If pythons use chorinated tap water, why do people use them and swear by them. Surely pushing chlorinated water into the gravel will kill all the BB that is there.
Fish dead after water change
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kwi
Fish Herder
I'm another in the nay camp for Pythons, I'm unconvinced by the adding water direct from the tap, it's either untreated or you have to overdose the tank before adding the water.
And any chemical reaction has a 1/2 time rate, the speed the reaction takes place, no instant reactions.
kwi
Fish Herder
And then there is the water wastage while syphoning the tank too.........
I totally agree that using the python waste water that is why I stopped using it. But as far as when to add dechlorinator either before or after should be considered on a case by case bases. Living on city water in any big metropolis area dechlorinator should be added before allowing the water to age a bit before a water change. But people like me that live out in the country have more natural water sources don't have to worry about the quality of the water or adding dechlorniator after it the water change.
I dunno i just pop in the dose of dechlorinator for my tank size and fill er up with a garden hose, and do 75-90% water changes weekly
Id love to see anyone have enough space to have holding tanks of water enough for 100g+ lol With all my tanks combined I have roughly 200 gallons id have to have stored in holding containers, thats really not feasible for many people. And with bad joints in my hips and shoulder, I'm sure not carrying buckets around either.
I'm not bothered to get a python. I just use a regular siphon hose to drain the tanks into my bathtub, then another hose to refill.
And for the record, when I was new I forgot to dechlorinate a tank and didn't realize for at least 8 hours, once I realized it I dechlorinated the tank, but the fish was perfectly fine lol its not necessarily an instant poison.
Id love to see anyone have enough space to have holding tanks of water enough for 100g+ lol With all my tanks combined I have roughly 200 gallons id have to have stored in holding containers, thats really not feasible for many people. And with bad joints in my hips and shoulder, I'm sure not carrying buckets around either.
I'm not bothered to get a python. I just use a regular siphon hose to drain the tanks into my bathtub, then another hose to refill.
And for the record, when I was new I forgot to dechlorinate a tank and didn't realize for at least 8 hours, once I realized it I dechlorinated the tank, but the fish was perfectly fine lol its not necessarily an instant poison.
I've been doing circa 75% weekly changes with the Python for more than a year now. Our water comes from a reservoir just up the road, and it's hardly treated with anything. Before we had fish, we had sundews, for which we diligently collected rainwater because we read that's what you're supposed to do for carniverous plants. But after we got the fish and started testing the water for everything and looking up data from Scottish water, we realised we could water the sundews straight from the tap and didn't have to faff with rain water or RO water. The chlorine/chloramine levels are really low.
I guess it's possible they could suddenly start throwing tons of chemicals in it, but that doesn't seem likely.
In light of that, we had some random deaths after water changes, and we suspected that we were overdosing Prime. With very little chlorine/chloramine to stick to, the molecules just float about. Lowered the dose slightly and diluted it in a bucket before pouring it into the tank. Things improved after the slight method alteration.
I guess it's possible they could suddenly start throwing tons of chemicals in it, but that doesn't seem likely.
In light of that, we had some random deaths after water changes, and we suspected that we were overdosing Prime. With very little chlorine/chloramine to stick to, the molecules just float about. Lowered the dose slightly and diluted it in a bucket before pouring it into the tank. Things improved after the slight method alteration.
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I think as has been alluded to, even water change schedules should be evaluated based on your local water quality and consistency. Our water here is terrible, and they add a ton of crap to it just to keep it from eating through the transfer pipes... There's a lot of seasonal variation because it's surface water from a river, and industry pollutes it. I'm not in a place financially where I can jump on the RO bandwagon, so I'm going to do the best I can with a cartridge style under sink drinking water filter. It's supposed to remove chlorine etc, but at the end of the day, the problem with all of this is that most people don't have test kits to measure everything, and unless you can smell the chlorine, it's hard to know if your water is safe or not.
From a tank management perspective, it would be amazing to be able to do 50% water changes weekly, but I think for many people that is not a reality due to the inherent risks introduced with each water change. If your water source is highly variable and potentially unsafe, you are much better off doing 20% water changes since your tank water will dilute whatever nasties are in your water at any particular point in time. Ultimately, your fish may not be as healthy on average as someone who is able to do weekly 50% and has good quality water available to them, but you also decrease the risk of instantly killing them with one water change.
From a tank management perspective, it would be amazing to be able to do 50% water changes weekly, but I think for many people that is not a reality due to the inherent risks introduced with each water change. If your water source is highly variable and potentially unsafe, you are much better off doing 20% water changes since your tank water will dilute whatever nasties are in your water at any particular point in time. Ultimately, your fish may not be as healthy on average as someone who is able to do weekly 50% and has good quality water available to them, but you also decrease the risk of instantly killing them with one water change.
Colin_T has storage for all his tanks, but for most people it would not be possibleI dunno i just pop in the dose of dechlorinator for my tank size and fill er up with a garden hose, and do 75-90% water changes weekly
Id love to see anyone have enough space to have holding tanks of water enough for 100g+ lol With all my tanks combined I have roughly 200 gallons id have to have stored in holding containers, thats really not feasible for many people. And with bad joints in my hips and shoulder, I'm sure not carrying buckets around either.
I'm not bothered to get a python. I just use a regular siphon hose to drain the tanks into my bathtub, then another hose to refill.
And for the record, when I was new I forgot to dechlorinate a tank and didn't realize for at least 8 hours, once I realized it I dechlorinated the tank, but the fish was perfectly fine lol its not necessarily an instant poison.
Exactly otherwise ill keep dreaming haha
For most people it is possible though. I didn't just use tanks for water storage, I had 72 litre and 45 litre plastic rubbish bins that were used to make up special water for certain fish (usually soft acid water). These containers were either kept outside or in my room and the pH, GH and colour was adjusted and made the same each time.
I have a friend who bought a 200 litre wheelie bin to use for water changes. He wheeled it into the house, used the garden hose to fill it with tap water, added dechlorinator and aerated it while he cleaned the tank. Then he pumped the new water into his tank.
Another friend had a couple of 200 litre plastic wine barrels in his fish room. He kept African Rift Lake cichlids and his tap water had 0 GH so he added Rift Lake salts to the water holding containers and aerated them for a week before using them on his tanks.
If you only have a small tank, you can fill up buckets with tap water and leave them inside or outside for a day or two until you need them. You can check, modify, adjust, buffer or do whatever you like to the water to make it suitable for your fish.
If you have lots of tanks, build double and triple tier stands. Have fish in the bottom and middle tanks, and use the top tank for water storage. On a triple tier stand, you can do 50% water changes on the two tanks below the water holding tank. Just drain the water into the lower tanks and refill the top tank with tap water. Then aerate, adjust and do whatever you like with the tap water in the top tank.
A note on garden hoses. They have a softening agent in them that helps stop them kinking. The more expensive the hose and the less it kinks, the more softening agent that is built into the hose. The softening agent leaches more in hot conditions than cold conditions. This softening agent is poisonous to fish, birds and all animals including people, and water containing it should not be ingested. You can make the hose safer to use by running tap water through it for a couple of minutes before filling the tank.
Black poly pipe/ irrigation hose is not flexible and does not contain the softening agent.
I never knew that about hoses, I just thought it was made of a different type of plastic or rubber or whatever. Never thought they would put a softening agent into it that would leech
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Yep always run the hose into the sink for several minutes prior.
And yeah having the extra bins isn't possible for everyone lol but its a good idea if you can do it (I think my husband would cry if I brought in enough containers of water to refill 200g+, thats 727 litres+)
And yeah having the extra bins isn't possible for everyone lol but its a good idea if you can do it (I think my husband would cry if I brought in enough containers of water to refill 200g+, thats 727 litres+)
porl66
Fish Fanatic
I would love to be able to store 50 - 100 litres of water in some sort of bin or whatever BUT I live in a small(ish) house with not a lot of spare space inside to store water 
. As for storing outside.....well it hit minus 5 last night so I am thinking that is a no no as well
. As for storing outside.....well it hit minus 5 last night so I am thinking that is a no no as wellporl66
Fish Fanatic
If you do do it will you get someone to video it......pretty please
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