Hey,
Yeah, so I want to clean my tank today because the gravel is starting to collect food and feces particles and with my sick fish, I want to take no chances with them getting sick or dying so I want to clean it today or tomorrow. I know I'm supposed to let water sit out for 24 hours before putting in the tank. So here are my questions:

1. Since I have a water conditioner, is it ok to just let the water sit out for a few hours so most of the toxins evaporate and get to room temperature?

2. I know there are different types of water you can buy at a grocery store, such as spring water and distilled water. I'm not sure what the difference between those are, but is there any chance I can just buy water instead of using tap, would it be healthier? If this is ok, what kinds can you use and what kinds shouldn't you use?

3. Is boiling water from the tap ok to use or does it lose something the fish need? I was thinking this would speed up the evaporation process and then letting it cool to room temperature, I'm thinking it would only take about 3 to 5 hours rather than waiting the whole 24.


Thanks in advance!
Jesi

To answer your first question, I think it would be alright to let it sit foronly a few hours if you have water conditioner. And yes, you can buy distilled water without having to let it settle. Distilled water has been turned into steam to get all of the chemicals ot of it.(if you do you distilled water, you still need to use water conditioner ). It would be okay to boil the water first. but before filling your tank up with the boiled water, you have to make sure that the wter has cooled all of the way down to room temperature. Goldfish are coldwater fish and prefer thier water to be about room temperature.
And looking at your signature it looks like you are WAY overstocked! The thumb rule here is at least ten gallons per fish. So I would recomend that you get a bigger tank!
Good luck cleaning!
PS, you need to give your tank a water change every day! Goldfish are very messy fish and poop like...five hundred billion times a day. So they need their gravel cleaned every day. They also need a 50% water change every day!

Jesi,

If you happen to have your own well you don't need to let the water sit 24 hours - unless you have a water softener. Just make sure the temp is the same.

Buying water can get costly too.

I agree with you, changing water every day is just absurd. Once, or twice a week is fine. I've had fish my whole life, if you change the water too often you will lose the good bacteria. Plus the fish will be stressed if you're in and out of their home every day.

As far as boiling, I would think the soap residue would evaporate as well.

I know you're not supposed to do 100% water changes. I usually do about 2/3 of the water weekly.

I'm not going to test every day, test kits are too expensive and the water doesn't change that drastically in a day. I usually get it tested once a week at my local petstore and it's never been short of perfect, so regardless of what people are telling me or will yell at me about... I must be doing something right, my fish are healthy, happy, and love to eat!

Jesi

Um, your fish aren't healthy or you wouldn't be here.....sorry not trying to be mean, just trying to help. Your fish does have ammonia burns remember.

If you haven't yet, read this: http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/KeepingGoldfish.doc

This pretty much sums it up. Good luck with your fish and hope to see you around.

Wow, ok. Well first of all my ammonia levels are a perfect 0. Secondly, my fish are not sick because of me, they are sick because of the pet store and the overstocked tank they were living in.

Thanks,
Jesi

I don't clean the gravel every day, I clean it once a week, and today is the day.

Sometimes when you vac the gravel you stir up it up enough it causes ammonia burns. Try to put the vac down in the gravel, then pull it up and go down in a different spot rather the stirring the gravel.

I take my fish out for a few hours to clean it, and I haven't done it yet, so I don't see how my fish would have ammonia burns. I know he is healing because his fins are growing back, but I'm not sure why he has black on his mouth.