Ran out of Prime

[matsout]

Hey guys,

Just a quick question, I stupidly went and started my weekly partial water change without checking if I had all the stuff required. When I was halfway through refilling the tank I went to begin adding Prime, epsoms and bicarb as I have been for the entire life of the tank, however I found that I had run out of Prime on my last change and forgot to buy some more. Is this likely to cause any harm to the fish? I will be getting some more on my way home from work tomorrow around 3pm.

Regards Matt

[Foti]

it will be fine!

you should think about getting a barrel to age the water i say it mainly because of everything you are adding to the tank best if you do it in the tub test it if its perfect then just add it that way your fish are not getting a shock ?

[Josh]

Barrels are impracticle for 80% of fish keepers. I am guessing that the water wasnt aged, otherwise the prime would have been added before adding the water to the tank.

It probably wont affect them and if it was going to, it has already.

[matsout]

Yeah water was straight from the tap, its a 6x1.5x2 its probably around 6-7 months old now, and the fish are absolutely thriving, its full of mbuna and alot have grown treamendously, colourful and I always have at least one fish holding at any one time. So they seem happy with how im doing things, thats why I was worried about not having the prime, since its different to how I normally do things.

[matsout]

Yeah water was straight from the tap, its a 6x1.5x2 its probably around 6-7 months old now, and the fish are absolutely thriving, its full of mbuna and alot have grown treamendously, colourful and I always have at least one fish holding at any one time. So they seem happy with how im doing things, thats why I was worried about not having the prime, since its different to how I normally do things.

[SydneyMike]

Barrels are impracticle for 80% of fish keepers.

Do you mean you just stick the hose in the tank and refill it straight from the tap?

[Ducksta]

Barrels are impracticle for 80% of fish keepers.

Do you mean you just stick the hose in the tank and refill it straight from the tap?

I do now that I have a single tank as a display item.

When I had more tanks I aged water in a 200L drum but keeping 100L of water in a barrel for a weekly water change in my apartment would certainly be impractical for me.

In fact I think Josh undersold it. I think they are impractical for well over 90% of fish keepers.

Sure, the minority who have the capacity to age water might have the most water to change, and the biggest cash outlay for live stock, but they are still the minority. As such, products like Prime are made for people to be able to run a hose straight in to a tank and turn it on.

[nanikjava]

Barrels are impracticle for 80% of fish keepers.

This is true as most of us don't have the space or capacity to 'aged' tap water.

[Ducksta]

Absolutely true.

What I was getting at though, is that the people who use the forums and who have multiple tanks, and are actively breeding and raising fish sometimes forget that they are actually a very small minority of people with aquariums.

For most of the target market for aquarium chemical companies - the need to be able to clean a tank/do a water change without sitting water for a week is paramount.

[killiguy]

Does Sydney water have chlorine or chloramine in it??

Chlorine is much less a problem,hence the quip

"How long do you age your water" "depends if I use the 30 or 50 ft hose"

We have chloramine in our water and I have accidently done water changes without dechlorinator with no III effects at that time.I gather the levels vary alot as you can tell by the smell.

I age my water in a 1000L water tank but killed alot of fish once when something died in the tank and I did my water changes,I woke up eventually to the funny smell

[Momo]

Also depends on % of water that was changed, i think if it was a small amount then you probably wont see any effects....

Personally i think aging is just a re-assurance i.e one less thing that can go wrong....i age all my water before use.

but i know plenty of people that warm hose + prime straight in with no ill effects at all sometimes upto 50% changes....

[Ducksta]

"Sydney" has several water supplies - depending which council you're in.

They pretty much all use chloramine at times, but it's not consistently present (at least best I could tell a couple of years ago)

[bwah]

some interesting points

i performed weekly water changes with a hose from tap for years

didn't add salts/buffers etc. only prime

never had a tank crash or mass deaths and thought everything was fine

i'd lose a fish every now and again but overall fish keeping was pretty easy. the fish i was keeping were pretty hardy and not really worth that much anyway (malawi)

nowadays i keep rarer, more expensive fish that require more attention to water parameters (tangs)

i must admit when i first heard of ageing water in barrels prior to water changes it just sounded like too much work.. but i didnt want to lose any fish, so i went out and got myself a 210L food grade barrel and a cart to move it around on, stocked up on epsom salts, bi-carb etc..

and it has been nothing but positive.. no more dragging hoses through the house, or buckets!! i just simply wheel my cart upto tank drain water into drum, empty drum, goto laundry fill with mix of hot/cold water to get temp right, add all the goodies required, stir it up with a powerhead, wheel it back to tank and pump it in.. takes about 45min once a week, and initial cost was under $100 for drum/cart/salts

though its not technically ageing the water, its a hell of a lot better than adding water with no additives straight into your tank.. fish are sensitive to temp/ph changes and although they 'seem' fine, its not ideal..

i still have some of those malawi's in another tank, they love the new system.. they repay me by proudly showing their colours, and at the end of the day thats why we keep these beautiful fish

[noxious_nasties]

For those who age their water what other things do you add in at the time of

filling i.e. prime, buffers etc?

[fishinf]

For those who age their water what other things do you add in at the time of

filling i.e. prime, buffers etc?

im only new to the fishy world but i put in my water barrel cichlid rift salt,water ager the ph is ok

[CThompson]

though its not technically ageing the water

,

"Aging" the water is a bit of a euphemism, it more = adjusting the water BEFORE it goes in the tank. Days gone by when only chlorine was added, letting the water sit around would do the job, but with chloramines now added, letting the water sit will not work. Pre adjusting temp and adding all the chemicals just prior to putting into tank is good enough.

its a hell of a lot better than adding water with no additives straight into your tank.. fish are sensitive to temp/ph changes and although they 'seem' fine, its not ideal..

Well said. Only bested by;

True, however 90% of us that age water, never post topics of sudden fish deaths

Due to water quality