Water Change Question (discussion Really)

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piranha_tim

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When I do water changes ..

I pull out buckets fill them up ... use a thermometer to control the temp ... add water conditioner ... wait 5 mins and return.

BUT

I see people all the time taking uncontrolled water from the tap ... putting it right into the tank ... throwing in conditioner.

Surely the sudden temp change and large amounts of chemicals are not only bad for your fish but the bacteria too.

Am i right? I like to know when I am being over gentle to my fish.
 
With larger tanks it really would be impractical to use buckets all the time, so to answer your worries.

1) Temperature change, firstly the change in temp by replacing 25% of the water with cold is very minor. bare in mind in the wild it rains from time to time, meaning fish are well adapated and even benefit from the occasion fresh influx of clean cold water.

2) Adding dechlor to your tank along with the clean water is no problem, these 'chemicals' are completly harmless unless added in rediculous quantities.

3) The beneficial bacteria levels in the water itself is barely anything, the main body of bacteria is within the filter so aslong as thats not exposed to large quantities of untreated water for a period of time, is fine.
 
I concur w/Sj2k. I have a 125 gallon tank. What I first did is used 5 gallon bucket and drained the water bucket by bucket and marked on side toward the back 10 gallon increments.

Now, with a python filling/draining system, I just drain the water down to the mark i desire and then fill it up w/tap water adding 1/2 declorinator in the beginning and the other 1/2 of the declorinator about 1/2 way through filling it.

oh, I make sure the temp is close...but i've heard that's not necesary w/small changes.
 
my cory sterba seem to actually like the new colder water at water change time but arent neon tetras supposed to hate sudden water temperature changes? gyillmard
 
What I do is just make sure the temp is ABOUT the same as the tank temp.. just with my fingers... then fill up the tank then throw in the conditioner.. I found using pails and all that it just stressed them out to much.. then i got a python and both my stress and the fish stress went out the window haha.. Good luck wiht it all
 
I do the same. I have a 180 gallon Cichlid tank and I use a Python to drain 25-30% weekly, some of that I use to water my plants with. Then I fill it with tap water the same temp or slightly cooler, adding the conditioner half way through the filling process. It's important to check your tapwater parameters once and a while too.
 
i pump 50% out using a 15m 1 inch diameter hose from my tank. takes about 2 mins for my FX5 to pump 225 litres out. Then i simply refill with the hosepipe. fish are fine and always have been. water changes are performed weekly.
 
^^its more or less what I do on my discus tank. Re-fill from the tap. If there was ever a problem with this method, the discus would let me know. So-far thogh, everything is fine :good:
 
I started out with a short tube and a bucket. That got old pretty quick. I have a long tube (30 ft) that I run out the door. As I vacuum the tank it just goes in the yard. It sure beats buckets. I then take the same hose and hook it to the kitchen faucet, run the water until the temperature is right and then start filling up the tank again. I put my declor in the tank before I start refilling. It seems to work OK for the fish. They always seem happy after a "bath".
 
Yeah I thought about getting a python ...

I actually find the buckets not too bad ...

I just went to the dollar store and bought a lot of buckets ... I empty out the amount needed and using the same amount of buckets fill them up from the tap. Maybe at most I am looking at 15mins.

I will reconsider this maybe ...

Whats the length on a python?

It would have to reach from one of the bathrooms or kitchen and its not really that close to either.
 

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