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Post by teresa2005rabbit on Jun 30, 2011 8:24:16 GMT
hi, do you need to put tap safe products in a turtle tank, like the sort u use for goldfish etc, ive been told yes and no, bit confused.
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Post by jacquisunderland on Jul 2, 2011 11:42:59 GMT
Hi Teresa , sorry.. I'm not quite sure what you mean by tap safe? x
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Post by turtlegirl on Jul 2, 2011 20:09:28 GMT
That depends on where you live and what the local water company puts in your water. High levels of chlorine can irritate turtles' eyes AND more importantly kill all the good bacteria in the filter which process nasties in the water like ammonia from turtle waste and turn them into harmless nitrates.
Normally, if you let tap water stand in a tank or bucket for 48 hours all the chlorine will evaporate. However these days many water companies also add chloramines which don't evaporate and take a long time to break down. If yours does, you will need to add something to tap water to neutralise chloramines. Check your water company's website and/or phone them to check.
The cheapest way to make tap water safe is to get a 500ml bottle of pond water treatment (about £9 for 500ml on Ebay) which will last you a year. As this is very concentrated you will need to dilute it first. I use an empty 500ml water bottle and add 50mls pond treatment to it, then fill with water. A capful of this dilute solution will treat a bucket of tapwater
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Post by jacquisunderland on Jul 6, 2011 22:32:02 GMT
Hiya .. I'm fortunate that where I live I havent needed to do that yet but just as a matter of interest how do you check the acid / alkaline levels, how do you calculate how much stuff to use. When I was doing a dog hydrotherapy course ( long story)..we used chemical testing kits and dip strips to check the chlorine levels in the pools but I dont know if you can buy them generally? x
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Post by turtlegirl on Jul 7, 2011 23:52:05 GMT
I am not aware of any commercial available chlorine testing kit for home use and don;t know anyone who uses one. I keep tropical fish and in this hobby we always assume the worst as far as water additives are concerned. If the water company admits on its website, as mine does, that it uses chloramines then you need to add the maximum dose of water treatmnet chemical stated by the manufacturer. The dosage per gallon of tapwater added is usually stated on the bottle
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Post by jacquisunderland on Jul 9, 2011 18:23:31 GMT
Ok thanks x
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Post by neilb on Aug 13, 2011 0:02:04 GMT
Your water board will tell you what the chemical levels in the water are, because they are required by law to do so. Chlorine isn't a problem because it's so unstable in water than even just the aggitation caused by filling the tank with the hose will remove almost all of it. Chloramine is the new chlorine however, and whilst it's not used by many (don't think any?) water companies yet, it is extremely stable in water and does need a "treatment" to get rid of it. High levels of nitrates in the water can be a pain, as can the hardness, but no "treatment" products will help that. The ideal fill for a tank is rain water, but honestly unless you are one of those unlucky people who have chloramine in the water then any "treatment" is a waste of time and money, especially with large tanks which can easily use a litre of "treatment" in one fill!
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