Rescape - Reusing Water

[nmacog]

Hi all,
 
I am currently in the process of rescaping my 260L tank. Have syphoned off 50% of the water into various buckets etc and stored in my garage last night.
 
Have cleaned the tank and added Tropica Plant Substrate along with 25kg of Limpopo Sand. Also scaping with rocks tonight, along with adding dwarf hairgrass and some plants previously used.
 
My question is - should I reuse the water I have stored overnight, or add clean water - the filter has been established with media for over 2 years now so would clean water cycle fairly quick to get the fish back in there in a week or so ?
 
Would my syphoned tank water be ok to use or would all the beneficial bacteria have died off overnight ?
 
The other thing is that I had treated the previous water for cyanobacteria which cleared up last week.
 
Thanks in advance.

 

[Akasha72]

Hi, there is very little beneficial bacteria in tank water but that is no reason not to re-use some.... if your on a metered water supply it will save you money if nothing else!
I'd suggest re-adding 50% of old water and top up with fresh - you've effectively done a 50% water change then. 

 

[nmacog]

Hi Akash,
 
Thankyou for the advice - I managed to save around 100 Litres in buckets in the garage so will reuse this and top up as necessary.
 
Thanks again 

 

[Akasha72]

no problem, happy to help

 

[RobRocksFishTank]

 

Have syphoned off 50% of the water into various buckets 
 

re-adding 50% of old water and top up with fresh - you've effectively done a 50% water change then. 

 
Starting with 50% of the old water and using 50% of that yields 25%.
 
Other than that the advice was sound. Just be careful with the temperature of the water in the buckets.

 

[nmacog]

With the new Tropica Plant Substrate and sand in, is there a risk of ammonia leeching into the water ?
Should I also carry out a 25%-40% daily water change for a week or so ?

 

[Akasha72]

I don't know, I've never used a plant substrate but the easy way is to test your water daily (or even twice a day if your worried) and if you see anything potentially going wrong then do a water change. 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

With the new Tropica Plant Substrate and sand in, is there a risk of ammonia leeching into the water ?
Should I also carry out a 25%-40% daily water change for a week or so ?

 
 
Well, for starters, it would seem that you haven't been doing these water changes for a long time (established media for 2 years), which means that you may be in an 'Old Tank' Syndrome.
 
 
My suggestion to you would be to do this water change (which as pointed out amounts to about a 25% water change when its all said and done).  Then increase the size of the water change by ~10% each week.  Your tank is likely to have a much higher TDS than your tap water after this much time, and you'll need to adjust that slowly so the fish can adjust.  
 
 
Ideally you want to shoot for a 25-50% water change ever week.  Personally, I do a 25% weekly, 50% monthly and semi-annually I do a 75-90% change.  This keeps the water in the tank close to the levels of the tap.  This is important because the first step in any crisis situation is often a large water change.  
 
 
 
 
(And as pointed out the bacteria live on the surfaces in the tank, filter, decor, etc.  They do not live in the water, so these water changes have minimal effect on the nitrogen cycle.)

 

[nmacog]

Thanks for the info - i've been carrying out a 10% weekly water change and using liquid ferts, but about to move to Estimative Index with dry ferts in the new setup and carry out a 50% weekly water change on Day 7.

 

[Akasha72]

I'd say 10% isn't enough. As Eagles as said 20-25% each week is the aim to prevent 'old tank syndrome' from starting

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Thanks for the info - i've been carrying out a 10% weekly water change and using liquid ferts, but about to move to Estimative Index with dry ferts in the new setup and carry out a 50% weekly water change on Day 7.

 
I'd suggest before switching to the EI method, you should test your tanks TDS versus your tap.  Chances are it is way out of whack.   And before starting the EI, do some massive changes (slowly to allow the fish and plants to adjust).  Then you can switch to the new method without concern for the amount of TDS in your water.

 

[Byron]

Even 25% is not much, particularly if there are issues (over feeding, too many fish, incompatible fish, or whatever).  Aim for 50% and stability will be better.
 
The EI method recommends no less than 50% weekly, primarily to remove all the excess and unnecessary nutrients being added.  But there is another aspect to this.  I've never used this Tropica substrate, but I assume you are referring to the "substrate" and not their "soil" which would be a very different issue.  The "substrate" material should not leech ammonia, as from the website info it absorbs nutrients and the releases them, as opposed to "soil" which would release its own nutrients including ammonia.
 
Byron.