DOES ANYBODY USE COLD WATER FOR WATER CHANGES?

lp85253 said:

JUST like the title asks ,,DOES ANYBODY(especially people from warmer areas )use outdoor tap water (not heated) for water changes in the colder months ... I am thinking about switching away from the bucket method , and a python set-up is not an option right now..I am particularly interested in hearing from people that have used this method successfully for an extended time and your tricks to make it work for you...thanks for your responses ...LEE

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Depends on your stock. When I had my brook trout I would. I use slightly cooler water for my tropical wc. I do it to simulate a rain.

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In the winter months I still use the outdoor hose method sometimes. The water from the tap(through a potable hose of course) comes out about 68-75F usually, but often will dip into the low 60's depending on the winter month. In summer, the tap is about 79-81F. In the winter I have discovered that if I turn the water on to about a 1/4 and slowly fill the tank, I can supplement the cold with 5g buckets of hot water. It takes about three 5g buckets of hot to maintain 76-80F during a 65% water change on my 180g. Ideally, I run water from the tap through an adapter(about $2 at HomeDepot) on my faucet during the winter so I can add hot water to the mix, but I don't always feel like dragging a hose through the house. Another option is to get a 55g barrel or a container big enough to hold the water required to perform what ever % waterchange, set it up next to the tank the day before the water change and fill it up. Let it sit inside next to the tank, put a heater and a power head in the barrel and let it warm over night. Next day pump the water from the barrel into the aquarium. It requires a little investment in equipment and isnt real convenient but it does work and people do it this way in parts of the world where it gets below zero.

been using outdoor water hose for years. When temp difference is high I just fill very very slowly

Depends where you live. Up here in New York our water comes out cold as ice. My fish would go into shock before the tank was full.

Im in miami..whats winter?


I usually take advantage of the cold tap water in the early morning in "winter" here. Because by 12 its 80 lol. I usually will do partial wcs in between the big ones for breeding purposes. I keep cichlids and i havent seen any ill effects when doing small changes. For example tomorrow i plan on doing maybe 20% to get some fish breeding. But seeing as though its gonna be a cold week and instead of doing controlled temp 80% change from indoor faucet im going to break it up into small ones throughout the week. I should also add i always put the heater back on after the water change so its goes back to and stays at around 80 till the next wc.


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I do WC from tap all the time. In the winter months the tap water is 50degrees. I just do smaller water changes during those months. My temp would dip from 84 to 70. I say as long as your temp do not dip lower than 70 your fish will be ok.


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Like everyone said just do it really slow. Maybe add an extra heater to your tank during the process.

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I throw the hose in my tanks all year around and I dont run any actually tank heaters and the fish are fine so far but I will be trying aged water soon....only because I want to make automatic water changes.