Vegetable Oil And Aquarium Pump

[marcan]

Hi!

I'm redoing my hardwood floor and I trying to figure out a strategy to do my water change.
My 80G tank is my living room and I don't want to use a bucket every time I want to do a water change. (I don't want to splash water on my new floor!)

I will have a 60G storage container in my basement and I would like to pump the water from the basement to my living room on the 1st floor using a garden hose. I need a pump with a discharge head of at least 25 feet. (height of the wall + I'll have a few 90 deg elbow which add a few head feet).

I found a utility pump (60$ !) which can provide a discharge head of 40 feet.
The only problem is ..the manual says to oil the pump with 1/2 tablespoon food grade mineral or vegetable oil before each use.

So my question is... is it safe to use vegetable oil? I don't want to hurt and kill my fishes!

(edit) Link to the pump: http/www.flotecwater.com/asp/Product.asp?PId=315

Thanks for your help!

 

[Colin_T]

vegetable or olive oil is safe for fish as long as it doesn't cover the surface of the water. If it does spread across the meniscus then the CO2 won't be able to get out and the O2 won't be able to get in. Thus causing the fish to suffocate.

Is there any chance of having the water holding tub next to the tank or in a room on the same floor for a day while the water gets conditioned? You could fill the holding tub one day and then use it the next. Once the water change is done you can put the container back in the basement.

 

[rabbut]

I drain from a hose and refill direct from the tap when waterchanging on my 75g. I wouldn't bother with conditioning in another tank unless you are doing realy large waterchanges in very short time. If doing 30% waterchanges, slow the fill rate so it takes about an hour to re-fill and the temperature drop will be slow enough to not stress rhe fish. It is accutaly a spawning trigger for my L66 plecos.....

Simply add sufficient conditioner to treat the amount of water going in before you start to re-fill

All the best
Rabbut

 

[marcan]

A water holding tub on the same floor is not an option. My girlfriend would kill me !
I'll use the pump with a small amount of vegetable oil and I'll pump water from the basement for the first few weeks.. I have 2 fish tanks in the basement.


If I refill the tank direct from the tap, it will takes a few minutes / hours.. how long does the conditioner stay "active" in the tank?

 

[rabbut]

As far as I'm aware, the conditioner remains active untill it has all bonded with chlorine/chloramine. I pitch my re-fill to take an hour or so, such that the temperature doesn't drop too quick, but then I do 50% weeklies, so 30% would take mebe 1/2 an hour to do safely. Slower if it is a large tank and full blast from the tap slows the fill moreso... Mines 335l, and the tap is outputting arround 1l every 30s, full blast from my tap will fill a 15l bucket in that time, so I slow things down considerably. Been waterchangeing like this a while now with no issues

 

[marcan]

I will certainly give it a shot.

Thanks

 

[rabbut]

No problem.