Please don't be angry with me, I know using bottled water is bad for fish, because it doesn’t have any trace minerals in it that fish need, but it scares me to think of what sort of nasty stuff could be lurking in the local tap water . I use distilled water because the local tap water comes out yellow and often contains a rust colored sludge and some metal flakes, despite the city’s attempts to flush out the pipes, the quality of the water never changes <_< . I think that the sludge may be brown algae, because I used to use tap water and I constantly had brown algae growth in the tank, and since I have bought a new tank and have never used tap water to fill it I haven't had any more problems with brown algae.

What I wanted to ask was, should I add something that adds trace minerals to the water, and what sort of minerals are essential to goldfish?

I wasn't sure how important calcium was to goldfish, but since it is very important to most other animals I added 5 flakes or so of my bird's oyster shells to the filter media.

Hmm...I always thought that distilled water was good for goldies. We're talking about distilled water, not strawberry scented Perrier right? As a matter of fact, in my goldfish book, for water changes it specifically states to replace with distilled water. The book recommends a minimum of 10% water change weekly, 25% once a month, and 50% every quarter; and every time it states replace with distilled water. The book does not actually tell you why but it seems to be adamant about this.
I know that distilled water is water with impurities removed but am not an expert on this subject. I personally have no long term experience with it. Maybe one of our experts can shed some more light on this?

when I was having water problems the lfs suggested distilled water, but haven't really used it

Yes! You need to be adding back the minerals. They sell products for that. Here's one
http://www.kentmarine.com/freshwater/ror.html

Could you test your KH, pH and GH?

There are many goldfish conditioning salts on the market. Not the pure saltwater ones but ones that contain lots of different minerals. I use these regularly.

Goldfish also need trace elements of heavy metals too. Maybe mix in a little bit of tap water with your distilled water.

Oh, I just checked out Dataguru's link. That sounds like good stuff.

I don't have any test kits, the lfs doesn’t test water for its customers and I have never seen any kits in stock. Most test kits are really expensive and since the lfs doesn’t sell them so I have to order them through catalogs or through the internet, and shipping costs to rural Alaska are extremely expensive. The last time I ordered something over the internet shipping was about $18.95 per item, so I am guessing that the minimum cost of buying a test kit plus R/O Right would be at least $55.

Can I get away with being careful with adding careful amounts of mineral supplements? I really cant afford the total cost of test kits plus the mineral supplements right now, I am trying to save up for a larger tank, but with my luck the acrylic tank I have got my eye on cannot be shipped by air, and I am afraid of buying a glass tank (I don't get why some companies refuse to ship acrylic tanks, but will insist on shipping glass tanks which are much more delicate )

Are you on city water? If so, you should be able to get ahold of your city's annual water quality report. That should tell us how you water is.

Maybe you could use bottled spring water or drinking water instead of distilled? Definitely don't use just distilled water.

Wow Aqua, that seems a little out of line to me. How did those things get shipped?

Contact Dr.s Foster & Smith and inquire there, I know they ship fed ex. It says alaska is a bit more, so if you inquire there, you'd know and they carry a full range of kits.

Some places just take advantage of people on the S&H. I've been noteing a lot of differences in that lately.

Yes, I am on city water and I will try to get the water report.



I currently buy all of my fish supples from Drs. Foster & Smith, since they always have top quality aquarium supples. I made an order online and the next day I got a message from Drs. Foster & Smith saying that they would be shipping my order by 2nd day delivery, and that there would be an 18.95 charge on shipping each item. I really needed the filter pack and ammonia neutralizing crystals so I accepted the charges, but $55+ would just be too much.

I know this is not the major thrust of this thread, but I think the reason you can't get an acrylic tank shipped is because it (acrylic) scratches so easily.

Also, is KH the same as hardness?

Nathan

KH is carbonate hardness. It's what keeps pH from dropping.
GH is general hardness. primarily calcium and magnesium.

So is distilled water, "pure" water with no minerals or impurities Dataguru? If these minerals are required, why is this book calling for distilled water to replace the water removed at water changes?

To be completely honest, the distiller at the grocery store hasn’t been working for hassle couple of weeks, so I have been buying gallon jugs of spring water instead of refilling the 5 gallon water cooler jug. So is spring water really better than distilled?



I have had a few smaller acrylic tanks shipped in the past with no problems, I don't see how a bigger tank would be any different. I wish that the aquarium companys would reconsider their shipping policys, especially since acrylic tanks are much stronger and lighter than glass, it only seems logical that there would be less hassle shipping an acrylic tank rather than a glass one, but I guess not everyone shares my sense of logic.

If it has minerals in it, yes!
What the brand?
Maybe we can find some info on it.

Here's some info on distilled water.
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/purewatr.htm

Ok I understand now!!
I read your link on the distilled water. This link explains why my book would call for dechlorinated tap water for the initial fill up; but distilled water and not tap water when topping off and for partial water changes.
To keep the pH and the hardness constant! Of course this makes all the sense in the world.
Thank you Dataguru! The book I have has a lot of good advices but never explains why. And I need to know...

The brand is Western Family Premium Drinking water.



I got a new Petsmart catalog today that has the tank that I was thinking about buying from Drs. Foster & Smith, it turns out the Petsmart catalog doesn’t seem to have the shipping restriction on the tank that Drs. Foster & Smith has, also Petsmart is selling the tank for a cheaper price than Drs. Foster & Smith's, and to top it all off Petsmart's shipping rates are a bit less than Drs. Foster & Smith's. Oh, I am so happy, but before I start celebraiting, I should contact Petsmart to see if it really is too good to be true. ^_^

something happened with my computer when I was trying to edit my last post, but anyway thud Petsmart has also got a 10% off deal going on right now for catalog and internet purchases. Maybe that hag stone I found really is working, I put it on top of the tank after fugly told me what it was. I know that sounds a bit odd, but hay if it works, I need all the luck I can get, I would even do a rain dance if it would get me a better deal on a new tank. Okay here's my rain dance ----->

I didn't find anything via a google search on the drinking water.

That's very cool on the tank!! Cool stone too.