# pet store water accidentally mixed into tank



## Mickey24 (Feb 24, 2014)

I was floating the pet store bag in my aquarium to acclimate the new fish and the bag accidentally spilled into the tank. What should I do. The tank is an 80 gallon fresh water.


----------



## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

Not too much you can do except water changes. You should drip acclimate in a bucket and you can avoid this problem.
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f2/drip-acclimating-fish-11327.html


----------



## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

Oh...and quarantine is also a good idea.


----------



## sephnroth (Jul 30, 2013)

I don't think its a big deal.i get that ideally it would not happen but it almost always does with me in past - never heard of drip acclimatization until joined here!

this is assuming you are not pre-aware of some disastrous fact about your lfs water


----------



## arenaranger (Jun 5, 2011)

How about just doing a water change. There is no way to remove the water now but the more water you can change now will at least dilute the water that was dumped in.


----------



## Mickey24 (Feb 24, 2014)

how much water should I change.


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

In an 80 gallon really its not going to harm anything. Most likely if the water had any nasties in it it will be on the fish too. Main reason they say not to mix is because its dirty water added to the tank and in a smaller setup could raise ammonia count.


----------



## Buerkletucson (Apr 8, 2014)

Let's put this in perspective.....

Let's take an extreme example:
Assume you had 1/2 gallon of water in the bag that was dumped into the tank (I doubt it was that much, but just as an example). 
Say it had an outragious 100PPM of ammonia in it (which would of killed the fish within minutes).

1/2 Gallon in an 80 gallon tank would be about .6% of total concentration.
This would equate to a total ammonia content in your 80 gallon aquarium of *.6PPM ammonia*.
Defintely not deathly......and something your bacteria would consume in a short period of time. 

Bottom line, I wouldn't sweat it to much......a water change can help ease your mind. 
10 - 20% would be good.


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Just mark it up as a lesson learned. Good of you to know that this is not a good thing.


----------

