Partial Water Changes - Is There A Good Technique?

[awilson360]

Ok, whilst doing water changes I do run into a few problems or should I say doubts.

Firstly, doing a gravel vac! Should I vacuum around my plants so I do not disturb the roots? Or should I risk a pull-up!

Secondly, de-chlorinating! I have been temperature matching using hot and cold taps and then adding the de-chlorinator last! Does it matter which way round you add the water?

Lastly, is there a specific amount of time I must wait for the de-chlorinator to do its thing! I'm in the UK so no Chloramine in my supply as far as I know! And when pouring the water back in should I just aim for hard decor as apposed to sending gravel flying!

Most of that stuff could be answered using common sense but I'd just like to ask the experts on their methods and opinions!


Cheers!
AW

 

[mattlee]

Ok, whilst doing water changes I do run into a few problems or should I say doubts.

Firstly, doing a gravel vac! Should I vacuum around my plants so I do not disturb the roots? Or should I risk a pull-up!
i would just go around the plants as the plants can use the waste as ferts
Secondly, de-chlorinating! I have been temperature matching using hot and cold taps and then adding the de-chlorinator last! Does it matter which way round you add the water?
i always add the dechlor to an empty bucket so when you add the water it mixes it in thoroughly
Lastly, is there a specific amount of time I must wait for the de-chlorinator to do its thing! I'm in the UK so no Chloramine in my supply as far as I know! And when pouring the water back in should I just aim for hard decor as apposed to sending gravel flying!
the dechlor should act pretty much straight away and any left in the water shouldnt effect you bacteria in the filter. just gently the water in to save stressing the fish and moving gravel etc.
Most of that stuff could be answered using common sense but I'd just like to ask the experts on their methods and opinions!


Cheers!
AW

 

[dissimulo]

Hi,

I am by no means an expert in the field of tropical fish keeping, but, as you suggest, common sense often prevails.

• Using a gravel vac: When vacuuming a planted tank, imagine being asked to turn the soil in a plant bed. Would you up-root the plants, turn the soil with a folk and then re-plant? Or would it be wise to work around them?
• De-chlorinating: I shouldn't imagine it makes a huge difference whether you add the water, then dechlorinate; or de-chlorinate, then add the water. As a caution, in the past, I've been advised not to temperature match due to hot water having a subtle difference in water chemistry over cold water. I personally use cold water and allow the heater to do its job. As for the amount of time to allow for water to de-chlorinate, I can't see it being a long while. The most important factor to consider is how quickly the water is moving, as diffusion will occur more readily in situations of strong current.
• Re-filling: Having just vacuumed, don't worry about disrupting further debris in the gravel when re-filling. However, I'm sure the common census is in favour of trying to aim the flow onto a hard piece of décor to keep the gravel looking neat.

Luke.

 

[mattlee]

Hi,

I am by no means an expert in the field of tropical fish keeping, but, as you suggest, common sense often prevails.

• Using a gravel vac: When vacuuming a planted tank, imagine being asked to turn the soil in a plant bed. Would you up-root the plants, turn the soil with a folk and then re-plant? Or would it be wise to work around them?
• De-chlorinating: I shouldn't imagine it makes a huge difference whether you add the water, then dechlorinate; or de-chlorinate, then add the water. As a caution, in the past, I've been advised not to temperature match due to hot water having a subtle difference in water chemistry over cold water. I personally use cold water and allow the heater to do its job. As for the amount of time to allow for water to de-chlorinate, I can't see it being a long while. The most important factor to consider is how quickly the water is moving, as diffusion will occur more readily in situations of strong current.
• Re-filling: Having just vacuumed, don't worry about disrupting further debris in the gravel when re-filling. However, I'm sure the common census is in favour of trying to aim the flow onto a hard piece of décor to keep the gravel looking neat.

Luke.

on small water changes you can get away with cooler water but if too much cooler water is added then the tank can reduce its temp quite fast and may cause shock to the fish. the heaters will bring it back to temp but it may take a while
if you have an old boiler system then there is a chance that you could have copper traces in your warm water from the pipes etc but dechlor should also remove any heavy metals

 

[awilson360]

Ok thanks for the help guys!

I think ill go back to de-chlorinating my tap water and letting it stand over night to get up to room temp rather than equalising using the hot tap!
Think our hot water system has a copper boiler! Then again its a good thing my interpet water conditioner removes heavy metals!

Does anyone know if the UK water supplies use Chloramine?

 

[arobinson1984]

As far as I'm aware, yes some UK water supplies do have chloramine.

Another good water conditioner to use is seachem prime, it is also more concentrated than your current one so a bottle will last much longer.

Standing water overnight will actually evaporate chlorine out of the water but wont do anything for chloramines, some people who know that there is no chloramine in their water supply use this method rather than using water conditioners but I wouldnt recommend it due to possible traces of heavy metals etc.

Andy

 

[awilson360]

Thanks Andy!

Ironically I ordered a 100ml bottle of Prime 2 days ago! Should arrive tomorrow hopefully! Apparently it smells though? Hehe!

I think ill be double dosing at the moment to help de-toxify some of the Nitrite in my tank!
About a week and a half into the Nitrite phase with fish-in! (Doh)

AW

 

[markandhisfish]

temp matching really isnt important ime . you should find your average 30% waterchange will only drop your temp by 2 or 3 degrees which is not only perfectly fine it is also perfectly natural and in many cases is the trigger for fish to spawn

 

[OldMan47]

The method you first described is similar to what I do. I mix both hot and cold water in my bucket and add the prime as soon as there is any water in the bucket. Running the water into the bucket mixes the Prime and I walk straight from there to the tank to fill it. I use my gravel vac in both directions. When I am adding water to the tank I use it to keep the flow going where I want it to go. I just set up the bucket like this and start the siphon.

 

[Ashley1991]

i do the same thing as OM when it comes to my smaller tank as it has a table behind it xD

i have to pick the bucket up for my big tank lol

as for water changes i use hot and cold taps fill the bucket to the top add de-chlor then just pour it into the tank i dont wait a set time to let the de chlor work it has until i get to my tank (about 20-30 seconds) to work which is enough imo

and for gravel vac i just do the bits where there are no plants and where the bristlnose usually hangs around in a morning (alot of poop there)

ash

 

[awilson360]

OM and Ashley's method of siphoning it back into the tank does seem much less stressful on the fish!
I can't really do that as I have nowhere high to place the bucket and I'm not keen on holding 3 gallons of water above my head

However I do have a spare pump so I guess I could pump the water back in the tank!

AW

 

[arobinson1984]

Agree with mark, water changes under 30% aren't usually such a big deal if you use pure cold water, but as you are in a fish-in cycle situation I'm guessing you're probably doing larger than 30% water changes so try temp match new water best you can


Andy

 

[awilson360]

Agree with mark, water changes under 30% aren't usually such a big deal if you use pure cold water, but as you are in a fish-in cycle situation I'm guessing you're probably doing larger than 30% water changes so try temp match new water best you can


Andy

I've been trying to temp match as best as possible and after 3 weeks neither the black moor or oranda are showing any signs of shock or trauma!
So all is good so far.
My bottle of Prime arrived today and it says 5ml per 200l of new tap water! So I need to somehow measure out 0.25ml for every bucket of 10l I add to the tank!
Is a dropper I got with plant ferts ok to use?

Bit off topic but today I took my filter media out and rinsed and squeezed the sponges in some old aquarium water! Please don't tell me I've done the wrong thing argggg! It did turn the bucket of old aquarium water extremely murky!

AW

 

[arobinson1984]

Cleaning the filter pads probably wasn't ideal, I wouldn't touch the filter whilst you are cycling unless flow is seriously restricted. When cleaning you are risking losing some of the beneficial bacteria you have worked so hard to build up so I'd wait until the cycle has finished and the tank has stablised before cleaning them again.


You would be fine using the plants ferts dropper, just make sure it clean, I'd get a new one when you get chance then you have one for each. I use a syringe to dose things like that, you can normally buy them from noots or any good chemist for under £1


Andy

 

[OldMan47]

As far as using the dropper you got with plant ferts. If you rinse it out well after dosing the ferts it should be fine to use for the prime. I use a 1 ml dropper for my prime because it lets me measure out about 2/3 ml for my 5 gallon bucket.
Cleaning your filter because it is becoming plugged is not a problem AWilson. If it started out almost clean, the cleaning might have set you back a bit but I would say you will probably not see an impact.