Question: Aging water and water conditioner

[orbis]

Hi! I'll be getting 15 eggs on Wednesday and attempting to raise axolotls for the first time! Very excited. I've been combing through this section but I have one question that I haven't found an exact answer to so I figured I would ask!

I've seen people mention using "aged" water, and I'm wondering if you need to let all water sit (and for how long?) before using it in a water change if you're using a water conditioner. I use Seachem Prime my other tanks, is this safe to use with eggs and larvae or do you condition the water solely by letting it sit for a period of time? Basically should you use water conditioner and age the water, or do one or the other?

I want to make sure I've got my water conditions right for these guys!

 

[Renette]

I barely did any water changes when they were eggs, and when I did it was only a partial water change. It was my Axies first batch and they did hatch very early (9 days) and I say I had a 50% hatch rate. I removed undeveloped eggs soon after most had hatched and I did accidentally break a couple. I have had almost no deaths from eggs that hatched, including the ones I broke.

Once they hatched I moved them into smaller containers to make the 100% water changes easier. I sit my water for at least 24hours and use water conditioner to be on the safe side. I would like to sit my water for longer but don't have the room for all the buckets.

 

[orbis]

Great! That's what I was thinking but it's great to know for sure

 

[auntiejude]

Aging/letting water sit only removes chlorine, not chloramines or heavy metals.
Water conditioner acts instantly, and the only purpose of letting water sit is to equalise temperature.

You need to treat any water from a mains water supply for axies or eggs. Eggs need a water change once a week, but the temperature has to be exactly the same because eggs are very sensitive to temp changes.

 

[BabySinclair]

The other reason for aging water is that, usually when city water comes out of the tap, it's full of Co2. When Co2 is introduced into water, it becomes Carbonic Acid and naturally lowers the Ph. City water will usually come out of the tap at a lower Ph. This can really affect fish if you do too large of a water change. And I would expect axolotls as well, but I age my water, so I don't know. But when you leave the water to age for a 2-3 days, the Co2 will gas out just like the chlorine. This process raises the Ph of the water, usually to where your cycled tank sits. Using an air pump and a fine bubble stone can speed up this process dramatically - as little as 12 hours.

This is at least what I do, but I still use conditioners before I put the water in the tank.