Just a question about hot tap water

[albatrozz]

I just had a chat to a friend who said that hot water that you get from the tap contains copper and that copper even in scarce amounts, can be toxic to fish especially discus. I've actually been using hot water from the tap since i started this hobby(about 10months ago) but of course i didnt know what it contained. The thing is that when i do my WC's i put the hot tap water in buckets, in which i add the right dose of prime. I then let it age for a couple hrs or sometimes overnight. This usually results in the water cooling to about 28degrees. My discus, pleco's, and tetra's always seem to never mind it.... so im kinda confused if hot tap water actually contains copper... ? does it? :?

[fishgeek]

depends on your heating system and the contact time of your water with possibly copper piping

soft acidic water dissolves more heavy metal ions and toxicity is greater

old water system may have lead, iron and zinc issue


basically the problem arises from potential having the water in contact with copper pipe work for longer whilst it sits in a heating system
if you dont have a copper heating system then you dont need to worry about

for instance i have a gas boiler that heats the water as it passes the flame, quite instantaneously, and contact time between water and metal is low, if it was to sit in a tank with a copper pipe as a heating element then that would mean longer time to dissolve copper ions

levels of organics in the tank water can also lead to some protection from copper ions as they will chelate them

[ILLUSN]

sydney tap water is super soft at the moment, i wouldn't be using water from the hot water tap.

[ozarowana]

Doesn't Prime deal with heavy metals?

[ILLUSN]

Doesn't Prime deal with heavy metals?

at low concentrations, not sure how well it would go with elevated levels.

i use it at 2x-3x dose (3x when i can smell chlorine or "metals" in the tap water)

[discusluver]

Hi how are you i would say be careful of copper a water filter canister might help!
goodluck m8 :D