Dumb question time……..

[TUCCI]

Most of the time I’ve filled a large vessel with my PWCs then put it into the tank via a pump. What do the senior Aquarist say about pumping it straight into the tank (treating it with dechlorinator of course as your going along). Is my beneficial bacteria in any danger of being destroyed or diminished in any way?
Also, it’s real tough to get the temp exact mainly because I’m pumping it approx 100 ft from upstairs and after having to run up and down the stairs half a dozen times to try and get it just right is let’s just say a PITA . Can I get it a degree or two close either way ?

 

[GolemGolem]

Oh you out rank me, but I always refill with my garden hose. Put in the decholrinator, go get the hose, fill. Have never had an issue, farlowella and rams are supposed to hate it, but mine sure don't seem to.

 

[TUCCI]

It’s one of the reasons I’ve never considered using a python device. The thought of pumping water straight out the tap gave me pause. But right now, my tank is going through a re-cycle (I hamhocked a fishless cycle and too mad at myself to talk about it right now). Knowing what my 7 CLs and 3 Juvenile Electric Blue Acaras are having to endure I decided to do a 25% pwc every 3-4 days while the cycle is completing. The #s tell me it’ll be over soon but I felt compelled to put some fresh water in there. I carefully evaluated the process and by-passed the bucket and pumped it straight into the tank. Needless to say, it saved a boat-load of time.

 

[TUCCI]

Oh you out rank me, but I always refill with my garden hose. Put in the decholrinator, go get the hose, fill. Have never had an issue, farlowella and rams are supposed to hate it, but mine sure don't seem to.

What do you do with water temp variations when you pump it straight in like that?

 

[GolemGolem]

It really does. I used to fill buckets in the bathtub and dechlor each bucket, but yeah took longer, bigger mess, heavy....and I still would if I noticed some benefit. I don't worry about the temp much, if i'm doing like an 80% change on the falowellas tank I just run the hose slow and let it fill up over like 10-20 min.

 

[TUCCI]

The Acaras seem resilient and don’t appear to care much (I’ve always loved that about cichlids) but the clowns, with the exception of 2 smaller males, their not happy with me if I do more than 25% at a time. Course their having an uncomfortable time during the recycle so that’s not helping. The tap temps in Colorado right now is somewhere around 73 and I keep the tank at 78 so a drop of 2-4 degrees concerns me.

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

The bacteria live in your filter media. Changing out the water doesn't "put them in danger". If your filters are properly cycled, a 100% water change won't break a cycle. I find it pretty easy to match the temp from a faucet by touch, within a degree or two. With large tanks, I'll never NOT use a python and have been using one for my weekly water changes as long as I can remember.

 

[duanes]

I have always taken water direct from the tap to sump, and added a few drops of dechlorinator throughout the process, and adjusted temp from the hot and cold tap.
The chloramine concentration from the tap always averaged about 1.25 ppm.

Above straight from the tap,
below
a few seconds later water in the main tank after the addition of dechlor

Although I always use a declorinator like sodium thiosulfate.
This is one of the reasons I prefer using sumps as filtration.
When adding new water, the extra space and detention time when passing thru the sump before entering the main tank, helps buffer water temp deviation, helps dissolve trapped gases under pressure in the tap water pipes, and in the odd case of an over sized chlorina surge, the normal detritus in the sumps media , naturally help use up any excess chlorine.
With this method, I also do not worry about the ammonia in chloramine, because the bacteria in the sump also use it up, before it has a chance to get to the main tank.

 

[esoxlucius]

I think the vast majority of us at water change time pump it directly into the aquarium from mixer taps. It's very easy, you just have to be aware of a couple of things....

Obviously you want the temperature to be about right. A few degrees either way and you'll be ok, your fish might sulk for a while if it's borderline, but you'd have to be pretty far out either way to kill everything in your tank! One thing to be aware of when filling tanks, if other people are in the house, is if someone starts running a bath, or having a shower, or starts washing up. This "extra" hot water usage can alter the temp of the water going in your tank. BE VERY AWARE OF THIS! It's one of the reasons I do my water changes very early at weekends before anyone gets up!

And obviously you need to add dechlorinator. Dose for the full tank volume and NOT what you are just replacing.

 

[TUCCI]

I think the vast majority of us at water change time pump it directly into the aquarium from mixer taps. It's very easy, you just have to be aware of a couple of things....

Obviously you want the temperature to be about right. A few degrees either way and you'll be ok, your fish might sulk for a while if it's borderline, but you'd have to be pretty far out either way to kill everything in your tank! One thing to be aware of when filling tanks, if other people are in the house, is if someone starts running a bath, or having a shower, or starts washing up. This "extra" hot water usage can alter the temp of the water going in your tank. BE VERY AWARE OF THIS! It's one of the reasons I do my water changes very early at weekends before anyone gets up!

And obviously you need to add dechlorinator. Dose for the full tank volume and NOT what you are just replacing.

Very helpful, thanks for the input ?