Water Change

[billiejim]

a friend told me that its best to leave a lg bucket of wtaer to stand and get to room temperature, so u can do a partial water change with it? is this correct ?
forgive me if it has been answered else where in the forum.
i have tried looking!

 

[Callum]

the reason for leaving a bucket stand full of water is because it makes the chlorine evaportate but if you have chloramine in your water you would still have to use declorinator. I dont bother about the room temperature i fill 3/4 of the bucket with cold tap, then i fill the remainder with boling hot water from the kettle. then i check it is the same temperature as the tank ,if its not add more cold or hot as appropriate then i treat it with declorinator. Then add it to the tank.

 

[raptorrex]

the reason for leaving a bucket stand full of water is because it makes the chlorine evaportate but if you have chloramine in your water you would still have to use declorinator. I dont bother about the room temperature i fill 3/4 of the bucket with cold tap, then i fill the remainder with boling hot water from the kettle. then i check it is the same temperature as the tank ,if its not add more cold or hot as appropriate then i treat it with declorinator. Then add it to the tank.

being thick. lol why boiled water
i started all this fish keeping with no knowledge, the help i was given was mostly bad, in fact the health and "none" mortality rate i have is a bone of contention between myself and them to this day! now with my first water change i use hot water from my immersion heater, something i continue today! not because i think i know better than everyone else, but because it has had no ill effect on my setup. lol truth is i am worried that if i change my system, i may cause myself and my fish problems.

 

[SugarQube]

I do my water changes exactly the same as Flame, I use the boiling kettle water to bring it to the same temperature as the tank, I don't know about using hot water from the tap.

 

[CruX]

I do my water changes exactly the same as Flame, I use the boiling kettle water to bring it to the same temperature as the tank, I don't know about using hot water from the tap.

The only problem I have with this is I have 2 thermometers in my tank (Juwel Trigon 350) one at the bottom left and one at the top right. They don't display the same temperature, there is a 1-2 degrees discrepency. When I took them out the other day to replace the suckers I swapped them round to see if it made a difference, it didn't. I just go for rough estimate between the 2.

 

[billiejim]

thanks guys, its certainly making things clearer for me
do u all agree on a certain temperature for 190l community tank ?

 

[Callum]

i personally like to keep my tank at about 25c

 

[Nerwign]

I think your temperature needs to depend on what kind of fish you have. Different species of fish will thrive at different temperatures so don't just pick a temp you like, pick one that will make your fish healthiest and happiest.

I usually use hot water from the tap but the argument against this (so I have heard) is that if you use hot water from the tap, the hot water is able to strip more minerals and chemicals off of your metal pipes before coming out of the tap and into your bucket. So you will be putting more impurities in the water than if you start with cold tap water and then heat it up in a cooking pot or kettle, which won't have the stuff in it that your house pipes does.

-Nerwign

 

[Tolak]

I usually use hot water from the tap but the argument against this (so I have heard) is that if you use hot water from the tap, the hot water is able to strip more minerals and chemicals off of your metal pipes before coming out of the tap and into your bucket. So you will be putting more impurities in the water than if you start with cold tap water and then heat it up in a cooking pot or kettle, which won't have the stuff in it that your house pipes does.

-Nerwign

Much of this has to do with the type of water heating system you have. Everyone I know of in the US has a water heater that is kept under pressure from the main line. All aquarists I know use water from the water heater, and don't have any problems. Water companies add buffers to the water, this creates a scale & lime buildup on the inside of pipes, effectivly sealing the metal.

In the UK some systems are different. There is a storage tank kept above the living area to gravity feed hot water. Often the top of this is open, allowing debris to enter the hot water system. This is why boiling pots of water, or filling slowly with cold tap water is more common in the UK.