Pet Forum / Aquaria / Goldfish / January 2004

This sounds off topic at first, then a bit spammy, then gets back on
topic

First, let me direct you to the other bane of my life.  Tea.  I've
been working in a tea shop for several months.  Go looky at the newly
designed site @ http://www.theteajunction.co.uk.  I can promise good
quality tea and super service!

I also lurk in the tea groups, asking people's opinions and trying
occasionally to direct a bit of business The Tea Junctions way (just
like I did above) it's wrong, but they're one of the few specialist
shops left in this world and I like to do my bit!

Now, lets get back on topic.  The below link is to the drink.tea FAQ,
and is specifically pointed on their section entitled "Why use cold
tap water? Wouldn't hot tap water boil faster?"
URL:
http://pages.ripco.net/~c4ha2na9/tea/faq.html#2.2.1.

Now I already thought that hot water was bad for you, and couldn't
remember why!  My teacher once told me that hot water was bad to drink
because it came from a cold water storage tank in the roof.  The water
was then heated (lightly warmed at my school) and spat out in some tap
below.   Why was this bad? I asked. I could understand that school
water supplies were probably used less in the art block I was in &
were more likely to stagnate in the tank above, but running the tap
would cure this?

Then he explained his pidgeon theory.  One day he'd found a feather in
the sink.  A pidgeon feather than could only have come from the tank
upstairs.  His theory was that roosting pidgeons could have tried to
drink from the tank and had drowned in it.  Therefore making his
theory gruesome enough for a schoolboy to pay attention to.

I should point out that I have always been a gullable person, and it
was several years before I realised that sheep did not have two legs
shorter than the other so they could climb mountains more easily
(thanks to my parents for that one).

  When I asked about adjusting water temperatures to put in my
aquarium, someone suggested using hot tap water or boiled kettles to
bring up the temperature.  The above doesn't sound good, and now I'm
ready to base my theory on poor water quality!

Hot tap water is usually heated to the point where the benificial
chemicals that "slime" old lead pipes to make them usuable (this is
apparently common practice in water treatment - the cost of replacing
poisoness lead piping is too high compared to the method of slimeing)
breaks down.  As stated in the tea faq, this can be bad for human
consumption.  The boiling/heating will remove air from the water and
reduce the amount of clorine.

Will this affect the fish in any way? or am I barking up the wrong
pipe?

ps, the tea junction also does coffee...