Water Conditioner

[jason_coggins]

hi just wanting to ask two questions

(1) when im doing a water change - should i leave the water that i will be replacing into the tank in a bucket for a certain time before i put it in

(2) when i put the conditioner in the water that im going to put into the tank - how long can i put it in after i have added the conditioner?

THANK YOU

 

[andywg]

Conditioner acts instantly so you can actually put in enough conditioner to the tank and pour the water straight in from the tap (very handy on the larger tanks).

So long as you use de-chlorinter (and preferably something to take out chloramines as well) you don't need to worry about leaving the water in buckets before filling.

 

[leafs]

When I change my water I just add it right from the tap and add dechlorinator. Make sure the temp of the water is close to your tank water so you don't shock your fish. I never leave water sitting for water changes. You can still leave it sitting for a few days if you don't want to use a dechlorinator, but why bother when you can do it right away. You put the water conditioner in right away.

 

[rdd1952]

If you use dechlorinator, you don't need to let the clean water set. Just run it in the bucket, make sure the temperature is near the tank water temperature, add dechlorinator and put it in the tank. When I do a water change and use buckets, it's about 2 minutes from the time I turn the tap off (from filling the bucket) till the time I start pouring it in the tank.

 

[andywg]

Just want to say that the obsession amongst most of this board to get the temp the same is not really necessary. Unless you are changing in excess of 40% then the water is at most going to drop by around 2, maybe 3 degrees C. Tropical freshwater fish can more than handle this (indeed, it promotes spawning in a number of species).

I often take 45 gallons out of my 150 gallon and have had no problems with temp. The worst that has happened is it dropped by 3 degrees.

So long as it's a regular water change, just throw the water straight in.

 

[leafs]

How long does it take to get a thermomator and get the temperature the same as the tank?? Doesn't take much time. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[andywg]

Better safe from what? My point is there is no risk when you are doing regular water changes. What do you think happens in the wild when it rains in the mountains and the coldwater rushes through the springs into the rivers? The temperature drops.

Next time you do a water change, try without a heater and see just how far the temperature drops. I bet it's not far a degree Centigrade, two at the most.

Barring hypersensitive fish, or those from areas where the conditions are completely unchanging (which basically leaves reef fish) there is no reason not to fills traight from the tap. A lot of stingray cleaners still dump the coldwater straight into the tank.

 

[leafs]

Better safe from what? My point is there is no risk when you are doing regular water changes. What do you think happens in the wild when it rains in the mountains and the coldwater rushes through the springs into the rivers? The temperature drops.

Next time you do a water change, try without a heater and see just how far the temperature drops. I bet it's not far a degree Centigrade, two at the most.

Barring hypersensitive fish, or those from areas where the conditions are completely unchanging (which basically leaves reef fish) there is no reason not to fills traight from the tap. A lot of stingray cleaners still dump the coldwater straight into the tank.

Safe from stressing out your fish. If you find it easy to match the temp of the water with your hand then fine, but for some people it's not as easy and you could have a big difference in temp. I just don't see the point in not using a thermometor, it just takes a few seconds.

 

[andywg]

You misunderstand me, I don't use a thermometer or heater. I know that the temperature change caused by pumping water straight from the tap into the tank is so minimal as to not stress the fish. it is simply a matter of turning the tap on and dumping the water straight into the dechlorinated tank. What I am pointing out to you is there is no need (to quote the fantastic Mark and Lard) to match temperatures as the temperature swing is not great enough to shock the fish.

As I have mentioned, a number of species benefit from having cold water added to their tanks as it better recreates their natural environment. To induce spawning in most cory species you will do a water change and put cold water in.

 

[rdd1952]

I don't try to match it exactly but I do try to get it within about 3 degrees of the tank temp and that isn't difficult. I can usually get it close by feel but I run some water in a cup and stick the digital thermometer in just to make sure I'm in the ball park. But as andywg stated, it doesnt' cause much harm if the temp does change some. During the summer when it was so hot here, the water straight from my tap was about 84F so when I did a 25% water change, the tank temp went up about 2 degrees but the fish were fine.

 

[fishing4exotics]

Insisting that there is no need to try to match your tap water to your tank water temperature is, well, rather irresponsible. Just because your skip a step in your water changing routine don't insist that other people do the same. You just don't know or are not willing to take in consideration all the factors that other fishkeepers individual situation. There are many members here that keep 10 gallon tanks. You certainly would not want to insist that they should not match their tap water temperature to the tank temperature.

 

[OohFeeshy]

There are many members here that keep 10 gallon tanks. You certainly would not want to insist that they should not match their tap water temperature to the tank temperature.

Why? Whenever I do water chanfes, the only fish I try and get the water the same temperature for are the bettas, and only becasue irs a 100% water change. But even thats probably out by a few degrees. Water is no way a constant temperature, why else does a water change with cold water provoke spawning behaviour in many fish?

 

[andywg]

10 to 20 percent is 10 to 20 percent. Simple as. the temp drop will be the same in a 10 gallon that is having a 10% change as in a 100 gallon having a 10% change. Simple applied mathematics tells you that.

 

[fishing4exotics]

10 to 20 percent is 10 to 20 percent. Simple as. the temp drop will be the same in a 10 gallon that is having a 10% change as in a 100 gallon having a 10% change. Simple applied mathematics tells you that.

You start out with wrong numbers to justify your statement. Who does 10% water changes? Common practice is to do 25% water changes and to try to match tank temperature. This is recommended by many books, people in the industry, and by experienced hobbyist. We can't be ALL wrong about this. What you say works for you does not work for all situations.

 

[andywg]

ok 25% water change.

Assume you have a super cold water supply running at 0 degrees C (yet somehow not frozen). Replace 25% of a tank kept at 24 degrees and the tempereature will fall by around 7 degrees taking no account for the water being heated as it is moved from the tap to the water or the heating effects of items in and around the tank (such as ambient room temperature, pump/filter heat, heater performance).

Even if the water is as low as 10 degrees (possible) it will only fall to 20.5 degrees. (assuming a uniform spread of the water). At 15 degrees the drop is around 2.25 degrees. The only difference between a large and small tank would be that the small tank could cool quicker - due to the cooler water entering in a shorter time and possibly due to having a greater amount of the cold water in contact with the warm water (we couldn't agree on the last point in chat last night, eh Tor )

These drops are easily going to happen in the wild with the changing of seasons and rainfall etc.