Great discussion on water changing methods

[Scooterluvsbeer]

What about the Economics of the Neutraliser vs Drums. 200L Drum $40, lasts a v.long time unless you set it on fire when your drunk ?

Neutraliser $55 Litre, if you have LOTS  of tanks it doesnt last long.

Get a Drum up ya.

Scooter

[ashhhh]

[quote:ead1a2bf1f]200L Drum $40[/quote:ead1a2bf1f]

where from for that price??

[aaronskwod]

Man, I pity you people who live up on the Goldcoast or Brisbane, your local councils are ripping you off! I live in lismore NSW, and not only does my water supplier give me bucket loads of chloramine per litre of tap water, but they also throw in bucket loads of extra ammonia, nitrites, and (the best bit)......... NITRATES!!   FOR FREE!!!  Now THATS value for money!!!

You guys should look into getting water shipped up to you from MY coucil, Rous water, "Seriously good stuff!"........ NOT.

Aaron

PS: Kinda hard dealing with levels of Nitrate in excess of 40mg/L out of the tap, especially if you have nitrate sensitive fish. It also seems to negate the main use of aged/treated tap water changes, cos often the water going in the tank is worse than whats coming out. I have had to revert to other measures such as trying to utilse as much biological de-nitrification as possible, cutting way back on the food, and what i have also been experimenting with is pre-ozonisation of town water (in a drum), followed by carbon filtering (to remove excess ozone molecules), follwed by adding trace elements and adjusting water parameters. Not so easy and not so fun.

[wrk21]

lol@aaron


 ))o

[DeagonTheo]

Aaron, I think in your case I would be looking at using rainwater. Depending on the setup you've got, they make tanks in all sizes.
You would have to add some minerals according to the fish you keep, but that would seem easier to me than trying to clean up your town water.
Theo

[aaronskwod]

Thanks for the reply Theo, I have considered the rain water idea but there are two things working against it in my situation:

1. I live in a 2 bedroom rental unit with my girlfriend, the 2nd bedroom is the fishroom plus half of the loungeroom, so there is already a bit of tension over available space in our household. I think a kick-ass water tank in the tiny back yard would probably tip the already fragile balance, plus i dont think the landlord would be really impressed with a big tank in the back plus me re-diverting all the plumbing from the guttering.

2. It doesn't rain nearly enough where i live.

Having said that, i would love a rain water tank full of rain water! But its not possible at the moment.

I also have access to excellent water from a mates dam, however it would be a 2hour round trip to collect it, plus i would need to buy a 1000ltr water transport tank, a trailer, and a new car full of fuel strong enough to tow all of this, then when i get home i'd have to UV sterilise it all before use just to be safe from bad bugs. As i work 6 days a week and only get one day to spend with the missus a week, this is just not practical.

So at the moment my only time and effort effective method is to try and fix the badly broken tap water, and hope that one day it gets better, and it does from time to time, every 4 months or so it gets good for a week or two, then goes to shit again. How can supposed "Water specialists" (Rous Water) get it sooooo wrong? Losers! I know its their fault cos i went to Rocky Creek dam where the water comes from and tested it, the water is perfect, it just doesn't come out at my place like that.

Aaron

[aaronskwod]

I think Rous water must have a few dead animals (or maybe humans?) in their water storage resevoir, plus they never flush it out. How else could it get so bad? Dodgy bastards!

Lucky i only use their shit tap water to shower and flush the toilet with! I have to treat it before me or my fish get to drink it!  :roll:

Hows this though, (little story for you all):

I rang up Rous Water to complain/ask why the water was so full of nitrates, and they told me all my Hagan nitrate test kits must be faulty/always give a false reading beacuse "they only detected 20mg/L" (still waaay to high for my liking). So they suggested i take a tap water sample down to southern cross university to be tested for nitrate because "they know what they're talking about". Now the funny thing is, I work at Summerland Aquariums, and we stock Hagan Nitrate test kits...... AND we also happen to be the supplier of the same test kits to southern cross university's science department, which they then use exclusively to test for nitrates! HAHA! I explained this to Rous Water, yet they continued to tell me "no no no, you must be testing wrong, southern cross uni is gods gift to water testing....."

Needless to say, my council are a bunch of clueless (Alert admin)s.

[Sigmaphile]

[quote:e28bf1bc84]my council are a bunch of clueless (Alert admin)s.[/quote:e28bf1bc84]
Surely not. 8O
I find that hard to believe. Council.......(Alert admin)s..........
Same thing in my book.

Yes I know Glen.....It depends on the department.  ))o

[here fishie fishie]

Gee that is pretty bad Aaron is guess we can count ourselves lucky.  :oops:

[quote:c161ae41d0]and they say girls are bitchy![/quote:c161ae41d0] he started it.  :P

 :idea: Speaking of big red heads, how is it all going Phil?  
Also Phil in my dictionary, when you look up Council, it says refer to clueless.  :?

Frenchy :D

[Sigmaphile]

Kiwi,
I'm great. Good to see you still being the wonderful, charming, understanding, non-confrontational kiwi you always are.

You going to the GC Auction? If so we will have to catch up there.

[here fishie fishie]

Don't forget quiet, modest, shy.... :roll:

Dont know about the auction yet? I'm a busy boy, you know.... :lol:

Frenchy :D

[Sigmaphile]

No problem.
Hope you can get there.
Should be a few ppl hopefully.
I might even get a few bargins too.

[DeagonTheo]

Not knowing what size tank or tanks you've got, or fish you keep there's 3, solutions to your problem.

1. Those cute little plastic fish on nylon.

2. Siamese Fighters

3. Get a 50 ltr plastic tub from Bunnings, buy some Water Hyacinth or other aggressive water plant to put in the tub and stick it in the backyard with your town water.

Hopefully the Hyacinth will strip the Nitrate from the water in a few days.
You could use this on a large or small scale.

If none of the above suit, get a Budgerigar. Thats if the air quality is okay :lol:

Theo

[ashhhh]

:lol: @ theo...

[here fishie fishie]

Yes Ash, what are we going to do without theo.  :o

Has washdoc, oops I mean Turtle gone back into his shell. :P  Last time you were a 18 year old girl called amanda, this time a red headed bloke.  :roll:  

You got issues man.  :lol:

Frenchy :D