My tap water has ammonia and nitrates

[1000ninja]

Left a bucket of water out last evening and just checked the level

First pic is the level from just now and 2nd pic is it straight out of the tap. Bigger decrease the. I expected considering it sad in a bucket less than 24 hours

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

Left a bucket of water out last evening and just checked the level

First pic is the level from just now and 2nd pic is it straight out of the tap. Bigger decrease the. I expected considering it sad in a bucket less than 24 hours

It looks like you're going from 8.3-8.4 down to maybe 8.0. A .4 drop is not too terrible, but some sensitive fish, such as discus, might have trouble with that. If I were you, I would age my water, but with some hardy species of fish, you should be fine.

 

[philipraposo1982]

My guess is still off gassing of co2. The guys over on SimplyDiscus often have problems with this, especially in the winter time. They will do a water change and the water that they put into the tank from the tap will sometimes create a cloud of co2 bubbles. That's when they know that they need to age their water. Btw, dissolved co2 is usually a bigger problem in the winter because the normal tap water temp is lower. This causes more co2 to be dissolved in the water and then releases more when filling your tank with it. This is also part of the reason why high tech planted tanks usually have their co2 shut off with their lights. If they left it on with no light then it just accumulates in the water because the plants have to have light to use it. This causes the ph to swing a lot over night and then swing back the next day when the lights come back on and start using up the co2 again. Having said that, it is also bad because more dissolved co2 can displace dissolved oxygen and suffocate the fish. Both are problems if the co2 isn't shut off when the lights go out.

ontario canada here. I used to use a 55g food grade barrel to age my water with an eheim heater and circulation pump. never had issues but before this I was experiencing a lot of fish issues and weird behavior always after a water change. one time i had a death too, very sad (gasp to death).

with my new smaller apartment I can't fit a big barrel to age my water. I found a work around that seems to be okay and I haven't noticed an negative on my fish doing it this way. I simply added a 5 micron filter sock on the end of the hose attached to my shower where I fill my tank from. I have this about a foot higher than the rim of the tank and allow the water to flow through it. Its like a sprite bottle on the inside of the sock but the water going into the tank has no micro bubbles any more. I believe its like agitating the water which helps degass it extremely quickly. im sure its not perfect but seems to work for me.

i match temp using a digital therm (instant read).

 

[Hendre]

I have almost a full PH drop. about .6-.8 within 2 days, I think me and you need aging barrels

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

I got my 55 gallon barrels for $10 each on Craigslist. I used a sawsall to cut half of the top off of mine and keep a 200 gph powerhead and a 300W heater in one and a 200 gph and 500W heater in the other. For my 220, I'm going to get a 275 or 330 gallon water tote that I plan on putting a 600 gph powerhead and three 300W heaters. It will be kept in my garage so I will probably add insulation to it also. The totes are selling around here for $60-70.