DIY tank water change questions.

Drstrangelove

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Oct 21, 2012
2,693
1,227
164
San Francisco
Why are you trying to store water for a water change?

Certainly a drip system would avoid storing water, but from my observation, many (could be very many) people with large tanks run them without drip systems and without storing water. I certainly don't see a need to have a storage set up to hold water.

A house with a 50 gallon hot water heater can provide 100 gallons of 120 F water over a span of 25 minutes (50 from storage and 50 more processed at 2 gallons per minute.) Mixed with cold water at 50 F will create 350 gallons of 70 F water. (You could keep the hot water at 140 F but I advise against it as it increases the chance of burns.)

350 gallons of 70 F water mixed with 650 gallons of 84 F water will cause a drop in temp from 84 F to 79 F over a span of 25 minutes which is far from a debilitating decline for most if not all fresh water fish.

You could even take longer to complete the WC. A 50 minute WC would provide 150 gallons of 120 F water, enabling a 400 gallon WC (40%) with 76 F water. That's a decline from 84 F to 81 F.

Of course if you want to make an 80% WC, you will then want to 1) take longer to change; or 2) get a larger water heater; or 3) get one that heats cold water faster; or 4) raise your target water heater temperature setting higher; or 5) lower the tank target temp below 84. Or some combination of those 5.

And none of those points take into account that the heaters in the tank will be heating the water as it enters the tank mitigating any decline in water temperature.
 
Last edited:

Fish Tank Travis

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Feb 28, 2016
3,277
2,157
164
36
Dayton, OH
Why are you trying to store water for a water change?

Certainly a drip system would avoid storing water, but from my observation, many (if not most) people with large tanks run them without drip systems and without storing water. I certainly don't see a need to have a storage set up to hold water.

A house with a 50 gallon hot water heater can provide 100 gallons of 120 F water over a span of 25 minutes (50 from storage and 50 more processed at 2 gallons per minute.) Mixed with cold water at 50 F will create 350 gallons of 70 F water. (You could keep the hot water at 140 F but I advise against it as it increases the chance of burns.)

350 gallons of 70 F water mixed with 650 gallons of 84 F water will cause a drop in temp from 84 F to 79 F over a span of 25 minutes which is far from a debilitating decline for most if not all fresh water fish.

You could even take longer to complete the WC. A 50 minute WC would provide 150 gallons of 120 F water, enabling a 400 gallon WC (40%) with 76 F water. That's a decline from 84 F to 81 F.

Of course if you want to make an 80% WC, you will then want to 1) take longer to change; or 2) get a larger water heater; or 3) get one that heats cold water faster; or 4) raise the water temp higher; or 5) lower the tank temp below 84. Or some combination of those 5.

And none of that takes into account that the heaters in the tank will be heating the water as it enters the tank.
I mainly want to try to streamline my water changes as much as possible and my water experiences high ph swings where I'm at, so I would rather age my water. If I use my garden hose to fill the barrels, it can fill a barrel in less than ten minutes, but I won't have to fill them at the same time I do my water change. So, if I keep three barrels that are preheated to my tank temp and use my three spare pumps (1290gph each), I can empty the tank down to 25% in about 4-5 minutes, spend another 5-10 minutes moving the pumps over to the barrels and then spend 5-7 minutes filling the tank back up with aged water, then another 5ish minutes to clean it up. All in all, I should be looking at 20-30 minutes for a 75% water change with aged temp matched water. Then, sometime over the next few days I can work on refilling the barrels.

Also, my house uses a water softener so the only source of water I have that doesn't run through it is the outside faucet a bit out of my garage. I'm not sure how I feel about using water softener water in my tank yet or not, but that's a topic for another thread.
 

Chevyfan

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 11, 2017
13
2
8
35
I'm planning for the worst case scenario. This entire tank is centered around the fish I want to keep. The tank itself will cost around 2 thousand and I'll have another 2k in fish. The water quality is horrible in my town and I'm afraid I won't be able to do water changes due to the amount of chemicals and chlorine that's in this water. I won't be able to replace a pair of black diamonds if I kill them by doing a water change that's full of chlorine. Don't know much about Prime but I doubt it works instantly. I just want peace of mind is all. Looks I'll be planning a constant drip system and I may look into doing hot water to reduce heating cost.
 

markstrimaran

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Nov 21, 2015
2,331
1,093
164
51
iowa
I have a 55 gallon drum that makes my 75 gallon. A 130 gallon 5 days at a time. Then for water changes, I isolate it, and drain it.
I refill, and let it sit for 20 hours, no prime, I add 2 TBS, of sodium bicarbonate, for PH, issues.
I don't vacume, or do any thing too the tank during a water change. Just rely on 6x flow, a full leghth spray bar, and an 2" air lift.
I do clean poly floss prefilter, 3x week.
The substrate is very fine wind blown sand. Which compacts too tightly to accumulate much.
I can do a water change, well out mowing the lawn. When the drum over flows the excess gets pumped to the garden, I also use fish tank water for irrigation, in the summer.
 

millerkid519

Aimara
MFK Member
Feb 16, 2015
2,251
931
135
stratford ontario canada
I'm planning for the worst case scenario. This entire tank is centered around the fish I want to keep. The tank itself will cost around 2 thousand and I'll have another 2k in fish. The water quality is horrible in my town and I'm afraid I won't be able to do water changes due to the amount of chemicals and chlorine that's in this water. I won't be able to replace a pair of black diamonds if I kill them by doing a water change that's full of chlorine. Don't know much about Prime but I doubt it works instantly. I just want peace of mind is all. Looks I'll be planning a constant drip system and I may look into doing hot water to reduce heating cost.
I have to ask are you sure it's chlorine and not chloramine in your town water? There is ways to run a drip straight into the tank and build your own filter system for it
 

pops

Alligator Gar
MFK Member
Nov 24, 2013
6,247
3,304
188
WA
and again after draining, dose then fill. fish be fine. and dose for size of tank, not water replacing.
 

pops

Alligator Gar
MFK Member
Nov 24, 2013
6,247
3,304
188
WA
as a side note. I hate the crystal clear water thing, crystal clear water does not mean good water. crystal clear water has probably killed more fish than dirty looking water. just sayen. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: millerkid519
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store