Water Changes

[Barry P]

Can i get some feedback on how you do your water changes. If the temp in the tank is 28 degrees how do i maintain this during a water change.? Does the new water need to be treated or heated.? The reason i ask is because at the moment my tap water is too cold to just pour into my tank.

 

[Incitic]

Depends how much your changing. Water changes up to 50% should retain its heat quite well. I usually just put cold, treated tap water into the tank and they're fine.

If not, then just a mixture of hot and cold treated water.

 

[cane76]

if you can let the water reach room temperature before adding. i use a rubbish bin for my smaller tanks(clean of course and only used for this purpose)and treat with dechlorinater at the same time it is warming up.for my big tank i use mixer tap and a hose and just add dechlorinater whilst refilling the tank

 

[Squid]

I use the shower and set the temperature of the shower to that of the tank.. i know its not perfect, but still better in my opinion.. The fish arent too keen on lynx shower gel though, so make sure the shower head is clean and run some water first to clear the tubes so to speak...

Cheers
Squid

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

When i do my water change i just try and get the temperature of the new water as close as posible to the temp of the water in the tank by using hot water and my hands to test the temp, probably not the most accurate method but i've been doing it for years now and havn't had any issues, i add the dechlorinator to the new water in the bucket before adding the new water to the tank .
I usually do a 35% water change once a week and roughly clean one of the filters in my main tank.

 

[Barry P]

I was told that by adding hot water to the new water it somehow takes the oxygen out of the water.?

 

[CFC]

I just add cold water straight from the tap via a hose into the tanks and add the dechlorinator as i go, as long as the temperature doesnt drop by more than a few degrees then you dont need to worry about matching the temperature unless you are keeping heat sensative species such as Discus.

 

[Barry P]

Do you pour the new water back into the tank via the filter or do you just pour it straight into the tank.?

 

[CFC]

I just run the hose straight into the tank.

 

[Barry P]

Thanks all, i shall now go and run a hose from under my sink to my tank, this will save alot of time. I was filling a jug with a filter, waiting for the water to filter, then sitting the jug in a basin of hot water to get the temp up , and then filling the tank via the filter in the tank. It would usually take agout 30 goes each change and about 2 hours to do.....

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Barry P

I know that there are some people who don't care about sudden drops in temperature, and some fish it doesn't bother at all, but it's not always a good idea to put cold water into a warm water tank.

If you experience outbreaks of ich, this will most likely be the cause of them.

 

[Barry P]

Thanks Inchworm, thats what i thought. I may still try and come up with some way of warming the water before adding it.

 

[CFC]

As said it depends on how much the temperature drops, provided it doesnt drop by any more than 3 degrees centigrade, and not below 20c then most fish are fine with this, in nature a heavy downpour of rain will easily drop the temperature this much within a fairly short period of time.
I've been changing water this way for years (if i didnt i would never be able to get 150 gallons of water changed in a day) and have never experienced any problems of any kind despite the fact that i keep fish considered to be delicate and difficult to keep such as freshwater stingrays and wild caught predatory catfish and Characins. Often adding coldwater at water changes has tiggered the fish to spawn within a few hours after and sometimes even as the water is still being added as was the case with my congo tetras which are generally thought of as difficult to breed but would spawn for me almost everytime i changed the water.

 

[ncjharris]

Does the new water need to be treated or heated.?

Also bear in mind, that perhaps more important that getting the temperature right, the water needs to be conditioned with a treatment to removed chlorine and other contaminents.

 

[Valmyre]

BarryP, Hya, I think your best bet would be to just fill a large bucket with cold water and top it up with the hot tap to get it near to the temp in your tank. I haven't heard that adding hot/warm water to cold water will remove the oxygen before, and i've been doing water changes this way for 3 months now and haven't had any problems.