# Hey non-chlorinated well people!



## John27 (Jun 6, 2010)

Hey,

Okay so I have well water, it's PERFECT too, pH of 8.2 on the nose and doesn't budge, super super hard, tastes great too, I guess all of the minerals and thing.

Anyway, enough about that, I don't chlorinate my well, tests 0 for chlorine, etc. I don't really have the guts to use a dechlor-less water change but it would save me some money, anyone else do it? I have an empty 29 gallon that I'm going to stick a sponge filter in, cycle, etcetera, and then do tons of massive water changes over and over and see if it's still cycled. But until then, I wanna know if anyone has experience here.

Just curiosity, I am finding that the bigger the tanks get the more they cost to maintain! Haha, I remember the days of just having my 10 gallon tank, the smallest container of API Dechlorinator would last me 6 months or more! haha.


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

You may not have chlorine, but do you have metals?

You might be amazed at how toxic some metals, such as iron, copper, and aluminum, can be to fish.

So even without the need for a dechlorinator, I would not feel comfortable not conditioning with a heavy metal binding agent, which is something that virtually all water conditioners do..... and not something your planned testing would reveal.


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## John27 (Jun 6, 2010)

Good point kmuda, being that I live in Missouri, known for it's mining, it's probably likely. Okay well that answers the question then.

Thanks again kmuda!

-John


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## aquariam (Feb 11, 2010)

It's so cheap to dose, you should just buy a big jug of prime. It will last years. 0.5ml is the suggested dose to 5 gallons of water.


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## DrgRcr (Jun 23, 2009)

I also have well. I used to use prime in my communty tank, and then I stopped. I have never used it in my cichlid tanks and I have had great luck with it.


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## sirdavidofdiscus (Dec 8, 2006)

I don't treat my well water with chemicals. Bjut I do run it through a carbon filter before I add it to my tanks.


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## newcichlidiot (Jul 7, 2010)

I just use my water as is. For my malawis i 50/50 it with distilled water. For Oscar i just use the well water. But then again there is a reason I am the newcichlidiot.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I also have a private well for my water with no treatment of any kind. I still use Prime but only 1/2 dose during water changes, just in case, like Kmuda stated.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

In that area, if you are west of the big river, you may have iron in the water. Quite likely if you are SW of Eureka. One way to tell how much quick is to look in the toilet tank. If it is red there will be iron in the water. Does it hurt the fish? Not sure it does as a quite a few people keep fish in it without treatment. It is in the rivers and the fish do quite well.


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## josmoloco (Aug 23, 2008)

when i had ph7.8 well water, i never dosed anything, and never had a single problem, ever...


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## drthsideous (Apr 12, 2010)

i've been living in this house i'm in now for a little over a year and it's well water. Ph Kh and Gh are all good. I don't add anything to the water, goes straight from the faucet to the tanks. Haven't seen any problems because of the water yet.
Jeff


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

you guys are so lucky!


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## cgmark (Aug 18, 2010)

I lived with well water for a good part of my life and love it. The land was mostly sandy soil so the water was ultra clean. One thing to watch for if you have a well and live in a farming community is fertilizer run off. My brothers water looks fine and test fine until you test it for nitrite after a rain, then it spikes because of the water running off the fields taking fertilizer with it.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Ouch! If he gets a spike from ferts running off, he may be getting all kinds of other nasties. He doesn't treat for bacteria? That's a big gamble if he is drinking surface water without treating. The states I've worked in reguire wells to be protected from surface runoff.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Maybe not so lucky then lol


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## newcichlidiot (Jul 7, 2010)

Update; I have now been using totally well water for over a year and no issues.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Thanks for that update, newcichlidiot.
I wish we had heard back from the original poster to know if he has iron in his water or not. There are pockets around St. Louis where water is really full of iron and then other areas where it is totally clear. In places the iron is so strong that it stains concrete pours if it isn't removed. It can be a major pain for contractors on highway projects. That is not water I would want to run fish through. Running the water through a chlorinator will remove the iron but then you have to remove the chlorine for fish. Water is not as simple as we tend to think.


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## londonloco (Mar 31, 2011)

I've been keeping multiple tanks in this house for over 16 years now, about 10 years ago I had 16 tanks running with Mbuna breeding like rabbits with dedicated fry tanks as well as show tanks. I currently have 8 tanks and a jar, ranging from 1.5 gallons (jar) to 125g Tangy tank, all planted, I use water directly from my tap. Currently I keep alto sumbu's, calvus, multi's, punks, rainbows, tetra's, angels, bettas, cory's, bn's. I have well water that runs thru a softner. TDS from tap is over 500ppm. I don't drink this water, the taste is not to my liking. I am typically able to keep fish until I sell them, rarely lose one. My plants love my water. I will say I can't keep freshwater shrimp in this water, TDS is way too high. I do have a high iron content in my water, not sure how high, but if I let the iron out run out of the softner, I'm cleaning red stains from sinks and showers. I don't have a high copper content as I had a reef set up for over 6 years and literally had the same shrimp living in the tank for the entire time. Nerite snails (and plenty of pest snails) thrive in my tanks. I know there are plenty of freshwater hobbiest who strong advising against using softened well water and suggest using RO water, but in my experience, it's not necessary. When I have prime on hand (or Seachem Safe) I use it. But, I've gone years without using it, and I see no change in my tanks.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Interesting question there about what you've said. 


> if I let the iron out run out of the softner


Did you mean when you let the iron run out in the softener or was that a typo when you meant salt? Are you possibly using the salt designed for removing iron content?

What I had found was the standard softener will often remove a certain amount of iron that would otherwise stain things but at some level the iron content is too much for that and additional iron removal has to be done.


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## londonloco (Mar 31, 2011)

Our old softner actually used "Iron Out", a product that you added to the salt tank to help remove iron from well water. This softner used salt crystals. We replaced our well system about 6 years ago, and the new softner uses salt blocks, which have the same Iron Out product in the block. So your right, I have soooo much iron in my well water I have to add something else to remove it. In my planted tanks, I dose NPK using the PPS Pro regime. I don't dose micro's tho, no need to with my well water.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Sounds like you may be kind of in the mid-range on iron content. Iron is in lots of water and lots of times there is no harm done but then some places it gets way too much. I don't see that it bothers fish that much as it is part of their natural world but it sure can make keeping a tank a lot of work. Unless you happen to like red, that is! Given a choice, I might like to have well water for fish but most of us just have to use what we have and make whatever changes that requires.


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## lucid_eye (Apr 12, 2009)

I am sure that it varies around the country, but I know that after having the well water tested at work I would never put fish in it. The arsenic levels were scary high along with elevated levels of metals and other nasties.


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## lucid_eye (Apr 12, 2009)

I am sure that it varies around the country, but I know that after having the well water tested at work I would never put fish in it. The arsenic levels were scary high along with elevated levels of metals and other nasties.


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## londonloco (Mar 31, 2011)

lucid_eye said:


> I am sure that it varies around the country, but I know that after having the well water tested at work I would never put fish in it. The arsenic levels were scary high along with elevated levels of metals and other nasties.


Where did you have it tested?


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## sirdavidofdiscus (Dec 8, 2006)

Would carbon remove metals? I actually have permagnate in my well water. Needless to say my breeding operations aren't going to well at the moment.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

That's the tricky thing about water from the ground. One well can be fine and a half mile down the road, it can be a disaster. A lot of the rules on wells and testing are controlled by the states so much of it is left open to what is considered dangerous by each state. Some places they write the rules and then never provide the funding to see if the rules are applied.


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## londonloco (Mar 31, 2011)

sirdavidofdiscus said:


> Would carbon remove metals? I actually have permagnate in my well water. Needless to say my breeding operations aren't going to well at the moment.


I have 3 other tanks filtering my water on the system, one uses permaganate, one uses magnesium and one uses...well, I can't remember. lol

I actually admire anyone who uses RO or rainwater. I just don't have the time to do it. In a few years I'll be moving from this house into our "retirement" home, hopefully I'll have city water!


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## lucid_eye (Apr 12, 2009)

londonloco:
My boss had to have it tested to determine whether or not it was potable (drinkable). I don't know where he went for that.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

For getting water tested, there is difference, state- to -state. The ones I know have dounty or state groups who have the labs to do the testing. In Missouri it is Department of Natural Resouces (DNR) that does it. Other places it may be done by the counties. A call to a local healthe department would likely get you the correct info on who does it.


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## newcichlidiot (Jul 7, 2010)

Correct. El Paso County where I reside will do the testing for you. A kit is available (how much I forget, duh!) they will then mail you results. It really is that simple, not only do our fish love the water, it actually is good tasting as well. Get it as well. Nevermind. I am sure if you contact a local welldigger (driller) they will be able to point you in the right direction. One more thing I do have a pleated paper whole house filter on the well. Mainly just to reduce sediment.


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## bluebirdnanny (Jul 18, 2011)

Wow.. never had a problem with my well water. But then I have a deep spring fed well and also have wetland bog woodland. I guess a lot is said for the filtering of wetlands and bogs! Too many destroy these boggy/wetland/swamp areas thinking they are waste land and unusable. My water runs pure and naturally hard. No funny taste at all like most people with well water.

I don't use anything with my water. Just the water changes, live plants and have even used the bog/peat soil for bottom substrate in one of my "cold water native" tanks covered with a thin small gravel topping. Best tank ever. But can't use the bog/peat lower substrate in cichlid tanks.


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