Large Tanks and Water Changes

[jsodwi]

My auto changer runs through a household water filter before hitting my tank. I only have cold water pumping in. The tank is a 750g so the 70g it changes at a time only drops the temp a degree or 2. Much better than conventional water changes that will drop tank temp drastically

 

[kulvero]

I recently spoke with a custom tank designer here in Singapore and he says that he won’t change water more than once a year. Generally speaking, the tanks he builds are for well to do people who want to show off. The ones I’ve seen tend to be larger tanks ~+150 gallon and heavily planted. Fish so far have included mostly large quantities of smaller fish ie… rams, tetras, guppies, rasboras. He swears that if you set up the tank to be a proper ecosystem that it will take care of itself. He says most of his customers end up hiring him for the first year or two on a maintenance contract and he never does water changes unless some parameter starts to get out of specification.

Don’t know, I’m too new in aquarium science to call him a liar and a certain amount of his logic sounds like it makes sense. I like the idea of a self sustaining environment though.

Now, it would obviously be different if a person had a heavily populated tank with few plants.

I’d love to hear peoples rebuttals/ opinions to this ideology though.

I'm a firm believer that this is the best way to go, but unfortunately my taste in fish (8"-14" length) would make that a near impossibility. Anytime you can go all natural provides the best overall environment for the fish.

 

[kulvero]

Some parts in Wa. charge a flat fee for water usage. I pay $64 a month.
I want to get into a AWC system hooked up to a rain barrel, still need more research into the actual rain water parameters.

One of the key things I've taken away from this thread is that a lot of people have wells and therefore no water bill. I'm probably being overly conscious about water usage, but I like the idea of "free" water. I'm currently looking into a DIY rain collection system with the intentions of using it for my water changes. The fish I prefer to keep are all soft/acidic water fish so even if the pH is a bit on the low side I suspect it'll be better for them in the long run. I do however, plan to rig up a decent amount of filtration and test the water before using it.

 

[kulvero]

WCs do not only contribute in lowering nitrates, they also replace many minerals needed by the fish. What are you considering to be a low nitrate level ? If the nitrates stay low after two months, I would realy like if you could tell me the secret !

A couple of questions (for you and anyone else that's willing to answer):

I've read about "mineral replacement" in several articles/forums but I still haven't been able to find a list of the minerals. What minerals are being consumed that are most important for the fish health?

I've also read about how the fish release pheromones into the water and how it's important to dilute these through water changes. I believe this is true but again, I can't find any detailed information about WHAT the pheromones are or their impact to the fish (other than growth inhibitors). Are their natural ways to remove/filter the pheromones other than via water changes? Fish emit them in the wild, where do they go?

Regarding Nitrates: I'm currently researching nitrate reactors, specifically the Nitrate Reductor (NR400) and the Aquaripure. They seem to provide a natural way to remove nitrates and would therefore be a benefit to the tank. Anyone here have experience using either of them?

 

[Egon]

One of the key things I've taken away from this thread is that a lot of people have wells and therefore no water bill. I'm probably being overly conscious about water usage, but I like the idea of "free" water. I'm currently looking into a DIY rain collection system with the intentions of using it for my water changes. The fish I prefer to keep are all soft/acidic water fish so even if the pH is a bit on the low side I suspect it'll be better for them in the long run. I do however, plan to rig up a decent amount of filtration and test the water before using it.

Free water is just a point of view i.e. "perception". For example: I watered my trees and bushes way before I set up a trickle system. Now I water my fish tank and the over flow waters my trees and bushes.......

No change what so ever on my water bill

 

[jalepeno]

I have a 180, 55, and 20 running.

I became tired of carrying those 5 gallon buckets, especially because I built my 180 stand tall and the top of the tank is 5.5feet off the ground.

I have a spare shower I never use, so I hooked up a standard garden hose to it with an adapter, so I can fill a 40 gallon tote with cold water. I let it sit to become room temperature then do my water change on the 180. I drain out 33% of the water once a week, which is about 60 gallons. I generally suck the poop off the sand then the remaining water is just siphoned outside. The 40 gallons in the tote gets pumped into the tank, and I fill the rest with straight cold from the garden hose on my shower.

I have a well, so I do not treat my water.

The 55 and 20 just get filled with cold.

 

[fishman61]

I do weekly 50% WC's on my 150 and I never had any trouble with the water coming out of the garden hose from the well being too cold. It's the same temp. year round, probably around 60 degrees

 

[ar0wan]

...Regarding Nitrates: I'm currently researching nitrate reactors, specifically the Nitrate Reductor (NR400) and the Aquaripure. They seem to provide a natural way to remove nitrates and would therefore be a benefit to the tank. Anyone here have experience using either of them?

I built my reactor and can tell you that these are very delicate
I have to check on it almost daily
The prebuilt ones have the advantage of recirculating pumps which is nice

too little flow and you can poison your fish
too much flow and you'll crash the filter
wish I had a redox meter and an easier method for feeding it

 

[GVerde]

I do 50% water changes plus substrate vacuuming on my 220 and 40 while I'm draining the tank. I just use a garden house to do everything. Takes me a couple of hours.

 

[jalepeno]

I do weekly 50% WC's on my 150 and I never had any trouble with the water coming out of the garden hose from the well being too cold. It's the same temp. year round, probably around 60 degrees

The only reason I fill that tote instead of putting it directly into the tank is to save a bit of $. My method here is:

The 40 gallons in the tote is brought up to room temp before placing it in the tank. If that 40 gallons was placed directly into my tank, my 600 watts of heating kicks on about an average of 3 minutes longer. So with each water change session: 600 watts * .05 hours (3min/60) = 30 watt hours/1000 = .03 kilowatt hours. My cost of electricity averages about 29 cents per kilowatt hour, so that is 87 cents per water change I'd consume more.

The pump I use draws 20 watts and takes 10 minutes to pump the 40 gallons. .166*20 = 3.32/1000=.00332 *29 = 1 cent! My heaters still kick on to raise the incoming water from 70F to 79F but not nearly as long as the jump from 60F to 79F. Maybe an extra 30 seconds or so.

That's an 86 cents difference per week, so about $44.72 per year. Some more math: I found an fx5 for $235 on google shopping. In 5.255 years I will have saved enough to buy one.