No, that is not correct. How warm are we talking? Bettas need warm water (78--82) to thrive. If you're talking about using HOT water to clean an empty tank, there is nothing wrong with it either, as long as the tank has cooled off before you refill it.

 

Okay thank you. Cause we just finished getting water to set and its really cold I was super curious of this. Wonder who told him....

 

Depends on the fish and what you're doing with warm water?

The warmest you should be going with a betta fish is 82 degrees for water theyre living in.

If youre meaning hot water for cleaning fish bowls that's fine.

Now I want to stress placing betta fish in hot water is BAD for them. 78-82 degrees is ideal. Also, bowls are bad for bettas. You should be looking at a 1 gallon tank minimum, and those are HARD to keep adequate. Your betta may be fine now, but this life style is hard on them and will shorten their life span... especially if ammonia builds up as it does so quickly in those tanks.

A filtered 2-3 gallon with a filter and a heater is ideal.

 

Is he keeping bettas in cold water?

 

Let me rephrase this question to also help out some more. I mean putting warm water into a bowl before setting it up for a fish.

He has a preset heater in his bowl if his fish were in cold water I would slap him. Cause the water is right now 48 degrees and we ran out to get some chemicals for ick(apparently his fish has ick now) and we were gone for an hour and it hasn't changed at all. This is water that will be used in my guys bowls.

I should slap him to because he's being a smartie pants >.>

 

Cause the water is right now 48 degrees

48?? Did you chill the water?! Please tell me you have not added fish yet. A betta needs a temperature of 70 degrees MINIMUM (78-82 is for healthy bettas). Otherwise you are going to be sending your fish into hypothermic shock

 

Oh ok. No, it doesn't have to be cold when you start out. It's way faster to just let it reach the temperature (or as close as you can approximate) of the tank when you're doing a water change. When I do a water change, I just turn the hot water tap on, wait for it to get hot, then turn on the cold water and adjust both until I have what feels like the same temperature as the tank water. Then I add conditioner and do my water change; I don't bother letting it sit out first (it would be a pain to have to have a separate heater just for wc water, anyway!). The important thing is that the new water matches the tank water as closely as possible; temperature fluctuations can be very stressful.

 

Alright Ill do a water measurement for each bowl before switching to their new homes.

 

^ +1

 

It's possible he's referring to warm/hot water coming from the electric water heater tank - where water collects in and is then warmed for when it comes out of the tap. Sometimes there can be stuff that's in there just because it's collected water vat and things can leech in, etc.

That being said, I use warm water for my tanks that comes from a tap and has been in an electric water heater, and it's fine. There's not much of a way around it. And one of the reasons to use a product like Seachem Prime or conditioner that helps with heavy metals.

 

My brother was active downstairs but I manage to sneak some warm 70 degree water into the bowls didn't do much but they are running and are 6 inches away from my heater which is on low so it does no damage to them. The filter in the 2 new bowls doesn't warm up the water like the other one I have. I was out earlier but they had no filters for a 1G -.-

But year hopefully by the end of tonight fish are in bowls and are happy.

 

Wait.. I've heard of this rumor as well. That using hot tap water would have a higher concentrations of heavy metals and such. It was info pertaining to shrimp, and it was just a rumor. So it's not true? Not trying to hijack. I just read that too, so your brother isn't too crazy.

 

It is not a rumor. I use a TDS meter because I have shrimp. TDS from straight cold water is around 100ppm; using hot it is 200-250ppm. If the post was here it was probably mine and I NEVER repeat anything I can't substantiate.

 

I bought the TDS meter that I saw you recommend in another thread. Thank you, I was running out of things to buy! LOL

 

I think I saw it here first, and did some research on it because it kinda applied to me since getting ghost shrimp. And it checked out. I don't take advice from the internet without looking into it for myself. So thanks for planting that seed, if it was your post that I read. More than likely was. Lol.

 

It just made me curious since from what I understand, in this thread, it didn't make any difference. I guess it's because shrimp are super sinsitive, while bettas are pretty adaptive.

 

Much of it depends on you water heating & storage system, age of your residential distribution system, plenty of variables. The most common system in the US is a free standing gas or electric water heater & storage tank unit. These are generally safe to use, provided you do the proper maintenance on them. This means shutting it down at least every 6 months & draining. Any mineral deposits or debris from plumbing aging are removed this way, along with remnants of the sacrificial anode, a component designed to corrode, preventing corrosion of the tank itself. Draining it also extends the life of your water heater, as well as making it run more efficiently. Do your maintenance & these are rarely a problem.

On demand tankless water heaters have no storage tank involved, so avoid the issues associated with that. Endless supply of hot water, but a pricey unit. They make up for the purchase price by being cheaper to run; no large amount of water to keep heated. I have yet to hear of any issues with these, folks with larger fishrooms will often install them. It's a consideration for the next time I change my heater.

Dwellings that are heated with a boiler system will often draw hot water off this system. The problem here is that for heating the same water is constantly heated, cooled down, and recirculated for heating. It picks up dissolved substances from being constantly recirculated in the heating system. Drawing off this for water changes can cause issues with hardness & TDS. Once again, seasonal maintenance will help to minimize this.

Some older systems, mainly found in the UK, will have a storage tank in the loft or attic, often open topped, gravity fed hot water. Being open, and in an unfinished attic, spiders, birds, you name it can fall in. Probably the worst choice for water changes, and for general use.

I ran H&C to the fishroom for a reason, having a 50 gallon gas fired hot water heater it has caused no problems with a wide variety of species. Hooking up a hose to drain it is no issue, as if I don't have enough hoses around. It's about 12 years old, getting near the end of it's usefulness, with the kids moved out tankless would pay for itself in several years.

 

Think we should be fine we have an electric water heater. I dunno but I do cold water then slowly warm it up. Plus I drain water and slowly add warm water if a bowl is in a colder temperature. I get to go heater shopping Sunday(using my saved up money on Saturday!)

 

;-)Wow. Very useful information.

 

I'm such an enabler.

Keep in mind, too, that city water TDS can fluctuate, too. When we lived in Nashville it happened in our area. I couldn't understand why my shrimp were having such a hard time molting. Rechecked the water (cold) and voila! Sharp increase in TDS.