Adding water to tank with python quick fill

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It depends to some extent on what your source water is like to begin with. There is nothing wrong with being over-cautious and preparing water ahead of time if you have questionable source water as some here seem to have. I have been filling with the Python direct from the tap for over 25 years now. The parameters are the same (zero GH/KH) and there is only chlorine (not chloramine) in my water. I change 60-75 sometimes even 80% of the tanks this way. I have tanks of wild caught fish that have lived into and beyond the normal expected lifespans, spawning regularly (fry sometimes evade predation). If I had harder water, and/or chloramine added, I would probably be doing things differently. But I would also not have a room full of tanks without the Python. When I acquired my first larger tank (a 90g) in 1995, I asked the store about water changes and they put me on to the Python and I have never looked back. :fish:
 
Hmmmm... Not sure if I have chloramine in the water.. Ill have to look into that. Havent lost any fish directly fron a water change but I have noticed several times my 11" leporinus acting stressed and even doing a wierd body shake thing that lasts for onky about 1 to 2 seconds.. It just got me thinking about all this.. Buckets would be my only option... Im spoiled now though with the ease of this amd keeping up with water changes much more frequently..

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For me it's been an evolution of changes for water changes. I have a well so chlorine/chloramine is not an issue. However, I have high nitrates in my well water so I pre-filter the 'tap' water to remove nitrates. But since it's a Python like effort, I thought I'd include my process here. To remove water from the tank(s), I use an Eco 396 submersible pump connected to a python hose either to the kitchen sink or out the front door to the lawn/flower bed.
I used to filter the water from my kitchen sink into 5g buckets and for the 60 g, I'd pour into an 18g tote and pre-heat. Lately though, I use the same Eco pump and pump room temperature water back into the tank. The fish don't mind a bit, however, the fish I have would be fine with water 70-80F. (I keep the tank at 77F so adding 20g of room temp water only lowers it 3-4F.
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With several tanks in the basement, I was carrying 5g buckets downstairs. A few weeks ago, I stumbled and fell to the concrete. I wasn't hurt much, but it was a wake up call. So I purchased a 45g Rubbermade Brute trash can and do all my filtering in the basement now. It's about 100g per week for water changes. For the basement tanks I'll use either the Eco 396 or a hand held battery operated pump to empty/re-fill.
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I would agree that pretreating water may be safer than adding directly to the tank (w/conditioner), however it can still be a crap shoot since you may never know when municipalities increase additives due to excessive rains, broken pipes, etc. Maybe draw to an appropriate sized container, add recommended conditioner, aerate, and wait a few days?!
 

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