New tank smells like chlorine

Hey, everybody. Just got my first tank a few days ago (a 29g) and have been working on cycling it and stuff. After a few days of it smelling like chlorine, I decided it might be a good idea to put water conditioner in it (that's what that's for, right?). I did that only this morning. When should I stop smelling chlorine? (Yes, it's tap water.)

 

Chlorine will evaporate off in well circulated tank in 24-48 hours. Some aquarists on this site would disaggree, but its true. If your tank smells like chlorine after a few days of running, there is something wrong, or your tap water has a massive amount of choline. You may want to start over again and give it a strong rinse and fill with conditioned water.

 

Chlorine will disappate after a couple of days, that is why most municipalities have switch from chlorine to chloramine. It takes a very long time for chloramine to disappate on it's own.

All water added to the tank should be dechlorinated. You know why they put chlorine in water right?...to kill off bacteria, and that's what it will do to the bacteria you are trying to get growing so your tank cycles.

 

Thanks, guys. I actually was only just now able to get a filter running in the thing, so the tank has been pretty stagnant the last 4 or 5 days. Adding conditioner to the water removes the chlorine, right?

Here's another question: When I do do water changes (say, 25%), and I add 25% tap water back into the tank, obviously I should do that from a conditioned and properly heated container, right? Rather than just going straight from the tap to the tank? So my question is, how long will the conditioner need to be in the water to dechlorinate it before I can put the water into the tank? And I guess another question related to that is, I don't need to worry about cycling NEW tank water BEFORE putting it in the tank, right? The natural biological cycle in the 25%-emptied tank will take care of the water I'm getting ready to add, correct?

 

Note that the WATER isn't cycled, but rather the substrate and mainly, the filter medium water changes shouldn't do anything (unless you have nothing supplying ammonia and you do a 100% water change, in which case then there's no food for the BB).

What conditioner are you using? My dad always just squirted the conditioner straight into the tank before filling 'er up, and I just put the Prime into my first bucket of water added. Don't worry too much about the temperature, by the time you put the new water in, your hand will be so accustomed to the tank temp that you'll be able to guestimate at the proper water temp for the new water. Just don't freeze or boil your fishies!

In fact there are handy dandy water changing things that DO go straight from the tap to the tank. This is extremely helpful if you have something like a 75 gallon tank and do not want to change water 2 gallons at a time...

Oh and WELCOME to Fishlore!

 

All water conditioners remove chlorine & chloramine. Almost all also remove heavy metals. Still others detox ammonia/nitrite and some have stuff in them that helps promote a fish'e slime coat.

Water conditioners work instantaniously, so there is no need to wait. When I do a water change I just use a combo of hot and cold water from the faucett and check the temperature with an instant read meat thermometer. I fill a 5 gallon bucket, put in the correct amount of water conditioner to traet 5 gallons and then put the water right into the tank.

As mentioned above, water does not cycle. Bacteria grows primarily in your filter media that converts ammonia into nitrite and nitrite into nitrate. As the ammonia and nitrite laden water passes thru the filter, the bacteria process the ammonia and nitrite on the way thru.