water changes

[FMA4ME]

I put the Prime into the first bucket of water for the volume of the tank and then just keep adding buckets of temperature correct water back in until the tank is refilled. I've been doing it this way forever and have never had a problem.

+1

 

[esoxlucius]

Just out of interest, i suppose the holy grail of fish keeping is to never have to do water changes i.e a drip fed system where small amounts of clean water are continually fed in whilst the exact same amount is bled out. Do any of you guys run systems like this? Would there be any downside to running a system like this?

 

[Kittiee Katt]

Thanks to this wonderful forum, I now syphon out my two bigger tanks about ⅓ of the way, maybe halfway at the most, prime them (dosing for full tank volume) and stick the hose in and fill it up. We was lugging buckets around untila few of the guys on here told me about the hose thing - we still use buckets for the bettas tank because he's old and I don't think he'd appreciate the temperature swings, but the goldfish love swimming among the fresh cold water as it comes out of the hose, same with most of the fish in my SA community tank.. What I'm getting at is, if you have really sensitive fish, then maybe stick to buckets, but if you have nice hardy fish, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[souzie]

+1 pretty much do fin level wcs. If i had to keep pre treated water i would definitly not have anything bigger than a 10 gal heavily planted and almost never do wc's

Right? Why make things harder for yourself?

If I did WC's with buckets, that would take forever cause I'd be lugging water like a girl LOL

 

[THQ]

No problem. Even people I know who keep discus put the prime in the tank then add water from the faucet. Think of it this way - it makes it an order of magnitude easier to do water changes. Thus you are more inclined to keep to your water change schedule. Thus your fish benefit from having lower nitrates, which is a definite plus, whereas aged primed water from a bucket may or may not make any difference at all. If you must do it from a bucket I recommend a large water wheelie bin with a heater in it to temp match (don't forget to turn it off before emptying). Then a powerhead/water pump that you can permanently leave in the bottom of the bin to pump out water to the top.

Hose is just way easier and also you can't easily temp match from a bucket. Also you can sprain your back = less tank maintenance. Just use food-grade/drinking water hose to be safe when filling. Normal garden hoses have an algaecide coating that theoretically may not be great for your fish.

Frankly the ONLY reason I would use pre-aged/primed water is if I'm going saltwater, which is a must obviously. Also why I haven't made the jump. Too much effort!

I don't think he'd appreciate the temperature swings,

Temp match at the faucet before you stick the hose in. You can get indoor faucet mixer tap hose adaptors.

 

[Lawlboom]

For the summer months on my discus tank I do just that. Turn the filters off because I do large volume and siphon out 50% and prime the entire tank. For the winter though, my water company injects air into the water and it's awful. If you fill a glass from the tap it looks like smoke. It's not a problem for my 125 but it's a problem for the 55. So I have to age the water for my 55g discus growout.

All in all I've been changing discus straight from the tap and prime the tank with no problems.

 

[harris522]

I do all my water changes with fresh water strate out of the tap. We have are own well here so its not treated city water. I drain 50% add prime for the size of the tank. Match water temp then Refill. I use a python kit to move the water.

 

[pops]

buckets, no way in gods little green earth am I doing 500g a week with buckets, just sayen, get a python or =.

 

[tiger15]

I have been doing 75% WC by pre dosing the tank with dechlor and fill directly from the tap. It's a safe practice because my tap water is chlorined only. Chlorine is so volatile that most is gone by the time water passes through the distribution system and cascades into the tank. The little chlorine left is neutralized instantly with dechlor and chlorine demand (organic) in the tank water.

I am not sure if it is safe to do fin level WC with chloramined water by predosing because the treatment byproduct is ammonia which may not be neutralized fast enough.

 

[RD.]

I am not sure if it is safe to do fin level WC with chloramined water by predosing because the treatment byproduct is ammonia which may not be neutralized fast enough.

It's safety may be limited to chloramine levels found in ones tap water, but at 2 ppm chloramine, and using Prime or Safe, 80-90% water changes appear to be quite safe, even for new born fry. Typically I add half the dose on fill start up, and the other half about midway through. All ammonia is neutralized pretty much instantaneous, just as the chlorine is. (in a non planted tank)