Add non-dechlorinated water after dechlorinated water

Yesterday I did my water changes; I got my 90L dustbin ready, added prime, and eventually added it back into the tanks.

While adding it back into my 80L, I ran out of water.

I thought about it and, seeing as it has no fish in it, I just filled a bucket of water from the tap and topped it up.

My thinking was the water from before had prime and I always over dose a little bit so would “treat” the tap water in the tank.

If the tank had fish I wouldn’t have done this, but now I’m thinking it would even be fine in that situation.

Would it or would the extra top up also have needed prime?

 

Nah, to me sometime evaporation means i need to fill my 20gal tanks with about half a gallon of water so i just get a small container and fill it and dump it in, the tank is cycled and is able to handle it. But if there is fish in an established tank and your doing a 50% wc for example. you would need to dose prime.

 

Nah, to me sometime evaporation means i need to fill my 20gal tanks with about half a gallon of water so i just get a small container and fill it and dump it in, the tank is cycled and is able to handle it. But if there is fish in an established tank and your doing a 50% wc for example. you would need to dose prime.

Thanks

That surprised me… I thought top up water would be unsafe, even in a cycled tank, because of all the metals/harmful substances that beneficial bacteria doesn’t deal with / kula beneficial bacteria?

 

Thanks

That surprised me… I thought top up water would be unsafe, even in a cycled tank, because of all the metals/harmful substances that beneficial bacteria doesn’t deal with / kula beneficial bacteria?

Hmm perhaps, maybe you need to hear from some more experienced hobbiest?? Im just saying sometimes i top up like half a gallon into my tank sometimes with or without prime and i have no issues or cycle crashes, but a large water change or top up could be very different.

 

Hmm perhaps, maybe you need to hear from some more experienced hobbiest?? Im just saying sometimes i top up like half a gallon into my tank sometimes with or without prime and i have no issues or cycle crashes, but a large water change or top up could be very different.

FWIW, I wasn’t saying you were wrong, merely vocalising my misunderstanding

 

FWIW, I wasn’t saying you were wrong, merely vocalising my misunderstanding

Sorry i think i used the wrong words there, i was trying to say perhaps i was wrong about small top ups and its better for you to hear from a more experienced hobbiest then myself. Although i havent had issues with small less then a gallon or two top ups.

 

Sorry i think i used the wrong words there, i was trying to say perhaps i was wrong about small top ups and its better for you to hear from a more experienced hobbiest then myself. Although i havent had issues with small less then a gallon or two top ups.

Oh yeah, that’s totally how your message came across! I was just clarifying that I wasn’t disagreeing or saying you’re wrong haha.

Text based conversations are hard, amirite!?

 

oh ok all cleared up then i guess.... tough online conversations.

 

Well if I don’t have water sitting around I top off with tap water. I’m not a big prime user either. I run my water from the tap through a under counter filter and into the tank. Now are you adding prime to your aging water? Or just before you add it to the tank? Anyway your topping off with tap isn’t a problem.

 

I dechlore top offs from the tap. I dont want to take the chance myself.

As for Devsi's question. It depends when you put the Prime in the sitting water. Just before you added the water to the tank or before it sat? If it was just before adding, the extra tap water would be fine. But if it sat I would use the dechlor if it were me.

 

My tap water is from three sources. A lake that has only a few hundred people pooping in the tiny river that feeds it. A large brown river that thousands of people drinking from before it gets to my town. And the last source is 100% recycled sewage from our city.

Each one of these sources has a slightly different parameters.
I figure my fish and bacteria have enough to contend with without risking adding untreated chlorine to the mix .

I use the standard recommended dose of Prime to all water that goes anywhere near my fish.

I am not a scientist devsi . My thinking is the manufacturers say prime works in two minutes. The internet says when prime can no longer find chlorine to attach to it attaches to an oxygen molecule. To me that means after two or so minutes you can’t expect to have usable conditioner available for any new water added after that time?

 

Anyway your topping off with tap isn’t a problem.

As for Devsi's question. It depends when you put the Prime in the sitting water. Just before you added the water to the tank or before it sat? If it was just before adding, the extra tap water would be fine. But if it sat I would use the dechlor if it were me.

It’s not aged water. The process is to fill a container up with tap water and kettled water (tap water in a kettle), to bring the temperature up so I don’t shock the fish, I then remove the water from the tanks, add Prime to the container and pump it into the tanks.

So maybe like 10-15 minutes after I’ve put prime in, it’s going in the tank.

I am not a scientist devsi . My thinking is the manufacturers say prime works in two minutes. The internet says when prime can no longer find chlorine to attach to it attaches to an oxygen molecule. To me that means after two or so minutes you can’t expect to have usable conditioner available for any new water added after that time?

Ah is that right?! So it’s only effective for two minutes?

 

I don’t know that devsi.
That is just my thinking.
However there are people that add water to a tank using a hose. They add conditioner for the entire volume of the tank before turning the hose on . They could take longer than 2 minutes to add all their water? It’s not something I have ever done but watching videos some people even add conditioner in stages after as well as before .

I watch some people on U tube pour their conditioner in without even measuring .

 

If you buy a small bottle of Prime you can dose 2 drops per gallon for top ups or smaller tanks. I have refilled mine a few times.