Water Change Temp

[IonaMcCluskey]

how do you get your water to the right temp for water changes?
 
1. boiling the kettle and adding cold water
this is what i've been doing and it is a pain in the bum.
 
2. using water from the hot water tap
i've read a few of you do it this way but i was told it was a bad idea as it can carry extra stuff (like poss copper and other polutants for the fish).
 
3. spare heater in a designated container
seriously considering this as i use a glass tank for water changes anyway.
 
4. other
please give suggestions.

 

[snazy]

I used to use the kettle option, but the harder you make your work, the more likely you'll be dreading and delaying the maintenance. So you end up doing less for the fish.
So for the last couple of years I've been using the hot water from the tap to adjust the temperature and I haven't had a problem, including in the shrimp tank. This I guess depends on your particular situation but the dechlorinator should eliminate any issues with copper or similar metals from the hot tap.
On another hand, boiling the water also removes certain minerals so you are altering the stats to an extent which is also not desirable.
 
There's no way I'd use a spare heater. That's only an option for a small tank and people with one tank.

 

[levahe]

I store the water in barrels overnight to bring it up to (or nearly) room temp, but when I forget/cba I just add water from the hot tap

 

[fm1978]

I don't fancy the idea of boiling the kettle for the hot water part...for a start this will remove most of the oxygen from the water and that can't be ideal.
 
I've always used the hot and cold from the tap without issue and, as above, your water treatment, if it says it on the bottle, should detoxify any metals that might creep in, which I suspect is unlikely to be anything significant anyway. Both taps should come from the same water source.
 
I don't even use a thermometer to test the new water anymore either. I do a quick dip test with my stirring hand and if it feels right it goes in. As humans we can't detect water temperature but we can detect change in water temp. You'll be able to feel if the water is colder or hotter than the existing tank water to a perfectly reasonable degree (haha, pun intended!).

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

Ahh, i didn't realise boiling the water was removing good stuff for the fish.
 
the advice i was given against useing the hot tap came from someone who kept fish in 19oatcake, so i wondered if the dechlorinaters of today would make a difference there.
 
this tropical tank is only a small one (3ftx15inchx18inch) but i am planning a larger one aswell (but this water situation is putting me off, unless i can find a better way to do it)
 
might try the hot tap but that means firing up the heating system and i would still need to use a pail to measure water amounts so i know how much dechlorinater to use, or find a way to measure and mark the water changing tank.

 

[fm1978]

My normal technique is if I take out 4 buckets I replace 4 buckets and add dechlor to each one as I go. Using the API stuff I only add about 1ml to each replaced bucket worth of water...no difficult measurements!

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

i cheated and put an extra length of hose on my gravel hoover so it just goes straight out the back door, no need to hunmph buckets of water out
 
the stuff i'm using at  mo is intrapet fresh start. the convertion is easy enough, i pippet is for 1.1 gals, it's the finding out how many gals i need to dose for.

 

[Ch4rlie]

I use a DIY python hose setup.
 
Takes away a lot of the hard work of lugging buckets everywhere! 

 
Am lucky though, I have mixed shower thermostatic taps so I just connect the hose to the taps then adjust the water to desired temp and set a slow flow of water back into tank that way.
 
I dose my dechlorinator to the volume of the tank water.
(With buckets, you just dose to the volume of water in the bucket before adding to tank)
 
 
A degree or two in water temp is not gonna make a lot of difference to the fish and shrimps provided the water is not put in the tank too fast.
And the heater will heat the water back to desired temp fairly soon.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

so it would seem that everybody so far just uses the hot tap.
i think i've been making this harder than it needs to be.
 
 i could use the vol calc on here, mark off the w/c tank and just run a hose from the tap to the w/c tank, dose the tap water, then just let the pump fill the fish tank (this controls the flow back into the tank)?

 

[Blobfish]

If you could use a bucket to do the water change once, then you could put marks on the tank with a waterproof marker to show the level after each bucket is removed giving you a guide for the future.
 
I also use water from the hot tap with no problems.  I have a suspicion that the advice, certainly in the UK, against using the hot tap might come from a time when there were still lead pipes around.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

yeah,  i think marking off the tank will be a good idea or just getting a rule and fix it to the outside of the tank.
 
the person that gave me the advice against hot tap kept fish 30-40yrs ago(and not since) so you may be right about the lead pipes

 

[fluttermoth]

It's more to do with the fact that some hot water systems, especially in older houses, are fed from a water tank in the loft, that often isn't covered.

All sorts of things have been found in those; dead rats and pigeons mostly 

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

urgh!

 
mine is a combi boiler, thankfully. altho the old water tank that you are on about is still up the loft, empty tho, at least it was the last time i looked

 

[214jay]

I use buckets and use water from the hot and cold tap.  I also have a combi boiler so avoids the problems with the storage tanks.  With the bucket I have worked out how much hot water I need mixed with cold in the bucket to match the exact temp of the tank.  I then tip this into a brewers bucket with the top sawn off and a tap on the bottom...Easy really but all my tanks are relatively small......for now!

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

i can't believe how many people are using the hot tap, sounds so much easier too
 
i've been knocking my pan out wi the kettle, too hot, then too cold, so on and so forth.
deffinately using the hot tap next time