Water Changes

[kevinjames]

i do water changes once a week for both my tanks. i syphon out then have a 27lire bucket i use to put water back in. i get the water to right temperature treat with conditioner then syphon back in. so it takes a few trips back and forth with the big bucket for each tank. in 2 weeks i get my new 500 litre aquarium delivered and ive devised an easier method than lugging big heavy buckets around. i know people with large tanks hose straight into the tank for water changes so i will be doing this but instead from cold tap, from my shower which i can set to pump out 24oC water. so my concern is the treatment of the new water. am i right in thinking that when water is pumped back in i treat the full volume (500 litres) of water with tap water conditioner??? if so the problem i have is that the water conditioner i use right now treats 9 litre per 1ml of solution. so i assume i can get a more concentrated conditioner. so can anyone with large aquariums recommend which one they use and i should buy?

 

[james_fish]

Two words... Seachem Prime.

5ml per 200 litres of water!
Best cheapest getting off eBay.

James.

 

[kevinjames]

Two words... Seachem Prime.

5ml per 200 litres of water!
Best cheapest getting off eBay.

James.

5ml per 200l!!!!!!!!! thats strong stuff!!!!! so i have to add 2.5ml to my 500litre tank and everything will be hunkydory

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Amen to Seachem Prime, £12 off ebay!

At the moment, I use two buckets (5 UK gallons total) to refill my tanks, which is typically 6 trips to the garage max for my 540l, with water that is roughly right temp of 22C...

If adding tap water directly, remember to turn off the filters so that chlorinated water does not kill off the bacteria!

You can add 5x standard dose to neutralise ammonia and nitrite in an emergency too, but I believe it does nothing to any harmful heavy metals.

 

[mattlee]

pond dechlor is even more concentrated if you want to save even more cash.....

add the dechlor to the tank before adding the fresh water, then when the new water is added it will be introduced to the dechlor.

i also use prime and have seen a great saving on buying dechlor and also less tempting trips to the lfs

 

[KittyKat]

I advise against water from the hot tap: it can pick up a lot more crap out of the pipes, including copper (if your pipes are copper).

If you are doing 15% w/c or less, a shot of cold water should not be a problem for most fish. For over 15%, boiling the kettle a couple of times usually does the job for me. I know that it is more work, but rather safe than sorry.

 

[kevinjames]

I advise against water from the hot tap: it can pick up a lot more crap out of the pipes, including copper (if your pipes are copper).

If you are doing 15% w/c or less, a shot of cold water should not be a problem for most fish. For over 15%, boiling the kettle a couple of times usually does the job for me. I know that it is more work, but rather safe than sorry.

it should be fine as ive been using same water for ages without problems

 

[ang7988]

We put water in the tank from the rain barrell in the garden and warm it up with a spare heater. Will this be ok??

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

That will probably depend on what pollutants come with the rain water!

Must admit I use hot tap water to get the right temp for my new water at mo. Are we saying that cold water pipes are not usually copper and its therefore safer to use cold water, possibly boiling some in the kettle to heat things up (although this will presumeably adjust the water hardness a little)?

Edit: Forgot to mention that I could see hot water having more microbes in it, due to it sitting in the storage tank, but have these been catagorically shown to be harmful to fish?

 

[the biffster]

the amount of copper chleted off when a tap is run is microscopic an would have
to build up over years 30yrs plus

 

[mattlee]

hot and cold pipes are copper. ive never had an issue using hot water from the tap and a good dechlor will remove any traces of heavy metals etc as well as chlorine. ive kept lots of shrimp in my tanks too without problems and these are very sensitive to copper traces. it has been said that old style boilers that have water sitting still in the system can leave traces of metals inthe water but hte newer style combi boilers that heat water straight from the mains supply and dont use a water tank to store the water are much better and give cleaner water from the tap. if it bothers you let it run for a few seconds before putting it in your bucket.

 

[chrisrm]

If adding tap water directly, remember to turn off the filters so that chlorinated water does not kill off the bacteria!

why didnt i think to turn the filters off the only thing that stoped me filling my tank up with a hose was the worry that untreated water would get into the filter and kill the bacteria!

how long do you reckon to leave them off, just 5 mins or somthing like that?

 

[the biffster]

If adding tap water directly, remember to turn off the filters so that chlorinated water does not kill off the bacteria!

why didnt i think to turn the filters off the only thing that stoped me filling my tank up with a hose was the worry that untreated water would get into the filter and kill the bacteria!

how long do you reckon to leave them off, just 5 mins or somthing like that?

i didn't used to turn mine off i used to put the dechlorinator
in before i put new water in the tank

 

[kevinjames]

If adding tap water directly, remember to turn off the filters so that chlorinated water does not kill off the bacteria!

why didnt i think to turn the filters off the only thing that stoped me filling my tank up with a hose was the worry that untreated water would get into the filter and kill the bacteria!

how long do you reckon to leave them off, just 5 mins or somthing like that?

its the first thing i do turn everything off except the light. i believe the chlorine is removed instantly isnt it

 

[the biffster]

If adding tap water directly, remember to turn off the filters so that chlorinated water does not kill off the bacteria!

why didnt i think to turn the filters off the only thing that stoped me filling my tank up with a hose was the worry that untreated water would get into the filter and kill the bacteria!

how long do you reckon to leave them off, just 5 mins or somthing like that?

its the first thing i do turn everything off except the light. i believe the chlorine is removed instantly isnt it

yes it is well i don't think
its removed i think its more neutralized