugs are 3 gal. When I filled the tank to begin with used 1 drop with the 10 gallons. So I think I only need to add like, 3 gallons, so I was hoping I could use store bought.

 

[alli713]

How long have you had the tank set up? The Nitrites and Nitrates are probably high because it hasn't had time to cycle and build up the bacteria needed to break those down.
I honestly think you'll be okay whether you use spring water or just one drop of the conditioner. Seeing as you're only doing a partial change, there won't be that much new water to shock the fish either way.

 

[JennyBug]

Goldfish are INCREDIBLY dirty fish. You should be doing partial water changes every couple of days.

An easy way to dechlorinate water is kind of like what Rickman said. Get several gallon jugs and rinse them really well (DO NOT USE SOAP!) Fill them with water and let them sit for 48 hours (you can cut the time to 24 hours if you use an airstone) with their caps off. After 48 hours, you will have dechlorinated water without the need to use drops!!!

We have to do frequent water changes with our discus fish, so we had to learn all of these neat tricks! Good luck!

 

[Rickman]

Heck, when I was breeding swordtails, I used to change 200 gals. [6 tanks] in about an hour and a half, every week! Syphon the tanks out the window with a garden hose, leaving about 4-5 inches of water, [with a piece of netting rubber banded to the inlet] and refill from the bathroom sink, [with the water at about the same temp.] while putting the drops in as they were filling! Hardly ever lost a fish - they grew fast, too! Worked for me! Flat rate water bill in Chicago, so no extra money, either!

 

[tskoffina]

The pet store people told me I didn't have to change the water at all if I used a filter. lol. I knew that was wrong. It's only 2 1/2 weeks since I set up the tank. The ph and everything else were perfect, so I didn't know if I would upset the balance by changing too much water. Still learning here. Think this is the longest I've ever kept a fish alive. This carnival fish has become expensive. But they are kind of cool. How often should I test the water? More than once a week? It's filtered, if the water is good, do I still need to change it every few days?

 

[Rickman]

Goldfish, on the most part, are pretty sturdy, and in a 10 gallon tank, should even grow to a decent size! I'd change 1/2 the water about every 2-3 weeks, if you've only one in the tank, maybe get a placostomis [sp] for the algea, and to keep the bottom cleaner - they'll get along!

 

[Sierrasmom97]

Do you happen to have a water softener hooked up to the faucet that you are getting your water from? I do and we had tons of problems with our fish. I ended up having to go get water from our outside back faucet to get around the water softener and in the winter months I store gallon jugs of it to be safe.

 

[tskoffina]

No, just regular city water. I'm just so used to using bottled for everything, not sure with fish.

 

[PeaceB2U]

I used to use spring water all the time for my tanks.

Goldfish are very big waste producers. So you will probably have to do frequent water changes regardless of what kind of filter you are using.