constant trickle water changer vs big % water changes - help feedback experience pls!
- Thread starter henward
- Start date
gotrocks;3023614; said:
smaller changes more often is better ive heard in they way off sudden parameter changes
Go with the drip system. I have un-measureable Nitrate level. My water is always super clean. The only thing I have to do every now and then is gravel vac the tanks.
Drip systems allow you to keep the water clean on a consistent basis. There is no swing in the measurements. It only cost me $120.00 US or so to install mine and it doesn exactly what you are looking for. It automaticall changes the water every day and then one big change every week.
Drip systems allow you to keep the water clean on a consistent basis. There is no swing in the measurements. It only cost me $120.00 US or so to install mine and it doesn exactly what you are looking for. It automaticall changes the water every day and then one big change every week.
150 litres in 1000 is only 15% . that is totalling 100% of the total water of the tank weekly
is that toomuch?
i wouldnt think so the fact that i have bichirs, arowanas, hungry loaches, knife fishes. and i can feed them 3 to 4 prawns a day each!!! not to mention the other fish too.
i personally dont think 150 out of 1000 is too much a day over 7 days.
i could drop it to 100 litres in a 1000 litretank lets say, thats cumulative 70% over one week.
NZ does use chlorine, but very minimal that it is gone when it comes out of the tap. i tested one tank with no chlorine remover fr 6 months, water params have never been better. no crash in bacteria. fish has no ill effects or discolouration. appetites of fish is voracious.
in my tank, would be arowanas large aros, large bichirs, knifes and lts of cloan loaches, metynnis, silver dolars flagtai etc
hence why i plan on doing 15% a day. isnt that small and frequent enough?
or what is considered to be small?
any suggestion? on the ration change daily say over 1000 litres.
say i have a RTG arowana, 20 Clown loaches, 3 to 4 large to medium bichirs. 1x royal plec, 1x scarlet plec, 1 to 2 Dats on a 1200 litre tank.
how much should change weekly total or daily on a drip system
is that toomuch?
i wouldnt think so the fact that i have bichirs, arowanas, hungry loaches, knife fishes. and i can feed them 3 to 4 prawns a day each!!! not to mention the other fish too.
i personally dont think 150 out of 1000 is too much a day over 7 days.
i could drop it to 100 litres in a 1000 litretank lets say, thats cumulative 70% over one week.
NZ does use chlorine, but very minimal that it is gone when it comes out of the tap. i tested one tank with no chlorine remover fr 6 months, water params have never been better. no crash in bacteria. fish has no ill effects or discolouration. appetites of fish is voracious.
in my tank, would be arowanas large aros, large bichirs, knifes and lts of cloan loaches, metynnis, silver dolars flagtai etc
hence why i plan on doing 15% a day. isnt that small and frequent enough?
or what is considered to be small?
any suggestion? on the ration change daily say over 1000 litres.
say i have a RTG arowana, 20 Clown loaches, 3 to 4 large to medium bichirs. 1x royal plec, 1x scarlet plec, 1 to 2 Dats on a 1200 litre tank.
how much should change weekly total or daily on a drip system
syndicate;3023698; said:
Yes it does. I've been discussing this with Henward as I'm also interested in setting up a continuous drip once I've got my fishroom sorted at our new place. I'm concerned about a build up of chloramine with a continuous flow of tap water going into the tank untreated. I do know of people who have used local water with no dechlorinator and had no problems, but we're both dealing with some expensive and/or almost impossible to replace fish (in our small country anyway), asian aros, 6"+ clown loaches, etc, so I'm not too keep on the trial-and-error method.
I'm going to look into setting up a large water tank to catch the rainwater off our garage roof (where the fishroom will be), so I might just leave the drip systen until I have that set up so I don't have to worry about treating the water. However, if I did want to use the tap water, what would be the best way to deal with the chlorinated water?
"However, if I did want to use the tap water, what would be the best way to deal with the chlorinated water?"
Put it in the rainwater tank overnight. Chlorine dissipates in 24 hours or so.
It would be better water than that that comes off an old iron roof, with pealing lead paint and decayed drowned rats driven to water by ratsack poisen...
Put it in the rainwater tank overnight. Chlorine dissipates in 24 hours or so.
It would be better water than that that comes off an old iron roof, with pealing lead paint and decayed drowned rats driven to water by ratsack poisen...
Burko;3026158; said:
Firstly, the garage roof is a brand new coloursteel roof, so I'm guessing the water coming off it will be pretty clean. There's no large trees near by to drop leaves and stuff on the roof.
Chlorine doesn't just vanish over night, here's the story as explained to me by someone who knows their chemistry far better than I do;
As far as your quantity of water changed, you could do 100% change a day and you should be fine. The cleaner the better I say. The fish will love it. With no stress involved in water changing, you could do 300% per week and be OK.
If you are concerned about chlorine, get something like this:
http://www.thefilterguys.biz/chloramine_filters.htm
If you are concerned about chlorine, get something like this:
http://www.thefilterguys.biz/chloramine_filters.htm
You can easily set a constant drip to have EXACTLY the same amount of water change as a periodical large change but the constant drip is far better IMO for several reasons;
1) slow gradual water change is always less of a shock than a large sudden change in terms of temperature, pH, hardness, chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, nitrite etc. The new water coming in is very different from your tank water (otherwise, why water change?) and even the new water on different days is surprisingly different.
2) Temperature in winter alone is sufficient reason for constant drips especially as running coils of cold water pipe through a hot water system, solar pipe or warm fish room where water flow is slow enough to absorb heat is beneficial.
3) You will always get sudden unpredictable ammonia/nitrite spikes in your town water supply (as well as other chemical spikes dependent on water board). While a continual water change will guarantee you get each and every one of these bad water days, contrary to logic, you get far less then doing a large water change on a day when the water is bad. Should you get a high ammonia level (for example), your filter will cope much more easily with a slow feed over time than a large sudden spike. Unless you test for a wide range of chemicals just before each and every large water change, you will eventually get caught doing a large change on a bad water day. If you are only able to water change on your weekends then this is even more of a problem
4) Continual water change is much less effort in time and labour. Even if automated, large sudden water change systems are more problematic since they are more complex by nature.
5) Continual water change is in drips (milimeters per hour) which allows for low pressure taps, pipes and fittings. Much cheaper especially if you have multiple tanks/fishrooms. Pressure pipe/fittings which fail will lose a lot more water and do much more damage than a slow leak, especially if you are not home to notice for several hours.
6) As you have already mentioned, doing a gradual drip water change allows you to use chlorinated water safely..... ie even at chlorine levels where a large water change would be fatal, a slow gradual change would still be safe.
7) A gradual water drip is extremely easy to visually check all is working. Just make sure the drippers are above the water level so they cant clog and you can see drips.
1) slow gradual water change is always less of a shock than a large sudden change in terms of temperature, pH, hardness, chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, nitrite etc. The new water coming in is very different from your tank water (otherwise, why water change?) and even the new water on different days is surprisingly different.
2) Temperature in winter alone is sufficient reason for constant drips especially as running coils of cold water pipe through a hot water system, solar pipe or warm fish room where water flow is slow enough to absorb heat is beneficial.
3) You will always get sudden unpredictable ammonia/nitrite spikes in your town water supply (as well as other chemical spikes dependent on water board). While a continual water change will guarantee you get each and every one of these bad water days, contrary to logic, you get far less then doing a large water change on a day when the water is bad. Should you get a high ammonia level (for example), your filter will cope much more easily with a slow feed over time than a large sudden spike. Unless you test for a wide range of chemicals just before each and every large water change, you will eventually get caught doing a large change on a bad water day. If you are only able to water change on your weekends then this is even more of a problem
4) Continual water change is much less effort in time and labour. Even if automated, large sudden water change systems are more problematic since they are more complex by nature.
5) Continual water change is in drips (milimeters per hour) which allows for low pressure taps, pipes and fittings. Much cheaper especially if you have multiple tanks/fishrooms. Pressure pipe/fittings which fail will lose a lot more water and do much more damage than a slow leak, especially if you are not home to notice for several hours.
6) As you have already mentioned, doing a gradual drip water change allows you to use chlorinated water safely..... ie even at chlorine levels where a large water change would be fatal, a slow gradual change would still be safe.
7) A gradual water drip is extremely easy to visually check all is working. Just make sure the drippers are above the water level so they cant clog and you can see drips.
looks like we have a concensus.
but chloramine
i rang up our water care, they do tests, no chloramine shows up in auckland new zealand water, and they dont add any in either.
so this would be why my tank of no using removers was ok for 6 months of wter change as the amount either is not there or so minute that it doesnt affect anything.
any feedback on that?
but chloramine
i rang up our water care, they do tests, no chloramine shows up in auckland new zealand water, and they dont add any in either.
so this would be why my tank of no using removers was ok for 6 months of wter change as the amount either is not there or so minute that it doesnt affect anything.
any feedback on that?
