# Britta filtered water?



## nags

I have a question on using filtered water, is there any real advantage to it over tap water that has sat in an open jug for 24 hours and has the water conditioner in it? I have been using filtered water but I am tired of having to fill these gallon milk jugs up with britta water.


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## jaysee

Filtering the water before you put it in the tank will only extend the life of the carbon in your tanks filter - I can't think of another benefit. Not like that's much of a benefit. If you are using water conditioner, then you do not have to let the water sit out - that is for dissipating chlorine, which conditioners neutralize. 

Get a good water conditioner, like prime, and just add tap water to the tank. Make sure it's close to the same temp


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## Olympia

If I'm not mistaken Brita filters are just activated carbon anyways. If you have carbon in there already there's no real benefits, except as mentioned it'll last longer in your tank because the Brita filter gets it. But then again, you can't really tell when carbon isn't good anymore, can you? :lol:


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## jaysee

My brita pitcher has a timer on it to let me know when it needs to be changed  hahaha, yeah right. I work on a fishing boat and drink a gallon of water a day - I can tell by taste when it's time to change the filter, and it's much earlier than the timer says. In the winter, under normal use, the filters last considerably longer.

Though there are gradations and different kinds of activated carbon, yes what is in the brita is the same stuff that's in the filter.

Activated carbon uses the van der wals force to trap and hold stuff. AC has a physical maximum capacity, meaning that there are a finite number of attachment sites. Particles that have a high affinity for the carbon are drawn to an attachment site, where they are held. However, it is not a real chemical reaction. Once the attachment sites are filled, particles with a higher attraction for the carbon will bump out particles with less attraction. Those ejected particles will then bump out other particles that have an even lower affinity. So, the carbon begins to leach things back into the aquarium. However, what is leached back into the tank is exactly the same as what was initially removed. There is no change.

Soooo, how often one really needs to change the carbon is entirely dependent on their specific situation. They say every month, but in reality it can lose it's effectiveness much sooner than that. Or much later. If you never changed the water, the carbon would last longer than if you did lots of water changes.

However, the carbon losing it's effectiveness and leaching things back into the aquarium is NOT a big deal. Many people (myself included) do not use carbon at all, so the things the carbon adsorbs are never removed in the first place.....

So in conclusion, if you use carbon, it's best to just stick to a schedule. Just take a moment to think about your practices. If your tank is heavily stocked and receiving large, frequent water changes, you would want to change it more frequently than every month. If it's lightly stocked and you don't do a lot of water changes, then you could stretch it out to more than a month.


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## nags

thanks for all the info looks like i have been wasting my time lol


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## Adamson

Please don't burn through your Britta water filters for use in the aquarium! They are only good for 40 gallons anyway.
The fish you have do not need filtered water, treated tap water will do just fine.
If you are serious about have water with ph 0 and other pure things (in nature the fishes water is not pure) then get an R/O system, buy RO water from a LFS, or get distilled water in 5 gallon jugs from the grocery store.


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## Olympia

Uh, pH 0? You mean like battery acid? That's pH 0, or close to it.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## fish monger

Olympia said:


> Uh, pH 0? You mean like battery acid? That's pH 0, or close to it.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Think neutral was the intention.


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## Olympia

Lol, figured. Just rattles my cage when people say things like that. :lol:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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