water changes

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

esoxlucius

Balaclava Bot Butcher
MFK Member
Dec 30, 2015
3,964
15,280
194
UK
To make water changes quicker i've read that some hobbyists who fill their tanks back up straight from mixer taps put their conditioner straight into the aquarium whilst it's filling up. I doubt this is as good as putting preconditioned water in thats been left to stand for a while but is this way considered safe?
 
To make water changes quicker i've read that some hobbyists who fill their tanks back up straight from mixer taps put their conditioner straight into the aquarium whilst it's filling up. I doubt this is as good as putting preconditioned water in thats been left to stand for a while but is this way considered safe?
yes its safe. Im sure most of us do that. Storing a hundred or so gallons of pretreated water just is not ideal for most in terms of storage.
 
So i'm assuming the reaction between the conditioner and the chlorine is instantaneous then, i.e the chlorine isn't in the aquarium long enough to kill any beneficial bacteria? I just thought the water had to sit for a while?
 
Yes the chemical reaction from chlorine/choramine is almost instantaneous.
When I lived in Milwaukee I did 30% water changes every other day, so storage would have been a problem for my 1000 gallons of tanks. And because in winter, the cold tap water entered the house sometimes as with temps as low as high 30sF, I always mixed hot and cold taps, running new water directly to my sumps, with enough sodium thiosulfate to match 30% new chloraminated water change water.
The reason for adding water to the sump first, was due to the super saturation of gases in the very cold portion of new water, and by adding it to the sump first, there was a period of contact on pipes and thru pumps that would promote gas exchange , before getting directly to the fish.
 
Last edited:
Interesting, thanks for that, my water changes have just got a whole lot quicker, and easier.:)
 
That's how I've always done my WC's.

Drain the tank, add water conditioner and fill it back up with water from the tap, matching the temperature to that of the tank.

And I do pretty big WC's...About 80%...never had a problem.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jaws7777
That's how I've always done my WC's.

Drain the tank, add water conditioner and fill it back up with water from the tap, matching the temperature to that of the tank.

And I do pretty big WC's...About 80%...never had a problem.

+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
 
To make water changes quicker i've read that some hobbyists who fill their tanks back up straight from mixer taps put their conditioner straight into the aquarium whilst it's filling up. I doubt this is as good as putting preconditioned water in thats been left to stand for a while but is this way considered safe?
Despite everyone saying it's safe to put the conditioner first then the water. I still do it with the old bucket method(it's a good thing 75 is my biggest tank right now).

Back in my single days when I had lots of tanks. I had a 40 gallon 'trash can' on wheels that I would fill up with water and would push it around the house.
 
you can go either way, wither in the water first or in the tank and fill as I do, both work, ones just allot easier. aged or RO water is more for keeping black water fish, really not needed for our day to day fish.
 
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.
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com