Water Changes

[KittyKat]

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??

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

Ditto, I have used it before on occasion.. although only when living in the countryside. Of course you can still get wind coming from the city/factories/etc in your direction.

Are we saying that cold water pipes are not usually copper and its therefore safer to use cold water

No, only that generally most stuff is less soluble at cooler temperatures.

possibly boiling some in the kettle to heat things up (although this will presumeably adjust the water hardness a little)?

It won't change the hardness of the water noticeably because the amount of hot water in proportion to cold would be very low.

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?

Maybe, would be interesting to see any work done on this..

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

Aye, if your pipes were leaching enough copper into water to harm the fish (because of pH, or anything else), you'd be having to re-pipe the house every few years! I was more referring to build up of copper compounds over the years and then that flaking off. In my previous house in Bath, I used to get flakes of it coming out of the hot tap whenever I switched it on, alongside limescale and other such stuff. Actually, I was not trying to imply that copper was the main problem, at all.

 

[Tolak]

If you add the Prime before you fill with the hose the chlorine/chloramine will be neutralized nearly instantly. This means there is no reason to turn off filters. Many people do water changes of 25% without any water treatment, post #19 here explains a bit about that.

Most of my tanks are drilled with overflows for water changes, hang a hose on the tank & time it out a 4 gpm. I add dechlor after it is done draining, without turning off filters, and don't have any problems. The amount of disinfectant added to tap water is enough to prevent any bacteria in a sealed, pressurized supply system with the occasional intrusion from outside the system due to a bit of leakage.

An aquarium has an amazing amount of bacteria compared to a water supply system. The disinfectants in tap water will kill a small percentage of that bacteria, but in the process will be depleted doing just that. If anyone has any experience with swimming pools you know that you have to continually add chlorine, not just at the start, as it does get used up due to the bacterial level, as well as some gassing off. I'm far from being a chemist, I'm sure someone will come along and explain in more technical terms what, and how this works.

Prime contains ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, or EDTA, which binds any metals through chelation. This means any copper, lead or so on is not an issue when this product is used. This is also why a product such as this is suggested when using a private well for a water supply, while there are no disinfectants present, there is a good chance of having metals in the water due to agricultural use of fertilizers and pesticides.

 

[JoshuaA]

I think boiling the water would no doubt add more metal to the water from the filament, and filter gauze than if you were just to just add straight hot water.

In any case they are in such small quantities.

 

[the biffster]

If you add the Prime before you fill with the hose the chlorine/chloramine will be neutralized nearly instantly. This means there is no reason to turn off filters. Many people do water changes of 25% without any water treatment, post #19 here explains a bit about that.

Most of my tanks are drilled with overflows for water changes, hang a hose on the tank & time it out a 4 gpm. I add dechlor after it is done draining, without turning off filters, and don't have any problems. The amount of disinfectant added to tap water is enough to prevent any bacteria in a sealed, pressurized supply system with the occasional intrusion from outside the system due to a bit of leakage.

An aquarium has an amazing amount of bacteria compared to a water supply system. The disinfectants in tap water will kill a small percentage of that bacteria, but in the process will be depleted doing just that. If anyone has any experience with swimming pools you know that you have to continually add chlorine, not just at the start, as it does get used up due to the bacterial level, as well as some gassing off. I'm far from being a chemist, I'm sure someone will come along and explain in more technical terms what, and how this works.

Prime contains ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, or EDTA, which binds any metals through chelation. This means any copper, lead or so on is not an issue when this product is used. This is also why a product such as this is suggested when using a private well for a water supply, while there are no disinfectants present, there is a good chance of having metals in the water due to agricultural use of fertilizers and pesticides.

that is how i want to do but
but couldn't put it into words tolak
a lot of my my water changes use to also
come off the cold tap as well mrs biffster
used to put that down to the breeding success
she used to have a drop in temperature triggering
spawning

 

[kevinjames]

so to clarify:

syphon water directly out of tank

hose water straight in to tank

then add tap water conditioner after for the total volume of aquarium

is this right?

 

[the biffster]

so to clarify:

syphon water directly out of tank

hose water straight in to tank

then add tap water conditioner after for the total volume of aquarium

is this right?

no add conditioner then add water

 

[kevinjames]

so to clarify:

syphon water directly out of tank

hose water straight in to tank

then add tap water conditioner after for the total volume of aquarium

is this right?

no add conditioner then add water

why that way it makes more sense to add it after.

 

[the biffster]

so to clarify:

syphon water directly out of tank

hose water straight in to tank

then add tap water conditioner after for the total volume of aquarium

is this right?

no add conditioner then add water

why that way it makes more sense to add it after.

you put unchlorinated water in to the tank it will
kill your filter you put the container in first as soon
as the untreated hits the dechlorinator in the tank it is neutralized
that way you dont get untreated water in the filter

 

[KittyKat]

Edit: no longer relevant

 

[the biffster]

First switch off filer, I think is the general consensus, so that the chlorine doesn't get into the filter.

if its an intrnal filter water will still
get into turned on or off dechloronater first water next

 

[kevinjames]

First switch off filer, I think is the general consensus, so that the chlorine doesn't get into the filter.

yes switch off filter 1st then add new water then treat with conditioner? or is the way most people do it by adding the water conditioner before the new water???

 

[the biffster]

If you add the Prime before you fill with the hose the chlorine/chloramine will be neutralized nearly instantly. This means there is no reason to turn off filters. Many people do water changes of 25% without any water treatment, post #19 here explains a bit about that.

Most of my tanks are drilled with overflows for water changes, hang a hose on the tank & time it out a 4 gpm. I add dechlor after it is done draining, without turning off filters, and don't have any problems. The amount of disinfectant added to tap water is enough to prevent any bacteria in a sealed, pressurized supply system with the occasional intrusion from outside the system due to a bit of leakage.

An aquarium has an amazing amount of bacteria compared to a water supply system. The disinfectants in tap water will kill a small percentage of that bacteria, but in the process will be depleted doing just that. If anyone has any experience with swimming pools you know that you have to continually add chlorine, not just at the start, as it does get used up due to the bacterial level, as well as some gassing off. I'm far from being a chemist, I'm sure someone will come along and explain in more technical terms what, and how this works.

Prime contains ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, or EDTA, which binds any metals through chelation. This means any copper, lead or so on is not an issue when this product is used. This is also why a product such as this is suggested when using a private well for a water supply, while there are no disinfectants present, there is a good chance of having metals in the water due to agricultural use of fertilizers and pesticides.

no!!


read this again the idea is to not get untreated water in the filters turning
internal filters still get water in them turned off or not you put untreated water in first your filter is full of untreated water you put you conditioner in first then your untreated water that way it is neutralized as soon as it hits it

 

[Tolak]

Ever looked at a dog forum where they discuss training methods? That's sort of what this topic is like.

To be on the safe side, add dechlorinator for the whole volume of the tank before filling, turn off filters than fill. Many people leave the filters on, including myself, the amount of chlorine in tap water is nowhere near enough to wipe out your filter. You may kill an insignificantly small amount of nitrifying bacteria, knowing a mature colony of nitrifying bacteria is capable of doubling in 24 hours this is normally not an issue.

Also, that amount of chlorine in the tank for the time it takes to fill causes no problems from what I've encountered, with my setup I have no choice but to add dechlorinator afterward, but if you want to be safe add it before. Many people use no dechlorinator at all, if you read what is in the link you will understand why this works.

Just like dog training, what works for some doesn't work for all, there are plenty of variables as well as flexability.

 

[the biffster]

Ever looked at a dog forum where they discuss training methods? That's sort of what this topic is like.

To be on the safe side, add dechlorinator for the whole volume of the tank before filling, turn off filters than fill. Many people leave the filters on, including myself, the amount of chlorine in tap water is nowhere near enough to wipe out your filter. You may kill an insignificantly small amount of nitrifying bacteria, knowing a mature colony of nitrifying bacteria is capable of doubling in 24 hours this is normally not an issue.

Also, that amount of chlorine in the tank for the time it takes to fill causes no problems from what I've encountered, with my setup I have no choice but to add dechlorinator afterward, but if you want to be safe add it before. Many people use no dechlorinator at all, if you read what is in the link you will understand why this works.

Just like dog training, what works for some doesn't work for all, there are plenty of variables as well as flexability.

thank you tolak