Really good info. I've been learning so much about the importance of our water parameters thanks to many videos that thoughtful people, like yourself, have posted. We all learn something new every day:)
I live in Tennessee (a different county than you) and I was doing water changes like crazy! After a 50% water change my nitrates were above 80 ppm in just 2 days!!!! This went on for almost a year!!!! It was so frustrating!!!!!! FINALLY someone suggested that I test my tap. It was 60ppm!!!!! We had a filter system installed on our home and now I do water changes once a week and the nitrates never get above 50ppm. I wish I had thought to do that sooner. So glad you made this video and let people know they should test their tap water. I asked LOTS of RUclipsrs and one guy finally said it but seemed doubtful that it was the problem. What are the chances that a county water supply would contain 60ppm?!?!?!?!?
Great tips and video Ben! Your water hardness looks like mine. Haha. When people ask me about keeping fish I always tell them I keep healthy water first.
Visual tip: high nitrate level is noticable when the air bubbles take longer to pop than normal. If you see bubbles on the surface, do a water change! I have a heavily planted tank, so it's not often I see that. "See anything strange, do a water change." Fresh water first, then test and do more water changes if necessary.
Many/most water utilities post the results from their water sampling. In addition to median values, my water utility posts the ranges experienced over the last year. Makes it clear where your tap water may create a problem.
Since we installed an Electronic Water Filter are chlorine levels have dropped to 0. Even though are water has no chlorine, I still use Prime or Stress Coat to treat the water,
Don’t know each states potable water regulations but a number require that a chlorine residual, I believe around .2 to .4 mg/l be maintained in the distribution system to keep the water supply safe. There could be an upper limit as well. Also note that many older houses have copper plumbing so it is not unusual for those homes to have trace amounts of copper in the water, typically in the range of 10 to 30 ug/l. And some homes still have lead supply lines for the drinking water, although EPA has been cracking down on that when they catch wind of the situation.
Ben you are absolutely right I just started up a new 50 gallon tank and bought a lot of fish after three days letting the tank run without fish and after I bought the fish they were fine for about a week and then disaster happened, they all began to get ill and oxygen problems occurred with the fish having issues breathing - I then did a 40% water change and the fish all died within 3 days I was at a loss and really had to pull back a few days and it appears it was as a result of that ammonia spike you speak about here
Ben one of the best things we purchased was an RO/DI unit! We live in San Francisco and the water department adds huge amounts of chlorine and chloramine into the system! We know several people that had all of their fish die (including us)because of this huge problem!😢😢😢
Note that public operated water treatment plants of a certain size are required to distribute a report once a year what the quality of the water is that they put out, while this may vary some what over the distribution system, it should give one a general idea what the quality of the water is coming into your residents. If you don’t receive the report in the mail once a year, call your water utility and ask, they likely have extras, or are too small of a facility and therefore not required to distribute the report to their customers, but still should have an annual report.
Great reminder, Ben! I did a big water change on my Cherry Shrimp tank last weekend, I had previously only been topping off with the same city water. I always use Fritz or Seachem water conditioner. I lost 16 Shrimp! I could kick myself in the behind!🥺 Most of my Shrimp colony survived, but I did a w/c with R/O the next day. No more losses. Thank goodness! It was definitely something in my city water. I felt my heart sink as I pulled out Shrimp after Shrimp, many of them were berried. 😥 I'm going to be so much more careful, from now on.
I would guess the amount of water you changed was too large . Shrimp are pretty sensitive and the change would of been too drastic. I would advise much smaller water changes , but more often being the best option
That's a hard lesson. Inverts can be real sensitive to certain things that most fish can tolerate better. Tap testing or using RO (making sure to replace minerals) will prevent it from happening again.
I've been keeping fish for 34years and never test the water or adjust ph. Your fish like stable water conditions!! Very small regular water changes are all I do...
I've kept aquariums for 55 years. 40 plus years in Israel. I've never tested water and while I can't make any conclusions about the era when I was a kid in California, (due to any number of variables, including a loss of interest in upkeep and continual fish swapping. Not to mention that yellow aged water was considered by everyone to be HEALTHY)-- I do know that for over 40 years here in Israel I tend to have the same rainbow fish, catfishes, Scalares and gourameis for years and even a Baryancistrus L81 for so far 23 years--and I've never tested water for anything. For me, I consider it unnecessary. I don't even want to know. It might make me neurotic.
I get Spring water for my tank But I do add water conditioner and Bacteria starter too if I do a 50 present change. I always keep great condition water for my Betta and 3 tank mates in there 15 gal👍I li e in Central Fla so I don't Trust the Tap Water🤣👍
Hi Ben, I have found that I get completely different results for Nitrate with the Aquarium CoOp test strips and the API test kit. When the test strips read 10PPM the API kit reads 40PPM. I wonder if others have the same results.
That's one of the reasons I stopped using the API Master Test Kit. Very different results from several test kits and it always shows high NO3, while several other strips showed NO3 as normal. Here's the video: ruclips.net/video/VIU8vZM9Yto/видео.html
@@ecastro9301 I follow the API liquid instructions exactly (other than shaking bottle #2 like a mad man) and reading it at 5min. The Aquarium Co-op strips on the other hand don't give accurate nitrate results until about 10min of waiting.
Hey, about the test strips: 2 seconds is the max you should rinse under the water, because as soon as the colors are developing, you are risking washing away the color pigments, and the results will be very inaccurate!
THIS DUDE IS WACTHING OTHER PPL'S VIDEOS LIKE MINES MAYBE STEALING MY TOPIC'S AND REDOIN MY INFO TO Y'ALL.. IM PEEPING THIS DUDE EVERYTIME I DROP A VIDEO HE COME BEHIND ME MAKE SAME VIDEO BUT PUT HIS TWEAK TO IT... IM KEEPIN MY 👁 ON YOU DUDE...💯
I feel like you shouldn't waste time or money on water testing unless you have a fish worth at least $100 or more. I've never tested water in my 2 years so far, only lost a few petsmart mollies, but everyone else in exact same tank and water are completely great.
Ammonia typically comes from waste, and while in abundance at a waste water treatment plant, I would be really upset if there were quantifiable amounts of ammonia in my tap water that could be determined from a test strip. Typically a water treatment plant would need to remove the ammonia because it would run interference with maintaining a chlorine residual as it would bind with the ammonia, meaning the treatment plant would need to use more chlorine to maintain a residual in the down stream distribution lines.
The Ammonia in Tap Water comes from Chloramine, which is Chlorine and Ammonia. Chloramine can be preferred by Water Companies because Chloramine has a much longer Effective Life over simple Chlorine.
True. Back in the day you could let water sit and chlorine would gas off and you'd have safe water. Not anymore. Chloramine doesn't gas off in 24 hours but stays in the water for quite some time.
@@apaulmcdonough2170 do you happen to know if either of test strips for chlorine or ammonia would pick up the chloramine or would either of those chemicals be masked and not detected since they are bonded together as chloramine.
@@djl9154 I recommend checking with the Manufacturer(s) of your Test Media. I know I get a low Ammonia when I test my Tap Water, here in Long Beach, CA. I would, on occasion, in the past in Connecticut get a positive for Ammonia in my City Tap Water. I use a Python to Drain and Refill my 65 US Gallon. I use the Hook Spout to refill, and I Trimmed the End so the Spout is NEVER Under the Surface. I add Seachem PRIME before I start to Fill. I use 7.5 ml (75 USG) for an approximate 35 USG Water Change. My Bio filter handles the Ammonia release easily. I will add 7.5 ml Seachem STABILITY about 20 minutes after I Finish the Refill.
Folks are so concerned about the water being crystal clear. Have you ever watched videos of the lakes and streams of South American cichlids? You would be amazed. lol
All fantastic tips 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Really good info. I've been learning so much about the importance of our water parameters thanks to many videos that thoughtful people, like yourself, have posted. We all learn something new every day:)
Thank you
I live in Tennessee (a different county than you) and I was doing water changes like crazy! After a 50% water change my nitrates were above 80 ppm in just 2 days!!!! This went on for almost a year!!!! It was so frustrating!!!!!! FINALLY someone suggested that I test my tap. It was 60ppm!!!!! We had a filter system installed on our home and now I do water changes once a week and the nitrates never get above 50ppm. I wish I had thought to do that sooner. So glad you made this video and let people know they should test their tap water. I asked LOTS of RUclipsrs and one guy finally said it but seemed doubtful that it was the problem. What are the chances that a county water supply would contain 60ppm?!?!?!?!?
That’s very high out of the tap.
Great tips and video Ben!
Your water hardness looks like mine. Haha.
When people ask me about keeping fish I always tell them I keep healthy water first.
Visual tip: high nitrate level is noticable when the air bubbles take longer to pop than normal. If you see bubbles on the surface, do a water change! I have a heavily planted tank, so it's not often I see that. "See anything strange, do a water change." Fresh water first, then test and do more water changes if necessary.
Many/most water utilities post the results from their water sampling. In addition to median values, my water utility posts the ranges experienced over the last year. Makes it clear where your tap water may create a problem.
Since we installed an Electronic Water Filter are chlorine levels have dropped to 0. Even though are water has no chlorine, I still use Prime or Stress Coat to treat the water,
Don’t know each states potable water regulations but a number require that a chlorine residual, I believe around .2 to .4 mg/l be maintained in the distribution system to keep the water supply safe. There could be an upper limit as well. Also note that many older houses have copper plumbing so it is not unusual for those homes to have trace amounts of copper in the water, typically in the range of 10 to 30 ug/l. And some homes still have lead supply lines for the drinking water, although EPA has been cracking down on that when they catch wind of the situation.
Ben you are absolutely right I just started up a new 50 gallon tank and bought a lot of fish after three days letting the tank run without fish and after I bought the fish they were fine for about a week and then disaster happened, they all began to get ill and oxygen problems occurred with the fish having issues breathing - I then did a 40% water change and the fish all died within 3 days I was at a loss and really had to pull back a few days and it appears it was as a result of that ammonia spike you speak about here
Sorry to hear that happened
Thanks Ben! We appreciate you putting out good info!
Very important video
Ben one of the best things we purchased was an RO/DI unit! We live in San Francisco and the water department adds huge amounts of chlorine and chloramine into the system! We know several people that had all of their fish die (including us)because of this huge problem!😢😢😢
Under those circumstances an RO/DI system makes total sense. Have you had issues with re-mineralizing the water?
@@BenOchart Not at all Ben!
Another banger Ben!! Thanks
Thankyou Ben 👍
Note that public operated water treatment plants of a certain size are required to distribute a report once a year what the quality of the water is that they put out, while this may vary some what over the distribution system, it should give one a general idea what the quality of the water is coming into your residents. If you don’t receive the report in the mail once a year, call your water utility and ask, they likely have extras, or are too small of a facility and therefore not required to distribute the report to their customers, but still should have an annual report.
be suprised whats in our water
Pro tip 👆 this guy is awesome
Thank you Joe!
Appreciate ya! As always an interesting topic 👍
Great reminder, Ben! I did a big water change on my Cherry Shrimp tank last weekend, I had previously only been topping off with the same city water. I always use Fritz or Seachem water conditioner.
I lost 16 Shrimp! I could kick myself in the behind!🥺
Most of my Shrimp colony survived, but I did a w/c with R/O the next day. No more losses. Thank goodness! It was definitely something in my city water. I felt my heart sink as I pulled out Shrimp after Shrimp, many of them were berried. 😥 I'm going to be so much more careful, from now on.
I would guess the amount of water you changed was too large . Shrimp are pretty sensitive and the change would of been too drastic. I would advise much smaller water changes , but more often being the best option
That's a hard lesson. Inverts can be real sensitive to certain things that most fish can tolerate better. Tap testing or using RO (making sure to replace minerals) will prevent it from happening again.
@@BenOchart I'm in East Tennessee. In Middle Tennessee, is your water source the River or is it aquifers like Memphis?
I've been keeping fish for 34years and never test the water or adjust ph. Your fish like stable water conditions!! Very small regular water changes are all I do...
I've kept aquariums for 55 years. 40 plus years in Israel. I've never tested water and while I can't make any conclusions about the era when I was a kid in California, (due to any number of variables, including a loss of interest in upkeep and continual fish swapping. Not to mention that yellow aged water was considered by everyone to be HEALTHY)-- I do know that for over 40 years here in Israel I tend to have the same rainbow fish, catfishes, Scalares and gourameis for years and even a Baryancistrus L81 for so far 23 years--and I've never tested water for anything. For me, I consider it unnecessary. I don't even want to know. It might make me neurotic.
I get Spring water for my tank But I do add water conditioner and Bacteria starter too if I do a 50 present change. I always keep great condition water for my Betta and 3 tank mates in there 15 gal👍I li e in Central Fla so I don't Trust the Tap Water🤣👍
I’m curious what tank mates do you keep with your Betta?
Great video Ben! What fake plants you use? I have fish that won’t allow real plants and yours look great
Thank you. Unfortunately my plant supplier is no longer in business (EliteCichlids).
Good video
Hi Ben, I have found that I get completely different results for Nitrate with the Aquarium CoOp test strips and the API test kit. When the test strips read 10PPM the API kit reads 40PPM. I wonder if others have the same results.
That's one of the reasons I stopped using the API Master Test Kit. Very different results from several test kits and it always shows high NO3, while several other strips showed NO3 as normal. Here's the video: ruclips.net/video/VIU8vZM9Yto/видео.html
Yes! I'm getting the same results with the CoOp strips
I have that issue too... for me I read the nitrates after about 10min. That puts it in about alignment with the API results.
@OregonOutdoorsChris
Don't we need to follow the instructions the API is 5 min
COOP strips is at 60 sec ?
@@ecastro9301 I follow the API liquid instructions exactly (other than shaking bottle #2 like a mad man) and reading it at 5min.
The Aquarium Co-op strips on the other hand don't give accurate nitrate results until about 10min of waiting.
Hey, about the test strips: 2 seconds is the max you should rinse under the water, because as soon as the colors are developing, you are risking washing away the color pigments, and the results will be very inaccurate!
Instructions say 10 sec for multi test and 1 sec for ammonia
Should I worry about water changes if I’m adding water softener to my home?
Unrelated. You might need just as many water changes and some minerals added to harden up the water depending on the kind of fish that you’re keeping.
Did you read the directions on the bottles?
Always, why do you ask?
I read once where some fish keepers would run their dishwasher to clear out the pipes before doing a water change.
Never heard that one before🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️
THIS DUDE IS WACTHING OTHER PPL'S VIDEOS LIKE MINES MAYBE STEALING MY TOPIC'S AND REDOIN MY INFO TO Y'ALL.. IM PEEPING THIS DUDE EVERYTIME I DROP A VIDEO HE COME BEHIND ME MAKE SAME VIDEO BUT PUT HIS TWEAK TO IT... IM KEEPIN MY 👁 ON YOU DUDE...💯
🤣🤣🤣I have no idea who you are but nice try 🤣🤣🤣
I feel like you shouldn't waste time or money on water testing unless you have a fish worth at least $100 or more. I've never tested water in my 2 years so far, only lost a few petsmart mollies, but everyone else in exact same tank and water are completely great.
Ammonia typically comes from waste, and while in abundance at a waste water treatment plant, I would be really upset if there were quantifiable amounts of ammonia in my tap water that could be determined from a test strip. Typically a water treatment plant would need to remove the ammonia because it would run interference with maintaining a chlorine residual as it would bind with the ammonia, meaning the treatment plant would need to use more chlorine to maintain a residual in the down stream distribution lines.
The Ammonia in Tap Water comes from Chloramine, which is Chlorine and Ammonia. Chloramine can be preferred by Water Companies because Chloramine has a much longer Effective Life over simple Chlorine.
Thanks 😊
True. Back in the day you could let water sit and chlorine would gas off and you'd have safe water. Not anymore. Chloramine doesn't gas off in 24 hours but stays in the water for quite some time.
@@apaulmcdonough2170 do you happen to know if either of test strips for chlorine or ammonia would pick up the chloramine or would either of those chemicals be masked and not detected since they are bonded together as chloramine.
@@djl9154 I recommend checking with the Manufacturer(s) of your Test Media.
I know I get a low Ammonia when I test my Tap Water, here in Long Beach, CA.
I would, on occasion, in the past in Connecticut get a positive for Ammonia in my City Tap Water.
I use a Python to Drain and Refill my 65 US Gallon.
I use the Hook Spout to refill, and I Trimmed the End so the Spout is NEVER Under the Surface.
I add Seachem PRIME before I start to Fill. I use 7.5 ml (75 USG) for an approximate 35 USG Water Change.
My Bio filter handles the Ammonia release easily.
I will add 7.5 ml Seachem STABILITY about 20 minutes after I Finish the Refill.
Folks are so concerned about the water being crystal clear. Have you ever watched videos of the lakes and streams of South American cichlids? You would be amazed. lol