Water Change Tub

[Jesseliu13]

So I know alot of you large monster fish keepers have their own water tank storage of aging water for water changes... Where can I get one? and what are they called if i wanted to purchase one? I will be getting a new 300 gallon soon.. and Decholorinating my water through chemicals wont cut it anymore... I would like to start doing it the way the pros much like yourselves do it... thanks in advance!

 

[pacu mom]

So I know alot of you large monster fish keepers have their own water tank storage of aging water for water changes... Where can I get one? and what are they called if i wanted to purchase one? I will be getting a new 300 gallon soon.. and Decholorinating my water through chemicals wont cut it anymore... I would like to start doing it the way the pros much like yourselves do it... thanks in advance!

One small capful of Prime treats 100 gallons of water. I would never consider NOT using Prime. if I change out 30% of the water on our 300 gallon tank, I simply add 3 capfuls of Prime when refilling the tank. We mounted an old 55 gallon tank on a high shelf. During water changes we turn on the faucets of the utility sink and fill the 55 gallon tank. Opening a valve sends the water into the 300 gallon tank. The tank is plumbed so that all we have to do is open a valve to drain water out of the tank. No Pythons, no buckets, no hoses. We just have to open and close valves and turn the water off/on. Everything is dusty and dirty from the major construction we have been doing (tearing out walls, etc..

 

[Gill Blue]

drinking safe hose into the tank is all I do, straight from the washing machine feed. I add 6 1/4 teaspoons of seachem safe as it fills. I do about 175G changes once a week for about 275G of water.

but someplace like this might have what you want.

 

[administrator]

To answer your question: http://www.jehmco.com/html/water_storage_tanks.html

Great site, great prices. Got to love Jehmco.

I buy stuff from them regularly, but never a water tank.

I do what Gill Blue stated for water changes. Water tank would be nice, but I am limited when it comes to space.

 

[David R]

I will be getting a new 300 gallon soon.. and Decholorinating my water through chemicals wont cut it anymore..

How do you plan on dechlorinating it without chemicals??

Any food-grade plastic container could be used, it really depends on how much water you want to store. You could probably get a used 200L drum fairly easily (just check what has been in it) from a local farming supplies place. If you want something bigger look for a rain water storage tank.

 

[Drstrangelove]

Chlorine can be removed by agitating water for 24 hours through gas exchange. Boiling supposedly does this much faster.

Chloramine can't be removed that way. Typically RO units, carbon filters or chemicals are needed. Since water departments probably don't warn users that chloramine is being added, you would have to take a chance on the agitation/boiling method or test the water each time.

It seems chemicals are the safest and most convenient method to me. It's probably the same cost or less if you have to test the water each time, since treating 50 gallons with Prime costs $.10 using the 1 gallon price.

(I suppose people changing a few hundred gallons or more at a shot in localities with only chlorine would be better off using agitation and tests, but then you have to spend money on pumps, a heater and a storage container, etc. There's also having the space.)

 

[David R]

The chloramines aren't necessarily added to the water, they form naturally when chlorine is added to water with various compounds. Copy-paste from someone on our local forum who is far more knowledgeable on the subject that I;

When you add chlorine to water you get hypochlorous acid which reacts with nitrogen compounds like ammonia,urea and the amines (in all proteins) and forms monochloramine. When you add more chlorine you get dichloramine and even more you get trichloramine. All these (and other reactions) form part of the "chlorine demand" in the water. You cannot get free available chlorine until this "chlorine demand" is satisfied. Therefore when the reaction is pushed towards trichloramine there will be virtually no monochloramine present. In some states in the US they treat the water with monochloramine (made by reacting chlorine with ammonia) because chlorine will react with other impurities in the water and form some compounds that are not so nice (such as acetone) where as monochloramine will not. Monochloramine is not as effective in treating water as chlorine which is used in NZ but is still a strong oxidising agent.
When people complain that the chlorine in a swimming pool is too strong and it is burning their eyes the problem usually is that the free available chlorine has been used up by contaminants in the water (such as urea) and this has pushed the chloramines back towards the monochloramine and this is what is burning their eyes. The problem is fixed by adding more chlorine.
When you allow water to stand or aerate it to get rid of the chlorine the chloramines all move back to monochloramine and this will react with your fish the same as an under chlorinated swimming pool will with your eyes.
Chlorine and all chloramines can be converted to more harmless chemicals with the addition of sodium thiosulphate which is the active ingredient you are buying from the petshop with dechlorinating products.
Drinking water will contain various impurites that add to the chlorine demand and will form chloramines and other compounds. Ammonia is a bi product of the reaction when adding thiosulphate to chlorinated water. Chlorine only is used to sanitize water supplies in NZ and when you add chlorine you will always get chloramines unless you use distilled water.

So it seems that standing/aerating water to make it safe for aquarium use is probably one of the biggest myths in the hobby, it really doesn't do anything to make it safer for the fish. If you want a cost-effective way of removing chlorine/chloramines from city water then find a bulk source of sodium thiosulphate, I'm not sure about the dosage rates but obviously it depends on the amount of chlorine in the water.

 

[asm129]

To OP, why dont you want to use chemicals to condition the water? Thats how almost everyone does it, even the people who have the biggest tanks and have been keeping fish the longest. Aging water in big tubs is just too much of a hassle for most people.

 

[Jesseliu13]

I just learned of prime now.. I've been scarcely using water conditioner as it is extremely expensive from top fin. Being retarded and using the POS product of top fin I was thinking it would be cheaper to just use the giant tank mood. Now I know about prime I'm gonna buy 2 liters of it and use thata as my water change.


Sent from my iPad using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[asm129]

Get Seachem Safe instead of Prime. Safe is a lot more concentrated than Prime and will last you much longer.