Eh? All my pipes are copper; I'm not aware of any harm being done to my fish.

If I thought that my storage tank water is going stagnent, I would be rather concerned about my own health, than that of my fish. Washing/cleaning teeth/washing up etc.

I agree. Much of this depends on your water heating & storage system. I have a 50 gallon glass lined gas fired water heater where the water is kept under pressure, and is independent from my home heating system. I've been using a hot/cold mix for years without any issues.

Some water heating systems are integrated with the home heating boiler, where the water gets circulated through the system, and some is drained off for hot water use. Others have a storage tank in the loft, which is gravity fed, and must have some sort of opening to prevent a vacuum from being created.

I have a 150 gallon tub out in the back yard, heated, it's my summer platy & plant tub. Doing a 20% water change with straight cold at about half speed drops the temperature about 5F. This is with 1,000w of heat running.

There is never a need to suck on a hose to start it. Stick the hose into the water a couple of feet, put your thumb over the end to seal it then lift the hose so the water that is trapped by your thumb is mostly on the outside of the tank and below the water line. Take your thumb off and the water will flow. If you don't fill enough hose the first time, try a little more but keep your mouth off the hose.

This post has been edited by OldMan47: May 10 2008, 02:21 AM

The mouth method works well.. but i usually just give one good suck gets the flow going then stick the end of the 6ft hose out my 2nd floor window... i find thats enough gravity to siphon. the only way to empty a tank faster then that is to smash it*


*Note this idea not reccomended, is painful for all involved (fish and 1'st floor residents), expensive, and extremely idiotic.

This post has been edited by TheConstantGrower: May 10 2008, 05:02 AM

thats the sort of thing,only a man would know to do,i`ll give it a try but i have very little patience when trying to get a job done

shelagh xxx

Im really not sure how to take what you said there... i sense sexual inuendo... but im too unsure to make a comment back

But yeah the window idea works great, i set out all my water the night before then use a small submergable pump and pump it back in...

During this time i do such things as, read, eat, harrass my wife, and pretty much anything but worry about my tank...

System is simple and effective, and ive noticed the plants on the ground beneath my window grow to the extreme, loving that water.

OMG no!! i didnt mean it like that, i meant, that a guy is born knowing how to drive anything from a bike to a truck/tractor, and they would def know the way to get a syphon working!


you are naughty!!
shelagh xxx

I'm sure you didn't, but the child in me, correction, the man child that i am, still backpedals towards sexual innuendo, cant help it!

I use this approach all the time shelagh. When I look at the plastic hose for my fish tank the last thing I would do is put my mouth on it. I know exactly what water has been going through the hose and don't want anything to do with that stuff in my mouth. As far as a man knowing how, I'll take that as a compliment and thank you.

So let me get this straight - you can siphon water OUT using a standard hose? I may need to get one..... I don't understand how it works without sucking and I am definitely NOT sucking... lol.... yeurgh fish poo! Surely this thumb over the end of the hose thing takes forever? My hose would be stretching through to the kitchen I think and into the sink, so gravity ain't gonna be on my side... any other suggestions? Can'y afford a python right now

for my tank in the house i use a power head
small pipe on the intake (dont go to close to the gravel/sand)
hose pipe on the outlet to the drain outside (works a treat)
plus stops me getting my ear chewed cos ive got water every where

i heard someone say that if you turn the hose on in the tank then turn it off and disconnect it will create a backflow, therfore there is no need to suck, i havent tried this tho,,,im still a sucker or if im really lucky i can catch one of the boys to do it for me!!:)

shelagh xxx

That will work, some people find this out by accident. You only have to get the water to clear the edge of the tank & go below the surface level to start the siphon, so the risk of a mouth full of water with 15' of hose is pretty minimal.

Tried sucking out water with the hose , left it for 10 seconds, the pipe fell out and water went all over the floor

im not laughing,im smiling hehehe

Lucky there was no fish in the tank, by the time i recovered the tank had only about 20% water left but i had a experience of how tasty fish water is

If your refilling the tank directly from the outdoor tap isnt water with Chlorine being added to the tank? Do you add Dechlorinator directly to the tank after the water change? Does this have a negative effect on the A-Bacs and N-Bacs? Or is it ok to do?

It would be a hell of a lot easier for me to just get the hose into the tank to fill up than lug 10 buckets across the living room!!

everyone i know with big tanks adds dechlor straight to the tank and fills up with a hose from the garden tap

no problems at all in doing this