fish tanks and sulfur - DPChallenge Forums

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

03/11/2009 01:27:59 PM · #1

i'm gonna throw this out there as i've minimal luck searching for a cheap and simple solution.

our well has a sulfur smell to it. hydrogen sulfide most likely from some sort of bacteria. that's not my worry though.

the issue is i have a number of fish tanks, fresh water. the source ( well water ) seems to kill the fish. so i am trying to find a simple way to get rid of the sulfur in small batches - say five - five gallon jugs per week.

anyone have any idea about going about this ? in the past i got water from a municpal source,a nd simply dechlorinated it. currently that isn't a convenient means.

i am thinking of chlorinating the well water in 5 gallon jugs, letting it sit for a few hours, and then dechlorinating the result - in hopes it will remove the sulfur ?

a simple brita carbon filter gets rid of the sulfur for the drinking water, but i'm thinking i want to kill off the bacteria as well...

i'm not looking for some expensive whole house solution - i just want to take care of my fish :)

ralph

Nikon Z9

03/11/2009 01:48:10 PM · #2

a distiller

jrtodd

Nikon D850

03/11/2009 02:00:13 PM · #3

//ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0319.html

Maybe cheaper to buy a 5 gallon jug of water at the grocery store and have them refilled (You can buy it at Publix here, at your place???). I'm not sure how good of an idea distilled water is, fish pick up nutrients from the water they drink plus I think I remember something about it affecting PH.

Message edited by author 2009-03-11 14:00:36.

03/11/2009 02:04:49 PM · #4

The carbon filter shouldn't kill bacteria. It works by trapping molecules like sulfur in tiny pockets and tunnels formed by very minute air bubbles. (Causing these bubbles is the "activating" in "activated charcoal".)

Leica 35mm f/1.4 Summilux M Aspherical MF - Black

03/11/2009 02:07:36 PM · #5

Hydrogen Sulfides in Drinking Water

You might find this helpful.

scarbrd

Leica M10

03/11/2009 02:08:57 PM · #6

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

I suddenly have Don Ho's "Tiny Bubbles" in my head. Thanks for that! ;-)

03/11/2009 02:23:36 PM · #7

i know the carbon filter won't kill the sulfur bacteria.... that's the issue.

i need to purify the water before i do water exchange so i don't let the sulfur bacteria infiltrate the tank...

i'll check out that link - thanks.

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

03/11/2009 02:24:25 PM · #8

distilled water isn't really good for the fish tank.

03/11/2009 02:27:34 PM · #9

From the reading it seems you could shock the water in buckets and then allow the chlorine to bubble out over time. Working out the math to get an appropriate ppm of chlroine from bleach wouldn't be too hard, although I didn't see the necessary ppm treatment level.

How sure are you it's the sulfur that's killing the fish? Could it be some other metal or ion?

Message edited by author 2009-03-11 14:28:15.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

03/11/2009 02:39:33 PM · #10

that's exactly what i am thinking !

for a hot tub about 5ppm of free chlorine for 30minutes+ should kill everything off. unless the tub is filthy - that's based on clean water that hasn't dropped to 0ppm free chlorine ( or bromine for that matter ).

no i'm not positive - i haven't used the well water in over 5 years... had an easy source of municipal water i could simply dechlor. but that source has dried up - so to speak. i have treatment chems for iron, mangenese, copper, chlorine, and chloramine ( which is a combo of chlorine and ammonia )...

i did use it when we first moved in. on a small tank with only neons in it. in four days the white pebbles were all orange, and all the fish were dead. the yellow tinge - and the short period of time makes me think it was the sulfur...

i need about 20-25 gallons weekly to properly care for the tanks...

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

the concentration aspect might a little tough - because bleach is an unstable chemical. losing potentency over time ( i imagine you know that :).

i'm not worried about the house water - it's not gonna hurt me - it's not septic leach into a shallow well, and it really isn't that bad most of the time. but a little bit goes a long way in a closed system - escpecially when you factor in evaporation, and the infiltration of the bateria themselves....

i'll take five gallons of tap ( well ) water - figure out how to get a 5-10ppm free chlorine residual ( a couple ounces is my guess w/o doing the math ) - let that chlorinated water sit for 1/2 a day - neutralize the chlorine, and change out the betta fish bowl. see if he makes it...

Message edited by author 2009-03-11 14:46:27.

pineapple

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

03/11/2009 02:52:35 PM · #11

Photography for DPC. Aquariums for the people who know: The Planted Tank Forums. (I am an aquatic gardener).

RayEthier

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

03/11/2009 02:53:19 PM · #12

I am a loss to understand why you are experiencing such a problem.

I have had as many as four aquariums and one terrarium in our house and our water source is also a well. I never experienced problems with fish dying because of the water, although (thanks to my daughter who was very young at the time) I did find out that angels fish will eat chips and marshmallows, but that invariably this leads to their demise.

I would suggest you get a water test, talk to your pet shop owner, and work from there.

Ray

03/11/2009 02:56:51 PM · #13

is there a thread there that deals with what i am asking ?

four of my six tanks have live plants ;)

looks to be an interesting site BTW...

Originally posted by pineapple:

Photography for DPC. Aquariums for the people who know: The Planted Tank Forums. (I am an aquatic gardener).

Message edited by author 2009-03-11 14:57:07.

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

03/11/2009 02:59:52 PM · #14

i think it is an issue with sulfur - or sulfur bacteria. i've had a number of situations where well water was fine. ie: water had iron, copper, mangenese in it. the typical treatment for those metals is the all in one "water dechlorinator". i called Tetra - they have no product to remove sulfur - and recommended i invest in a whole house treatment system...

Originally posted by RayEthier:

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

03/11/2009 03:20:57 PM · #15

I assume you have found this page? //www.excelwater.com/eng/b2c/h2s.php Good info here.

R.

03/11/2009 03:26:57 PM · #16

Originally posted by soup:

i'll take five gallons of tap ( well ) water - figure out how to get a 5-10ppm free chlorine residual ( a couple ounces is my guess w/o doing the math ) - let that chlorinated water sit for 1/2 a day - neutralize the chlorine, and change out the betta fish bowl. see if he makes it...

My guess is it's going to be much less than that. I use bleach in the kid's blow up pool in the summer to keep it clean longer. I use 3 tablespoon for what is probably 70-100 gallons (not positive exactly how big it is, about 7 foot diameter circle 12-16 inches deep).

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

03/11/2009 03:49:20 PM · #17

chlorination seems to be the way to go. i've gotten no help from local pet shops.

maybe my thinking is wrong and it is something else in the well water. but i suspect i am correct in thinking it's the sulfur or sulfur bacteria...

thanks for the link Bear_Music - useful info - backs up my chlorine solution...

we'll give it a try.

and yeah you're likely right with the dosage DrAchoo... the back of the jug should give me dosage per 10,000 gallons - and i'll go from there. i don't want to use regular clorox bleach because it's got stuff other than sodium hypochlorite in it. i'll get it from a pool place. err - if i still had that job - i'd get the water with no worries, and have a free source of chlorine...

FWIW - some of the links and what not point out shocking a well, and treating well water with chlorine. you can't just use the pool chlorine tablets ( generally ) - as they have other chemicals in them humans aren't meant to ingest. for instance a typical costco pool chlorine tablet is a chemcical called trichloroisocyanurate, or in powdered form dichlorisocyanurate. those are no good for drinking water !!

what can be used are the purest form of sodium hypochlorite ( liquid ), or maybe a calcium hypochlorite tablets. no other forms of chlorine are meant to be used to drinking water - and even when they are - they concentration MUST be diligently monitored - both for purification reasons, and chemical concentration reasons...

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

Message edited by author 2009-03-11 15:57:08.

togtog

Nikon D300

03/11/2009 05:28:05 PM · #18

.

Message edited by author 2009-03-11 18:02:46.

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D

03/11/2009 05:52:52 PM · #19

you have the ability to boil 20-30 gallons of water a week - store for a week or so while you use the 20-30 gallons that had been venting for two weeks - that you need to use this week ?

i'm not living in a cave.

come on...

fwiw - some of the fish i have are well over 5 years old. i've kept them and the plants in their tanks healthy so far - i am looking for a solution to a new problem. and that problem is the new source of exchange water. oh - and my tanks don't really have a smell...

Message edited by author 2009-03-11 17:58:34.

MistyMucky

Nikon D700

03/11/2009 06:13:47 PM · #20

Here is the luxury alternative: add hydrogen peroxide to the water (similar to the stuff you use to bleach teeth...). It's more expensive than chlorine, but certainly less toxic for the fishes.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

03/11/2009 06:55:35 PM · #21

I used to keep fish, long ago. Is it just my imagination, or do I recall a sulfur compound that we used to combat one of the more common blights our fish were prone to? Came in a tiny bottle, was deep blue-green in color? A couple drops did the trick?

R.

FireBird

03/11/2009 06:58:33 PM · #22

Originally posted by soup:

I lived in an area where the well water (very deep wells) contained sulfur. Local well diggers indicated the wells were drilled near what they called sulfur heads in the underground aquifer. We kept guppy fish in this water and they grew reproduced like kudzu! If people are drinking this water I don't think any bacteria are your problem. Unless you don't have enough bacteria! I'm sure you know that a fish tank needs to be seeded properly with beneficial bacteria to deal with the waste fish generate when they breath and poop. They're calle nitro-bactors and Nitro-somas because they change the two different types of nitrogen base waste to forms that don't bother fish. These suckers live everywhere in the world, so all you have to do is add a few fish to a tank and a working population will generate in a week or two and you'll eventually be able to add more fish up to the limit of your tank and species.

Did you just move to this area? Or did you just change water sources? I think we need to know a whole lot more about your situation. What PH is the water from your old source?
What is the PH from your new source when just drawn, and then 8 hours later? Some wells will have very large amounts of dissolved CO and this will leave over several hours at surface pressure. If this is happening you'll see very small bubbles appear in a glass some hours after it is drawn. Large amounts of CO can dramatically lower PH if the water doesn't have many buffering chemicals. If added in large quantities to fish that are sensitive it could kill. By large I mean over 25 to 50 percent change of tank by volume.

If you have access to UseNet, there are several groups there with people that are extremely knowledgeable about keeping all kinds of fish. I'd advise using that resource. They'll generally point you to FAQs with much information.
I can't remember their names but I'll check later and post them here. Good luck with your fish. I really enjoyed mine for many years.