Curious as to if anyone uses water from their hot water tank in the home? I have never done it, but I did read a post where that individual did and I always thought there would be metals, etc and a lot more minerals and stuff that you wouldn't want in your aquarium. I always heat my water and blend with the cold as I have a basalt rock well and don't worry about chlorine or any other stuff. Thanks to anyone that replies.....

The water in my well usually runs right around 70F. So yes, I do use my hot water to bring up the temperature to around 75-77, depending on the tank. Nothing else is practical with multiple large tanks.

Luckily I have all small tanks and age my water before use. I only use cold water to fill up my jugs and let them get to room temp.

no i just prep my water the day before and warm up so its ok for following day. cant see the problem with hot water from tank though if you got carbon in filter should take the unwanted metals out

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another tank yes please. want a bigger tank always

Thanks, I have my own well and the water is very cold as my well is drilled through solid basalt granite and it is 180 feet deep with the first 12 feet in steel casing and rest is rock all the way down, very good quality water, but it would surely make it nice to be able to just draw from my hotwater tank as I change water several times a week between all the tanks.

This is why I like this forum! Learn something everyday here!!!

I do too use hot water from the tank in my heater without problems.

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55 gallon FW community
20 gallon Goldfish
10 gallon firebelly toad

The concern is valid but IMHO mainly for reef tanks with delicate corals that are very intollerant of copper. The iron and copper in hot water tanks is added to the water due to both the higher temperature and longer contact time in the tank.

So what I do (and did even in my mixed reef tank) was just top off evaporative water that was taken from a commonly used cold faucet that had been ran for 30 seconds or longer. Then I added that directly to the tank.

By not doing water changes and replacing small amounts of evaporative water the temperature and copper effects were mimual with no adverse effects to the fish or corals.

Plus with planted setups (macro algaes in refugiums for marine) the thriving plants keep copper low as well.

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

Sounds like you put a lot of care into your tanks and fish. Always good to read.

The only problem since I am breeding angels and live bearers and water quality is #1.....I change way too much gallonage and I would have buckets sitting all over the place if I did it that way. For small tank that is not a problem. Thanks so much for your input though!

[QUOTE The iron and copper in hot water tanks is added to the water due to both the higher temperature and longer contact time in the tank.

my .02[/quote]

I wonder if using safe start or aqua safe or something like that in water to buffer the metals. I don't have to use anything since on own well, but I was reading on bottles that it buffers or takes care of metals in water too along with getting rid of chlorine. But, then again I go through so much water that I would be buying a lot of that stuff. I will just go with it out of tap and since a lot of you do that with no problem I will do it too. My water lines were put in when we built in 1998 and they are all plastic lines too, so that should help I would think, even under the house and throughout the house, no metal water lines at all. I understand the heat causing metal build up though. Good post....thanks!

If your tap water has chlorine in it, your hot tank will too.


the main concern i would have is do you mean from a spout with the hot water turned on or from the T&P valve. I would STRONGLY SUGGEST NOT using water from the T&P as it will be filled with rust gunk junk and stuff.

As for me, i use only hot water mixed with RO from the LFS, that is to say, the water heater acts as a resivoir for our soft water system. all the water in the hot water tank is softer than the fresh from ground tap through the water softener. so splitting the hot water with RO helps me not only get the right gh kh ph mix easily! it also helps me get the right temp (or real close to it!)

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When you pay that cash or swipe that card you are making a bond with that animal that you will treat it with love and respect, and its needs will be met, first and foremost (unless you have kids...) I don't care if you have to eat ramen noodles or nothing at all to feed your cat dog fish rat whatever. That's the bond you made! Life is precious!

jrman83 wrote:
the main concern i would have is do you mean from a spout with the hot water turned on or from the T&P valve. I would STRONGLY SUGGEST NOT using water from the T&P as it will be filled with rust gunk junk and stuff.

The above statement is exactly why I have never used hot water from my tank. If you have ever drained one of those after a few years it is amazing at all the stuff that comes out of it, rust, sludge and who knows what. I have my own well so don't have chlorine worries. We don't use that water out of water heater for our cooking, always use cold water for that reason. I saw where several do and that is why I proposed the question. I still think I will keep heating my water in big pan on range top that I only use for adding water to aquariums. Drives my wife nuts, but none the less I will keep up that practice. Thanks so much!

Sorry, that was Zachzaf that wrote that what I copied and pasted in my previous post on this subject. Thanks Zach!

You can just hit the quote button underneath the post to quote someone.

I am at school and I can't really have buckets of water lying around to get to room temp (dorm room is small :( ) so I use hot water in my tank and everything is fine, I haven't had any issues.

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yea I think alot of us just take water from tap. I have a DIY vinyl hose that I just hook straight to faucet, never really a problem since your only drawing a little hot water anyway. I assume you have a house filter? does it filter ALL your water? Your probbabley starting out with much better water than those of us on county water. lol. untill the Village replaced our main water lines this past summer our water would come out orange for about 15 seconds, I also replaced our house lines from old galvanized to Pex and it made a huge difference, wish I would have tested water before and after all change just to know.
I'm with ya on the wife thing, mine goes nuts if I pour Fish water in kitchen sink or bathtub.lol I just wait till she goes to work for tank cleaning. haha

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90 gallon, 1 Iridescent shark, 2 Pleco, 3 Goldfish, 5 Cory cats, 2 Nerite snails
5 gallon hex, Blue Crowntail Betta, 1 nerite snail,

Thanks for info on responding to quote.....I got a laugh about the wife deal...same as me. Now I have spare bathroom hatching brine shrimp and have electric heater in there to keep it at 82 degrees with lights on, that is making points! LOL Naw, she is a good wife and puts up with me for sure!

I mix hot and cold right from the tap, get my balance and go for it. I breed livebearers, cichlids (including rainforest species) Corydoras, killifish, tetras, barbs - all in water that has at least partially passed through the water tank. I have multiple tanks and do 25% changes weekly - religiously.
My municipal water source doesn't have chloramine, but it does have chlorine. With a 25% change, it causes no problems (delicate West African river cichlids and killies will spawn in it the next day) but if I go past 25%, I dechlorinate.

With multiple tanks, it is the only practical way to go.

Yes, I use hot water tap (mixed with cold water in a bucket) to make 24-25 degrees for my tank. I always make sure I use water conditioner (Tapsafe, Aquasafe etc) to make it safe and I've never had any problems since.

I've tried filling a bucket of cold water and then wait a day or two to allow room temperature, but the water was still too cold for my tropical tank.

I never change water during the weekend (Fri/Sat/Sun) as the water utility company in my area double the strength of chemicals in tap water cos they are closed over the weekend.

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TANK - Marina Style 160, Eheim 2213 and a 150w heater.
FISH COMMUNITY - 2 Pearl Gourami, 4 Scissortail Rasbora, 2 Guppies and 7 Neon Tetras.

Kevin raised a great point there. My water source flushes the pipes once a year, in the Spring. We get advance notice, and I'm thankful for it. We weren't warned in my previous municipality, and a simple water change cost me over 100 fish once. It's good to know what your water source is up to, water heater or not.

I use the hot and cold water from our taps to get the water to the right temp for my tanks.

We are getting a softener though, and my in-laws don't want to get a hot water by-pass so I'm going to be getting a 55g garbage bucket and filling that with water, then using a spare 200watt heater to heat it.

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981