Thinking About My 90% Water Change

[carrera]

ok ive been thinking for a while how im gonna do this 270 litre water change once my tank has cycled and wanted some advice. ive got an adapter to fit my hosepipe onto my dual tap in my kitchen (so i can fill it at the approx right temp) but i was also wondering about the chlorine.

if i fill the tank and then add dechlorinator, will it be took late? will my bacteria be dead? if so how could i do it? could i mix the dechlorinator in a bucket and put that in the tank first, then start with the hose?

i would really like to this this by hose and not a bucket at a time, i have a bad back and i dont think i could carry 270 litres of water a bucket at a time without putting myself in bed for a week.

any advice welcomed, thanks

 

[diademhill]

Mix the total amount of declorinator in water in a jug - put a quarter of this in to start with & then add more when the tank is 1/4, 1/2 3/4 full.

 

[Nina]

We fill by hose directly from a tap and add the correct amount of decholorinator directly into the tank BEFORE adding the water.

If you are using water from a hot water tank then in theory you should be careful as you don't know what is in the tank. If however, your hot water comes from the mains and goes through a combi boiler then you should be fine.

Just out of interest. Why do you want to do a 90% water change in one go?

 

[Qays]

ok ive been thinking for a while how im gonna do this 270 litre water change once my tank has cycled and wanted some advice. ive got an adapter to fit my hosepipe onto my dual tap in my kitchen (so i can fill it at the approx right temp) but i was also wondering about the chlorine.

if i fill the tank and then add dechlorinator, will it be took late? will my bacteria be dead? if so how could i do it? could i mix the dechlorinator in a bucket and put that in the tank first, then start with the hose?

i would really like to this this by hose and not a bucket at a time, i have a bad back and i dont think i could carry 270 litres of water a bucket at a time without putting myself in bed for a week.

any advice welcomed, thanks

From my knowledge, you cant put the water into the tank without adding declorinator, the chlorine will kill the bacteria in your filter. But i have an idea!!

Take the filter out of the tank and place it into a bucket (with treated aquarium water in it)

Then fill your tank with water, dechlorinate it and place the filter back in. This will kill the bacteria which subsides in the tank there is not much bacteria in the tank at all. The filter contains pretty much all of it!

Make sure the filter isnt out of the tank for too long as it needs oxygen flow.

Mix the total amount of declorinator in water in a jug - put a quarter of this in to start with & then add more when the tank is 1/4, 1/2 3/4 full.

Sorry bout the double post but:

This method is very dodgy. When adding the untreated water into the tank, that chlorine may hit the bacteriabefore it is neutralised? not sure though!

 

[Nina]

Take the filter out of the tank and place it into a bucket (with treated aquarium water in it)

Then fill your tank with water, dechlorinate it and place the filter back in. This will kill the bacteria which subsides in the tank there is not much bacteria in the tank at all. The filter contains pretty much all of it!
Make sure the filter isnt out of the tank for too long as it needs oxygen flow.

My problem with this method is that while there is no fish in the tank then this method is fine. However, once there are fish in the tank then you will need to add the dechlorinator before adding the water.

We have been water changing in the way mentioned above one all our tanks and never had any problems.

 

[carrera]

yes our water comes through a boiler, and i need to do such a large water change to remove the high amounts of nitrate at the end of the fishless cycle i am doing.

thanks for listing your own methods. about removing the filter, what about the bacteria in the substrate? will it not matter as long as the ones in the filter survive?

 

[Nina]

That makes sense.

The bacteria in the filter is the important stuff. This is why if you take it out or rinse the media you should only ever use "old" tank water. Using clean water will only help you kill off the bacteria in there.

 

[Qays]

Carrera, there is hardly bacteria that lives in the substrate so i wouldnt really worry about it. If you have any decor take that out before adding the non-treated water so that you can save some of it. (or even take out the substrate if you really want to but its not really neccesary)

I would wait for someone else to validate my method just to make sure!

Take the filter out of the tank and place it into a bucket (with treated aquarium water in it)

Then fill your tank with water, dechlorinate it and place the filter back in. This will kill the bacteria which subsides in the tank there is not much bacteria in the tank at all. The filter contains pretty much all of it!
Make sure the filter isnt out of the tank for too long as it needs oxygen flow.

My problem with this method is that while there is no fish in the tank then this method is fine. However, once there are fish in the tank then you will need to add the dechlorinator before adding the water.

We have been water changing in the way mentioned above one all our tanks and never had any problems.

The dechlorinator is not for just the fish, its for the bacteria too.

 

[carrera]

ok that sounds like a good method, empty, filter, bucket, tank water, hose, dechlorinate, filter back in, jobs a good'un

thanks guys

 

[Tolak]

I change out around 300 gallons weekly, that's 300 out, 300 in. I gave up buckets long ago, drain & fill with hoses. With smaller tanks I add dechlor in with every 5 gallons, larger tanks get it every 10 or 20 gallons with water straight from the tap via a long hose. The chlorine & chloramine doesn't affect fish or your nitrifying bacteria instantly, it takes some time, while dechlorinator works almost instantly.

There have been plenty of times that I'm fillilng one tank while emptying another, and just squirt in all the dechlor needed at the beginning or half way through filling. More than once I've gotten tied up doing other things, like cleaning filters, and don't add it until the tank is filled. I'm doing 50% to 80% weekly on most tanks, it's a busy breeding setup, things move fast when your draining 5 gallons per minute, filling another at the same rate, while taking apart & cleaning a couple of filters.

The only tank I still do with a bucket are 10 gallon fry tanks, it's tough to get water to trickle through 60 feet of hose while maintaining an even temperature. That only has to be done for the first couple of weeks, once the fish are hardy enough to stand a little more current, they get filled with a hose.