How do you change your water????

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
forgot to mention biggest disaster...

I had bought a 26g Bow Front... had it running for 3 weeks.
I was sitting on the couch when i heard a funny sound, didn't think anything of it.. just looked over at the tank a few minutes later and 1/4 of water was gone.. got buckets and emptied the tank and a crack across the whole bottom of the tank.. so had to carpet clean about 6 gallons of water and then let it dry for a couple days before i got the 29g rectangle tank.
 
Depending on where the tank is I drain right out the window or into a sump pump if in the basement.

Well i have had many spills.... Since I cannot add warm water because of how the water softener is hooked up only to warm water, I need to slowly add cold water. Since it goes so slowly I am apt to forgetting its filling, mostly because I am so easily distracted :D so the worst was probably the time I was filling a planted 29g and I left the house. I have no idea how long it was running but I would estimate at least 20g? The water went right through the floor and poured into the basement. Unfortunately I've done this a few times luckily not to the extent of that one. But now I put a stop watch on a timer so that it goes off periodically and adjust it according to how close to full the tank is so that when it goes off I can remember to check the water level.
 
Hose out the window, just let gravity do the work. The worst park about w/c for me is my tank is all the way upstairs and I have to carry 5 gallon buckets up two flights :(
 
I syphon direct to the drain. To refill I attach hose to a carbon unit to de-chlorinate the water. After a water change I occasionally add fresh beneficial bacteria direct to the filters.
Worst spill was when the syphon hose flopped out and some of the contents of the 8 metre hose changed direction onto the floor.
 
I use 1.5 inch tubing and it drains 100 gallons in 6 minutes. Then just a python to fill sometimes I speed it up with the garden hose too. And dose with dechlor when done or while filling. Oh and tank water is used to water my daughters strawberry plants.
 
Right now I'm just using a regular gravel vac/siphon straight into the sink. Sometimes I siphon a few gallons into a bucket first if I want to rinse my filter media.

To refill I've got 2 5gal buckets that I run between the tank and the bathtub, the coldest setting on my water happens to be right around 80 degrees (which I keep my tanks at) so I don't worry too much about the temperature, I just make sure to check it out of the faucet before I stop since it tends to fluctuate. I add the Tetra Aquasafe to the bucket just before dropping the water in the tank and I've never had a positive chlorine test after a WC.

I'm interested in the python setup though...Both my tanks are within six feet of the kitchen sink. Do they have enough suction to operate as a gravel vac? Is it really safe to add tapwater directly to your tank and THEN add the dechlorinator?
 
i use my fx5, put a 3/4" hose on the fx5s bottom valve,shut the return valve into the tank and let it rip right out the door!!! put out 300ltrs, in with the hose and half a bottle of easylife. 20mins done
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom