Water Changes.

[Davehutton92]

how do you guys do your water changes. i personally have a 15gallon seperate tank that i fill up and then condition the water and 2days befoe im suppose to do a water change i turn the heater on to heat the water up. is this abit over the top? and just wondering how u guys do it

 

[sausagewinkle]

I leave my buckets 2 days with fresh dechlorinated water and then add to the tank. I don't use heaters, they are placed next to a radiator anyway
If its a emergency change and no water is on hand I use warm water straight from the tap. dechlorinated of course.

 

[holidayinn]

I have big tanks, so a hosepipe to syphon the water out...same hosepipe attached to the tap for water in....dechlorinator just chucked into the tank while filling.

 

[Tizer]

2 x 25 Litres into a jerry can with siphon, then do 5 x 10 litre watering can trips to the tank. Takes 20 mins.

Sometimes i might do more, depends how manky looking the tank/water is.

 

[mbeer21]

Use warm water from the tap into a 10L bucket, add the dechlorinate etc to the bucket and let sit for 5 minutes or so before adding to the tank (more to give me a rest from lugging it about than anything ). Usually 4 buckets worth.

 

[raptorrex]

how do you guys do your water changes. i personally have a 15gallon seperate tank that i fill up and then condition the water and 2days befoe im suppose to do a water change i turn the heater on to heat the water up. is this abit over the top? and just wondering how u guys do it

i use a 17l tub, de-chlorinate, the water, in the tank(dosing for the whole tank), then add the change water. heated or un heated, from the tap, or boiled. it does not make one jot of difference.

could you explain the reason for

i fill up and then condition the water and 2days befoe im suppose to do a water change

please?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I have big tanks, so a hosepipe to syphon the water out...same hosepipe attached to the tap for water in....dechlorinator just chucked into the tank while filling.

I do it the same way as this. 56 gallon tank.

 

[KittyKat]

For small water changes (under 5%) drain and refill from tap. For large water changes, can only drain and refill from tap because those tend to be a few 100 litres each and I don't have space to store that much water anywhere or dechlorinate it before adding to the tank, so I switch the external filters off at the tap and dechlorinate the whole tank.

 

[Davehutton92]

how do you guys do your water changes. i personally have a 15gallon seperate tank that i fill up and then condition the water and 2days befoe im suppose to do a water change i turn the heater on to heat the water up. is this abit over the top? and just wondering how u guys do it

i use a 17l tub, de-chlorinate, the water, in the tank(dosing for the whole tank), then add the change water. heated or un heated, from the tap, or boiled. it does not make one jot of difference.

could you explain the reason for

i fill up and then condition the water and 2days befoe im suppose to do a water change

please?

i just like to have it ready in the tank, so i dont have to mess around when i want to change it.

 

[fatmrak315]

i have a few black buckets which i run the water into, 4 from cold tap, and 4 from hot tap.it all goes into a 90 litre bin, which i then put prime in. that then stays there till i have taken water out of tank. then its slowly added.

 

[StandbySetting]

I generally do a 25% unheated water change, I dechlorinate with a Sodium Thiosulphate solution that I made up, but at the moment I'm doing 50% every other day as it's a newly set up planted tank.

 

[raptorrex]

I dechlorinate with a Sodium Thiosulphate solution that I made up, but at the moment I'm doing 50% every other day as it's a newly set up planted tank.

yeah, I thought of doing that. but i only use a conditioner for its ability to lock heavy metals. if it were available separately, i wouldn't de-chlorinate my tank at all (for 25-30% changes). this is important to use, i feel, because many of us use or tap to get our water, both hot and cold, these can be places metals leach into the system (I'm not convinced they do, in any serious way) so, for safety, i treat.

un-dechlorinated, 25-30%, changes are no threat to an established tank. after the first 12 months, i stopped using conditioner at all. i only went back when it dawned on me, as a invert and scale-less fish keeper, that i may be putting my fish at risk. by not controlling any heavy metals. that's 2 years ago now.

dont get me wrong. I'm not suggesting we all stop using it., far from it. this is a positive advert for its use.
it does mean there is no noticeable effect if, in those emergency situations, you do a 25-30% change, in.un-treated. mind you, if you are doing 50%, like standby, ATM de-chlorination is vital.

I'm unsure if the same goes for planted tanks, as i dont plant.

 

[StandbySetting]

Thiosulphate ions should bind some heavy metal ions providing they're more reactive than the Sodium.