Silly Water-changing Question

[ziggyboy]

I got myself a new 4 foot tank last Saturday which I have been fishless cycling since then.

Filling it up for the first time was easy. All I had to do was hose the tank and put the water ager once the tank was full. Taking water out was also simple with a siphon...but I've wondered how I'd put water back in with fish in there. I know that I could use the siphon by putting my bucket higher than the tank's water level. But how the heck are people doing this with 20L/5G buckets?

I guess I could get a ladder and put the bucket there but that would be heavy for me to lift (yes I'm such a sissy). What's everyone else doing?

 

[Tolak]

I hose it in, adding dechlor on the fly. For smaller water changes straight cold is fine, the temperature won't drop but a degree or two, which doesn't harm anything. I use a mix of hot & cold since I'm doing 50% or better.

 

[ziggyboy]

I hose it in, adding dechlor on the fly. For smaller water changes straight cold is fine, the temperature won't drop but a degree or two, which doesn't harm anything. I use a mix of hot & cold since I'm doing 50% or better.

But won't that stress the fish and possibly kill your bacteria?

 

[Kiwigirl]

Some people use buckets, me well I use a simple one litre jug, gave up on the buckets as it would appear that other household members could not understand the meaning of the words (hands off, fish buckets only). And I don't as of yet have a python, least thats what I think they call it.

 

[Spooky76]

lol - temp wise it wont kill them. As he said "adding dechlor on the fly" .... im fairly new to this, but im not taking that risk

I have the same problem, its too heavy to lift you mean to get the syphon going ? - If thats the case, I have a small 2ltr jug with a handle on it. I lift the jug, hook it onto the side, fill it from bucket, then set off a syphon. I then fill the jug up from the bucket every minute or so.

Yes its a pain, and easier to just empty it in, but that makes a huge mess, and stress the fish alot more than normal.

I usually dose the water first for chlorine / chloromine and put a bit of kettle water in just to be safe.

Hope that helps, theres no easy answer when using 20ltr buckets.

Stu

 

[andywg]

But won't that stress the fish and possibly kill your bacteria?

Nope. Most people with big tanks do it all the time. I couldn't think of any other way of doing a 40% change on my 6x2x2.

lol - temp wise it wont kill them. As he said "adding dechlor on the fly" .... im fairly new to this, but im not taking that risk

It actually appears that dechlorinator is not necessary in established tanks, hence why people tend to put a bit of de-chlor in and then start hosing the water in. If you forget about it then nothing bad is likely to happen. I always put the dechlor dose in first, then pump the water in.

There are a few people who have been going nigh on a year without any dechlor and without any problems.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

It actually appears that dechlorinator is not necessary in established tanks, hence why people tend to put a bit of de-chlor in and then start hosing the water in. If you forget about it then nothing bad is likely to happen. I always put the dechlor dose in first, then pump the water in.

There are a few people who have been going nigh on a year without any dechlor and without any problems.

we do the same

having run a tropical tank with no dechlor for 3 years (before i really started learning about fish) i'm really not going to worry if i miss it once or twice.

 

[kewskills]

i personaly use a dechlora however i have a friend who has had fish for about 30 years who just hoses water staright in and aways has and he has had no problems.

 

[rsands]

Get an electric water pump or a drill powered pump or battery powered pumps...the link below

Links:

Pumps here
Drill Ones
Battery powered

 

[Tiger Barb]

I too have recently bought a 4ft 300 litre tank, which I am currently cycling (fishless). I have practised my water change routine and it is not too difficult... I have bought 2 black plastic 80 litre dustbins and labelled one "Clean" and the other "Dirty". The night before the water change, I fill the clean bin with water from the garden hose and pop some dechlorinator and a spare 300W heater in it. I syphon out of the tank into the "dirty" bin, and then pump this out of the window into a water butt for watering the garden. (Hint - water butt pump with long hosepipe = fabulous invention!) Then I use the water butt pump to refill the tank from the "clean" bin. Total investment = £65 (£10 each for the dustbins, £10 for the heater, £35 water butt pump) and I will save much more than that in medical bills through not having to climb step ladders with buckets of water (I am short and the tank is tall!)

HTH!!

The good thing about the water butt pump (rather than a pond pump or similar) is that standard hose fittings just snap straight onto it. Also, it will pump a dustbin or water butt until it is empty i.e. the pump doesn't have to be submerged.

As you can tell, I'm happy with it!

 

[ghostchoir]

I get my boyfriend to do it, haha. I've tried to bucket it in myself but it ends in disaster. If I'm only here I just do it very slowly with jugs

 

[ziggyboy]

What is a "butt water pump"? I don't think it's available in Australia or it's called something else.

Btw can I use a regular aquarium water pump to pump water from my bucket to the tank? Like this one: http/www.thereefshop.com.au/index.php?ma...;products_id=86

 

[Tolak]

It sounds like a utility pump to me, check this out; http/store.irawoodinc.com/zopufsuse.html

The thing you need to look for is the maximum head of a pump. If the maximum is 4', and you need to lift the water higher, it won't work. Pond pumps work much better than powerheads for this, and are probably the cheapest option.

A utility pump will empty a 5 gallon bucket in a blink. I have one I use to empty a 35 gallon can, it only takes a few minutes.