Does anyone out there use well water ??

I am getting ready to set up the 55 gallon and am trying to find the easiest way to fill tank/change water. We currently haul water from town for coffee/drinking and fish tank tanks.

Our water has a lot of iron in it,and the house taps have softener and iron filter.

I am curious to learn how other well -users do their tanks.

Thanks. Val

 

We use well-water in our 100-120 tanks. I may be wrong, but it would take quite a bit of iron to harm your fish. I would say your best bet would be to setup a tank with the well-water and put something like a feeder guppy in for the first week or two. (Anyone wanting to complain how that is cruel should do so in another thread as not to take this one off subject) In East Tennessee our water is pretty hard due to limestone deposits and so we keep fish that like harder water, but it seems fine for us.

 

We have well water and a water softener. I use my water straight out of the tap for my tank.

 

Thanks, guys...that gives me some hope. I think I will try your idea, CWC. Would it be okay to try it in an uncycled tank using Amquel Plus, or would I add Bio Spira, cycle the tank and add the fish. What size tank would be good...I have a spare 3 gallon Eclipse, so as not to get all complicated. This 55 gallon will be a big step for me, and being fairly new to the hobby I would hate to kill off my first selection of fish - which center around sailfin Mollies; dwarf gouramis; swordtail; maybe a few balloon mollies; clown pleco; cories. I don't want to start off with difficult fish - haven't figured out numbers quite yet either, or if I could have all of these.

My hubby, bless his heart, agreed to haul the water - but what a pain in the behind for him......

Thanks so much!

 

HI voiceless_kat, we are on well water, and it has lots of iron, but we don't do a water softener. This is what worries me about your water. Is there any where around your house (like the outside hose connection) that the water isn't softened? If so I would think this would be better for your fish. You would have to warm it at least to room temp, and then add it slowly if you were doing a water change with fish in.....

I just love my set-up, I can just run it right out of the tap! My ph is about 7.4 but it seems to work just fine.

Fish in the Frozen North

 

I'd use the small one, if you already have a tank going just take a half gallon or gallon of water out of it, put in the small tank then finish it off with the well-water. That will help it cycle quickly. Or you could put a piece of used filter media in the small tank.

How far does he have to haul the water? This has nothing to do with the fish' health, just your hubby's back. Perhaps if we put our collective minds together we could help come up with something to make his task easier.

 

I'd use the small one, if you already have a tank going just take a half gallon or gallon of water out of it, put in the small tank then finish it off with the well-water. That will help it cycle quickly. Or you could put a piece of used filter media in the small tank.

How far does he have to haul the water? This has nothing to do with the fish' health, just your hubby's back. Perhaps if we put our collective minds together we could help come up with something to make his task easier.

I have some Bio Spira here that I could use?????? If I can, then I may try this experiement this weekend. I did a PH test on the water straight from the well, and it is 7.2. Now I was doing some reading last night, and it says to test for hardness - how do I do that? We have no place to get testing kits here, and hate to order one just for that. I am also going to test it with the softener. what I read says the conditioner removes calcium and magnesium. Is there any way to replace these .

We ( well not we, my husband) has to haul town water out here,only 5 miles in distance, but the biggest containers we have are 10gallon....he says he will do it if he has too, but I am thinking after the first 6 or 7 he may change his mind.....how sweet is he??

I am not sure how often I have to do watr changes on the 55g...weekly??? If I could just do 10 gallon at a time, it wouldn't be such a big deal.. I plan to have mostly live bearers like Sailfin Mollies, maybe 2 angels and dwarf gouramis...clown pleco - I don't want to breed, I just want relatively easy fish to look after for this first adventure. ( I won the tank/filter/heaters/etc) So about $400 later I will soon be ready to buy fish .

Oh wait, I should be worried about my husband's back.....



Thanks CWC!!!! ( I might end up PM'ing you if that is ok)

Val

 

PM me anytime.

I will talk with Dino (my fishhouse co-owner and scientific minded one, I got all the common sense though ) and try to get together some suggestions for you sometime in the next couple days.

Going out of town to a FISH AUCTION!!! , if the hotel has wireless internet I may get back to ya this evening or tomorrow.. if not it'll be Sunday or Monday.