How To Fill A New Tank, And Do Water Change

lon1000

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hi guys,
i'm getting a 55 gallon tank and two 12 gallon tanks.. my question is.. how do people fill them initialy? do you have a separate container that you fill then put declorinator in then pump or pour (if your feeling strong!) it into the tank? or do i just fill it up from the tap and put the declorinator in when its full?

what about after the tank is cycled and i have todo a large water change? then i know i'll have to add the declorinator externaly to the tank..

i was thinking about getting a small plastic water tank to use, and a pump..

any suggestions?

thanks
chris
 
Either of the things you suggest will work.

I use a large water tub which is constantly ready to go with heated, dechlorinated water (and low in phosphates as I have an external filter w/phosphate remover in hooked up to the tub) I then pump it into my tanks using gravity and a decent pump. It makes life so much easier and I can do a 40g water change on my 135g tank in about 20 mins.

If you do this, make sure to have some sort of aeration going on in the tank so the water doesn't just sit there.
 
I connect a hose to the cold tap and fill from there on the first fill, adding dechlor at some point when I remember.

For water changes, I add some dechlor (for the amount of water removed) and then fill via a hose straight from the cold tap.

Doing it this way I can change around 100 gallons across two systems in well under an hour.

There is no need to heat the water unless you are changing huge amounts (I change around 40% without heating) and dechlor works pretty much instantly, so there is no worry on adding it to the tank and then pumping in the fresh water.
 
I use buckets.... put a little decholrinator in the bucket, fill, leave stand for ten mins, add some boiling water to raise the tamp a little (for water changes), place a small saucer or similar in the tank (when filling intially) and carefully pour in. or when topping up, I usually have a specific large stone/similar on which to direct the flow of replacement water...
 
hi guys,
thanks for that.. some good advice there.. i was particularly interested in andywg comment that he takes out the water then puts the declorinator in the tank and then refills from the tap directly.. does anybody else do that?

rgds
chris
 
hi guys,
thanks for that.. some good advice there.. i was particularly interested in andywg comment that he takes out the water then puts the declorinator in the tank and then refills from the tap directly.. does anybody else do that?

rgds
chris
yep that's what i generally do to my large tank, have done for years with no probs. i use buckets for my smaller tanks cause of there location.
 
hi guys,
thanks for that.. some good advice there.. i was particularly interested in andywg comment that he takes out the water then puts the declorinator in the tank and then refills from the tap directly.. does anybody else do that?

rgds
chris
Almost everyone with large tanks does that.

The thought of CFC changing the 200 gallons minimum in his fishroom each Sunday with a bucket is a funny one though. He'd soon look like Arnold...
 
hi guys,
ok great.. yeah i've also got two smaller 12 gallon tanks.. am going to change the water in those using a small water tank.. only about 10 quid from ebay ;-) 4 gallon..

thanks for your help.. just learning all the tricks before my tank arrives ;-)

rgds
chris
 
We just fill our tanks from the hot & cold taps using our Python. We've figured the exact setting to duplicate the temp in our tanks. Add the dechlorinator after the water's in the tank.
 
ohhh yes straight from the hose here too, dechlor in first of course. when i first set the tank up i was very wary of this method, but we found it too hard to fill the tank any other way seeing as its taller than i am! and now as it's so easy doing it this way it's far more likely that the weekly gravel clean/water change happens!! :good:
 
I'd add the dechlorinator to the water first if you can. Obviously adding it once the water is in the tank must work if all these other guys do it, but if your tank is not too large and its not going to be too much hassle, i'd add the dechlorinator in the bucket because chlorine can kill your denitrifying bacteria to the best of my knowledge. Better safe than sorry IMO.
 
I do the hose right off the tap with all 4 of my tanks (smallest is a 55 gal. and one is for turtles)

The area I live doesn't use clourine yet so I don't even worry about declor.. I just set the temp by hand and call it good.
 
I do the hose right off the tap with all 4 of my tanks (smallest is a 55 gal. and one is for turtles)

The area I live doesn't use clourine yet so I don't even worry about declor.. I just set the temp by hand and call it good.
Must be nice to be able to do that, mate. I'm not so lucky.
 

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