# How do you age your water??



## tulip55555

I let my water sit for about a week before I use it. When I finish one water change I refill the jugs and let them sit open for about 2 days. i tap the jugs every day to let the gas bubbles and chlorine can escape then I cap them after about 2 days. Then it might be a week before I use them.

The reason I am asking about aging water is that I did about a 25% water change today and my fish seem stressed, staying at the top more often than normal. SO is there any reason I shouldn't age the water this way? Can it become stale or can something become more concentrated from sitting so long?


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## Thalamus

I'm not terribly experienced with aquarium-keeping (yet), but as I understand it, some municipalities use chloramine instead of chlorine, which won't evaporate the way chlorine does. Maybe try a water conditioner?


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## tulip55555

Ok. didn't know chloramines don't evaporate. i do use conditioner, but if the chloramine doesn't evaporate that negates one reason I age it. 
Thanks Thalamus


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## Rohkey

tulip55555 said:


> Ok. didn't know chloramines don't evaporate. i do use conditioner, but if the chloramine doesn't evaporate that negates one reason I age it.
> Thanks Thalamus



If you use a good conditioner (such as Seachem Prime) the chloramine is converted into chlorine (which the conditioner takes care of instantly) and ammonia (which the conditioner converts to non-toxic ammonium). Some conditioners permanently convert the ammonia to ammonium, but for other conditioners the bond only lasts for 24 hours and after that toxic ammonia is released into the aquarum (unless you have an established tank where the biological filter takes care of the ammonium before it becomes ammonia). Some conditioners don't touch the ammonia, so if you have chloramine in your tap and use this type of conditioner, you're also adding toxic ammonia in there.

Don't know if you knew all this but it's worth mentioning..it can get a little confusing. I just recently found out that some conditioners permanently bind the extra hydrogen atom to the ammonia to convert it to ammonium and others only last a day. I thought they all just lasted a day. This makes some of them safe to use for non-established tanks.


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## holly12

When I lived in town I would do a water change, then fill the bucket with water from the tap and just leave it with a piece of screen over it (so debris wouldn't fall into it). When I put it in the tank the following week, I'd add some water conditioner to the tank. If I forgot to re-fill the bucket for any reason right after the WC, I would fill it when I remembered. Usually 24-48 hours will suffice for allowing gases to air out.

Since I live out of town now, we are on an artesian well and it has no chemicals in it at all. So, I put it from the tap into the tank. I still use the conditioner just to be safe, but it's mostly just a stress-coat - conditioners also contain "stress coat" for the fish.


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## automatic-hydromatic

funny... I put my conditioner in a 5 gallon bucket, fill the bucket right from the tap, and put it right into my tank

no problems so far, lol


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## James0816

I age my water as well but for a different reason. We have well water and the pH from the tap is < 6. I use jugs with crushed coral to buffer the pH.


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## NeonShark666

Try puting an air stone in your water jug. This should bubble out most of your Chlorine and other bad gases in a couple of hours. You can also try making water changes with bottled drinking water. This water will usually not have been treated with Chlorine but read the label to be sure.


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## jrman83

For what reason are you aging it? Is there a special need or is there something in your water you are trying to gas out? It should not have affected your fish negatively even if the aged water had a ph value that changed. So I don't think it was what you did. Some people put in buckets or big tubs and aerate it.


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## majerah1

I used to age my water as well.Now that I have water to change on a daily basis,I dont.It goes straight from tap to the tank.Conditioned of course.Ive had no issues thus far and as many know I keep endangered species who are notorious for water quality.


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## beaslbob

how do I age my water?

I put it in my tank. *old dude

(of course I plant the tank, wait a week before adding fish, and don't do any water changes.)


my .02


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## Gizmo

I don't age my water at all. Add conditioner and iron supplement, and siphon into the tank.


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