# General > AquaTalk >  Using tap water without anti chlorine

## uklau

Thinking of doing the following to stop buying anti chlorine

1) store tap water in a spare aquarium
2) turn on air pump for 24 hours
3) cover it will towel (to prevent mosquito from breeding).
4) use the water after 6/7days for water change at the end of the week.

Anyone tried this before? Is it safe for the fish & invertebrate?

----------


## Ah_ZhaN

That's the old way of removing chlorine in tap water....  :Wink:  

But....What about chloramine ??  :Shocked:

----------


## |squee|

I live in Ang Mo Kio.

I haven't been adding anti chlorine/chloramine for about a year now. Tap water seems good, no problems. Ember tetras even bred once.

----------


## NDC

Wow, that seems like alot of work and space required.
Well, for me i only left them over night in a pail  :Smile: 
so far so good  :Smile:

----------


## gummynut

using aged tap water for planted tanks has been discussed before in this forum. seems like right now, chloroamine is added into tap water, which is detrimental to the fishes' health and not easily removed from tap water through aging. we usually keep water for days in order for chlorine to escape and thus the chlorine "less" water is ok for the fishes. 

The issue now is that chloroamine might still remain in the water and could harm your fishes. unless your fish is hardy, like platys, some fishes are fragile and susceptible to water not treated by anti-chlorine/chloroamine solution.

Another factor that is crucial is the amount of water that you replace during your water change. definitely not wise to go for more than 20% water change in case you are just using aged water.

----------


## uklau

Thanks for your feedbacks, guys. I heard that Singapore tap water doesn't contain chloramine (need to do more readings to confirm this fact). However, if there are ammonia in the water, then chloramine will exist in the water (ammonia + chlorine = chloramine). While this may not harm hardy fishes, I believe shrimps wouldn't not tolerate chloramine. Any inputs from other fellow forumers?

----------


## bossteck

Here's some very vague reply to FAQ on PUB's site. 
http://www.pub.gov.sg/home/Faq.aspx
See question 16. 

My opinion is, better safe than sorry. Certain water conditioners are able to remove cholrine, chloramine and ammonia, if you keeping shrimps or plecs, it is advisable to get those.

----------


## BFG

I personally have been using distilled water for my marine water top-up. This 4 footer require 24 bottles of 1.5lt distilled water every month and I managed to purchase them at 65 cents per bottle. I might be setting another top-up tank of distilled water for my mother shrimp tank. I have a custom made acrylic tank ready and have a top-up mechanism bought 2nd hand. The only problem is to find the time to do a rescape of the tank and add in this new equipment.

----------


## Anthen

for me, i can't be bothered about the water quality.. normally what i do is pour the tap water into the tank and drip a few drops of liquid conditioner.. till now, i never encountered any fishes dying.. 

i been using this method for years after coaching from my dad & my uncle who opened a aquarium in our local country.. if you notice well, most farms who does changing water for expensive arowanna or discus, they also use direct tap water into the tank and dose some liquid conditioner and few big spoonful of salt.. the more you worry about the qualtiy of the water, the more mistakes you are making.. after all, is just my opinion..  :Smug:

----------


## benny

Lau,

The price of the water condition far exceeds the deaths in your fish tank if the water contains chloramine. A lot less hassle too.

Cheers,

----------


## blim

I don't use any anti chlorine. 

I have a tank of 5 Angel Fish for nearly a year. I change 20% water once or twice a week with water straight from the tap. So far no problem. They are growing well and even lay eggs.

I have another tank of 6 Altums for nearly 5 months. I change 10% water daily. I used water aged overnight and filtered with peat moss (to keep water soft and to adjust PH). So far so good. 

I live near Ang Mo Kio. 

Mosquito will not breed in clear water with aeration. I don't think there is ammonia in tap water. So, I think aged water is safe at least around Ang Mo Kio area.

But with the cold weather these few days, watch out for temperature difference if you use water straight from the tap.

----------


## andrewtyr

As a newbie, normally will think about this issue. However 3-4 years into the hobby, water conditioning is no longer as important. I just direct the pipe into the tank, the fish are as happy before. So are the shrimps. There is no major issue with singapore's water quality.

----------


## bossteck

Am I right to say, the effect of not using water conditioner also depends on the size of the tank (or more accurately, the volume of water)?

----------

