If you use a Python Water Change system, then I have a question for you..

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I have used a python since i began keeping aquaria, the only problem i had with it was the water conpumtion siphoning. now all i use the faucet attachment for is fillin and getting the siphon started, the siphon isn't as strong but you dont waste as much water. and i also clean my bio media with tap water and have never had any ill effect.

So am i understanding this as, you have a much stronger siphon using it attached to the faucet than as just a siphon into a bucket? I have debated getting one of these for a while, just wasnt sure how well they performed. In need of something that can make quick work of solids on a daily basis... thanks!
 
I made my own pyhton-type water changer from hose pipe and hose adapters. for me though it was painfully slow emptying and there wasnt enough suction to remove debris. So at the moment im still emptying with buckets. Refilling, I have a 20 ish gallon container that i fill with hose form the kitchen to the right temp. add prime to the container then i have a pump that shifts it into the tank, much easier than buckets. When i get my 180 Ill be rigging up a pump of some sort for emptying and then similar arrangement with a container for refilling. I find it so much quicker refilling this way. Doing 2 tanks, I can be starting to empty the second whilst the first is filling up. So long as i keep my eye on water levels all is good.
 
So am I to understand that the danger posed by untreated water is not so, well, dangerous?

My understanding is that it is only dangerous to your bacteria... Granted I wouldn't put a fish in a pool, but your tap water is not nearly as concentrated with chlorine and the nuetralizing agents work pretty quickly from what I can tell. I have never had any fish issues with the way I do it and I have been doing it this way for about 8 years. I am no expert on the effects of chlorine on fish though. Just my personal experience.

p.s. the lower your siphon drains when not using a faucet the higher the vaccum. The vaccum created is inversely proportianate to the pressure head which is the height between the top of the water in the tank to height it is drained at. That is why I use a very long tube bought from a hardware store and run it outside my sloped front yard or if it's really cold I will drain it into my sump and give that pump a little workout and get all the pressure needed to remove the fish poop...
 
My understanding is that it is only dangerous to your bacteria... Granted I wouldn't put a fish in a pool, but your tap water is not nearly as concentrated with chlorine and the nuetralizing agents work pretty quickly from what I can tell. I have never had any fish issues with the way I do it and I have been doing it this way for about 8 years. I am no expert on the effects of chlorine on fish though. Just my personal experience.

p.s. the lower your siphon drains when not using a faucet the higher the vaccum. The vaccum created is inversely proportianate to the pressure head which is the height between the top of the water in the tank to height it is drained at. That is why I use a very long tube bought from a hardware store and run it outside my sloped front yard or if it's really cold I will drain it into my sump and give that pump a little workout and get all the pressure needed to remove the fish poop...

I hear you, but this is what I am concerned about, mostly I guess, my BB in my filters, will the de-chlor work fast enough and completely enough when dumped into the tank when I refill. Oh and I really don;'t want to treat the whole tank, just the water i'm changing really...
 
I bought an $8 jar of safe over a year and a half ago and I'm only halfway through it. That's with doing a 50% WC weekly on my 110G and dosing safe for the entire volume. I spend more in a week on food than I do on dechlor for an entire year. I also use my python by turning the sink on to get higher suction to remove all the visible waste, then I shut the sink off and let the syphon remove the rest of the water. It's a little slower but I'm not wasting extra water either. When I go to refill I start to add the water back in and then slowly dump the safe and my salt right into the water flow so it gets mixed immediatley. Never had a problem doing it this way.

almost exactly what I do .. except I use aquasafe.. so I go threw it faster.. but I still spend way more on other aspects of the hobby then conditioner. I also "eyeball" it... It really depends in the end with what your working with to begin with.. if your source water is "horrible" you need to take more active stpes in conditioning it then if your say on a well and have to only worry about heavy metals or other "random" contaminents then chlorine... or chloromines. been useing python/syphons since undergravel filters and whispers where "the way to do it right".. hooking it up to the faucet was just genius imo. also if your concerned you can trickle it back into the tank and dose... or even fill the bucket right there and dose as you go so you don't have to lug buckets... I've done that a few times when mixing saltwater for my old tank. So they are extreamely multi-functional and imo more of a necessity then a want when dealing with multiple tanks or anything in the 50+ gallon range. easier water changes are the more your likely to do, so even if it adds one step easier imo it's worth its weight.

You can also purchase the tubeing ect from a hardware store and get the attachment for your local lfs if the hardware store doesn't have them for usually less then the "kit" costs... may nor "match" but pinches pennies. atm I have an old python hose ( got it when they first hit the shelves) the faucet attachment finally cracked on me this winter. ( my own fault left it outseide.. and then dropped it, and it pretty much shattered) so instead of spending the $ on a brand new one i just bought the faucet adapter for i think 10$.

I've lived in areas where our water was bad... even the local shops had issues on occasion because of just how un-fishy the water was. and other areas where it was a fish-keepers dream..

I generally shoot for a 50% wc so eyeball the dose for that amount of gallons, sometimes i'm sure i overdose.. and...well yeah i prolly just overshoot it.. But I would rather have to spend the extra 1$ or so because i go threw it faster then replace fish from being to stingy.

99% of the threads you see here with fish issues are results from

1. improper stocking
2. improper water changes
3. improper filtration

water changes can impact all of these issues.. and there is a reason when issues arise one of the first questions is what your water change regime is.. and your water test results are. imo i'll go stingy on other things before water changes..

My question is with all the benefits why wouldn't anyone have one? Most of us have spent way more on our stock,filtration,tank itself, food..

Reguardless.. just my 2cts...
 
I just drain and fill with my garden hose with a python attachment. Normally I don't have any poop or anything in my substrate, but when I do, I use a regular gravel background into a 5gal bucket. When I fill my 200 and 75 I dose for the whole tanks volume. If I ever decide in the future that its too much prime, I will buy a 50gal trash can, fill it, dose with prime and then use a pump to fill it. I just don't know where I will put the trash can when I'm not using it :P

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I just dump in some dechlorinator after I put the new water in...probably not the safest tactic but it hasn't caused me any problems yet. One time when I just had a guppy in the tank, I did a water change (~30%) without using any dechlorinator and it was fine.
 
So I shouldn't be wary of it then? How do you know its mixed? Do you shut off your filters during?

By the way Gill Blue, is your avatar photoshoped? If not,what kind of sunfish is that?

my 55G is just a power head on foam, so that one stays on, the others are off. the fish in the 55G are wild caught blue spotted cories, going on 7 years for them.

that is one of zimmerman's louisianna longears. no photoshop other than cropping, just a on camera flash under 6500k-7000k LED's, then I cut out the fish to shrink the size of the photo.
 
I just drain and fill with my garden hose with a python attachment. Normally I don't have any poop or anything in my substrate, but when I do, I use a regular gravel background into a 5gal bucket. When I fill my 200 and 75 I dose for the whole tanks volume. If I ever decide in the future that its too much prime, I will buy a 50gal trash can, fill it, dose with prime and then use a pump to fill it. I just don't know where I will put the trash can when I'm not using it :P

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The trash can idea is what I was gonna do
I was looking for a cheap 50 gal container and cheap pump
I syphon straight out to my garden with a hosepipe it's just the re filling that annoys me lol


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