Water conditioner

[CraigDalton]

Hi there,

When doing my water changes in my bigger tank which is 200L I vacuum out my 30% or so water and then when I am topping it up again I use a small bucket approx 7ish litres at a time to fill the tank back up as that's only how I can make it happen with my houses set up. Currently with each time I put the 7 or so litres in the bucket I add a small amount of water conditioner each time. My question is, can I just fill the tank up with unconditioned water then when the tanks full again I'll add some conditioner to the tank or do I just continue doing what im doing?

Reason I ask is because i go through water conditioner reasonably fast as I am putting a little in each time I fill the bucket to add it to the tank and therefore probably using more than I really need too.

Thanks

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I find it easier to add the conditioner to the bucket, before turning the tap on. The actual violent movement of the water goes some way to dissipating any chlorine and the conditioner does the rest.
(NOTE that whilst chlorine might dissipate, any metals in the water won't, so you still need the conditioner ).

I bought a pack of 10 5ml syringes off Amazon and use one of these to add the dose to the bucket. This stops overdosing and waste, but it is a necessary expense, for healthy bacteria and healthy fish. Shop around and buy in larger quantities, rather than spending money on those small bottles.

 

[Myraan]

I would add the conditioner first, so it can act on the new tap-water straight away - but the dose will need to be for the whole 200litres. This is what people do when they fill their tank directly with a hose pipe.

Some will say it's safer to always add first as you doing - they are likely right but I don't think it's a huge deal.

Or you get hold of a massive container to put the entire amount of water in first so you only have faff around with conditioner dosing once instead of loads of times.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I would add the conditioner first, so it can act on the new tap-water straight away - but the dose will need to be for the whole 200litres.

Don't forget we're only talking about water changes here. That's abucket's worth of water, with the appropriate does for that amount...you wouldn't be adding enough for 200l every time!

Some will say it's safer to always add first as you doing - they are likely right but I don't think it's a huge deal.

Or you get hold of a massive container to put the entire amount of water in first so you only have faff around with conditioner dosing once instead of loads of times.

 

[Myraan]

Don't forget we're only talking about water changes here. That's abucket's worth of water, with the appropriate does for that amount...you wouldn't be adding enough for 200l every time!

I'd always been led to understand if you add conditioner to the tank instead of the bucket you need to dose for the tank or the conditioner will be too dilute to work fast enough. Is that wrong?

 

[Byron]

This issue/question comes up frequently, and there are two opinions. I went into it with Neale Monks, so what follows is based from his explanation.

If you use a bucket for the fresh water and pour it into the tank from the bucket (you can use a small pitcher to make this easier), add the conditioner to the bucket, but only the amount needed for that bucket. So if for example the bucket holds 2 gallons, add the amount of conditioner you need for 2 gallons. Do this for each bucket of fresh water. A medicinal dropper is a good idea, as you can add for example one drop per gallon (using the API Tap Water Conditioner) so two drops.

If you are using a Python or similar direct hose to the faucet, add the conditioner to the tank water before or when you begin to refill the tank. [Large tanks are less problematic because of the time it takes to fill, than smaller tanks.] The amount of conditioner you use in this scenario is where the opinions vary. Some firmly believe in dosing enough for the whole tank, others (like me) do not do this, but add conditioner only for the fresh water volume.

Conditioners work instantly. The aquarists who insist on adding sufficient for the entire tank are being over cautious, which is not all that bad. I have a dislike of using more of any substance than necessary when it comes to fish, because everything in the water (conditioner, fertilizers, medications, additives, etc) will get inside the fish if the substance is capable of diffusing across the cell membranes. Water continually enters a fish via osmosis through every cell, and gets into the bloodstream. Substances that can diffuse across the cell membrane will thus also get inside, and this may cause issues depending upon the substance and the amount. So on basic principle, it is best not to overdose any additives; they are not going to do anything beneficial (beyond what they do at the correct dose) and they may be harmful.

I have never seen evidence of dilution of conditioners in the tank being somehow less effective. This is another matter of opinion. Dr. Monks said it is probably more a case of over-caution than actual fact.

 

[Ch4rlie]

The amount of conditioner added, as Byron mentioned is pretty much based on HOW you add the water to the tank as well as the amount of water changed compared to the tank size.

So, on one of my tanks, a 100 litres tank and using a python hose sytem, I tend to add the water conditioner whilst the water is being refilled into the tank, and generally do 50% water changes so i only dosed for 50 litres, I use Seachem Prime so only 1.25ml, using a 1ml syringe for ease of use and being careful not to overdose as Prime is fairly strong and can be overdosed easily hence why I only treated for the water being changed and not for the entire tank.

However for my smaller tanks, I had a 20litre (5 gal) shrimp only tank, and I used a 10 litre bucket to take out water and pour fresh water back in slowly with same 10 litre bucket but dosing a tiny 0.25ml of Prime into each bucket before slowly adding the fresh water into the tank.

Shrimps are more sensitive to water parameters so extra caution has to be taken so as not to shock them or cause undue harm.

The larger the tank, the longer it takes for the fresh water to mix with the current tank water, the smaller the tank, the much quicker it is for the fresh to mix with current volume of tank water.

 

[CraigDalton]

Hi there,

When doing my water changes in my bigger tank which is 200L I vacuum out my 30% or so water and then when I am topping it up again I use a small bucket approx 7ish litres at a time to fill the tank back up as that's only how I can make it happen with my houses set up. Currently with each time I put the 7 or so litres in the bucket I add a small amount of water conditioner each time. My question is, can I just fill the tank up with unconditioned water then when the tanks full again I'll add some conditioner to the tank or do I just continue doing what im doing?

Reason I ask is because i go through water conditioner reasonably fast as I am putting a little in each time I fill the bucket to add it to the tank and therefore probably using more than I really need too.

Thanks

Thanks for all the help everyone!!

 

[itiwhetu]

What is in your water supply. Chlorine or Chloramine. How heavily planted is your tank and what is it's pH.