[ripvanwinkle]

I was advised to rest the water three days and then put it in the aquarium and some people say that I can put bottled water without waiting.
What are your thoughts ?

 

[mskitty]

it depends on the bottled water. and i would still wait. you dont know what chemicals they use to declorineate the water and you might want to check the lable to make sure its sodium free.

 

[ripvanwinkle]

Thanks What do you think about rain water ? In nature the water comes from rain.
Do you advice to use it ? What will be its effects on the fishes and plants ?

 

[djrichie]

To let your water set for 3 days was to let the chor. that water treatment plants add to evaporate. If you use a dechor. it fine to go fromthe tap to the tank. you can either dechor the bucket or after you fill the tank. I prefer the bucket because I save dechor. chem. IOM thats old school like breaking down you tank and cleaning everything once a month, like my mother did in the 70's. is just not require or needs to be done.

 

[MediaHound]

Get some dechlor drops, what if you have an emergency and need water sooner than three days? You should have them on hand. Also, rainwater is not consistent in quality, maybe it will have toxins, it may be risky.

 

[Ceahorse]

letting the water wait allows it to stablize, PH wise, as well as some declorinization (nvm the spelling). It depends mostly on your tap water. You shouldn;t need to be buying bottled water, thats crazy expensive. I put water directly from my tap into my tank, with a prime of declorinizer/ Na. but i also live in taiwan and the water isn;t as "cleaned" as it is in the western world.

Also you may need to worry about soft/hard water, based on which fish and what your tap has.

If you do decide to store water before you do your changes. just make sure that the water going into the storage tank is splashing into the tank. (don;t put the hose underwater) this will allow for some airation(spelling again) and that will help to speed up the stablizing.

Good luck

 

[Ramen_Noodles]

I dont like changing the water in my fish tank I really dont. My friend told me to get this filter system.....I believe it was called Hiq-usa Zero Water Exchange. I guess it's a filter system... anyways tell me what you guys think about that.

-Trevor

 

[aquaman]

This is what I do: & I have a True Altum Angel, Ram's & a Discus.

I Drain close to 50% of the water out once a week. I then add the Water Conditioner direcly in the tank . I Use NovAqua+ because an increase in dosage will not harm your fish per. the directions. I then add my aquarium salt & slowly add tap water directly to the tank. Keep eye on the tank temperature so you do not get much of a fluctuation. If you really wanted to play it safe you can treat each gallon of water as you add it.

If you have hard water & have fish that are both sensitive to temp,GH,& PH you may want to reduce the amount of % water changed. Maybe 15-20 % max in order to prevent less of a shock in PH,GH,Temp. The only problem is that you may be doing two changes a week depending on you fish stock instead of one.

 

[woodyg3]

I dont like changing the water in my fish tank I really dont. My friend told me to get this filter system.....I believe it was called Hiq-usa Zero Water Exchange. I guess it's a filter system... anyways tell me what you guys think about that.

-Trevor

Well, I don't like scooping the cat's litter box, either. I don't know anything about the system that your friend told you about. I googled it and I'll just say I am skeptical. If you have a very large tank with very few fish, maybe...

Everyone gets tired of cleaning their tanks, but if you work out a system that makes it easy and quick, it can be fairly painless. I have a long tube to siphon waste water right down the drain, no need for buckets. I have another long tube that I attach to a faucet so I can fill the tank through the tube. Again, no buckets. The only time I use a bucket is to siphon a couple of gallons off to use to clean the filter of my canister filter, then I dump the water on some plants outside.

 

[comler]

I have another long tube that I attach to a faucet so I can fill the tank through the tube. Again, no buckets.

It must be sweet to have well water. My water is definitely chlorinated from the tap, so I have to use a bucket in order to add the neutralizer drops. Plus it helps me to put it in a bucket so I can regulate the temperature more easily before adding it to the tank.

Agreed, though - water changes are a must in my house, and I just have gotten used to them. Imagine what it would be like to live in a house full of poop and pee. Yuck!

 

[woodyg3]

It must be sweet to have well water. My water is definitely chlorinated from the tap, so I have to use a bucket in order to add the neutralizer drops. Plus it helps me to put it in a bucket so I can regulate the temperature more easily before adding it to the tank.

Agreed, though - water changes are a must in my house, and I just have gotten used to them. Imagine what it would be like to live in a house full of poop and pee. Yuck!

No well water here. I add dechlorinator to the tank water and then fill from the tap. We do not have chloramine in our water, though.

 

[susankat]

I'm on city water, and what is unusual they don't use chlorine or chloramine in the water but I still use Prime as it removes the heavy metals that are in the water.

I dose the tank before filling using a python, I have 18 tanks and I change out 50% of water each week, I do it in 2 days but each day it only takes about 3 hours.

 

[Dmaaaaax]

I change 20g of my 75g tank twice a week. That is roughly a 33% water change. I fill up a 20 trash can the day before, add Prime, add a heater, add a pump, and any other chemicals I want (bicarbonate, chelated iron, postassium sulfate...etc).

The next day I use the python to remove 20g from the tank, then fill with the 20g from the trashcan. This process takes 10-20min each day maximum...unless I'm cleaning a filter. I get pH, kH, GH, temperature perfect water.

The only reason I let it sit for the day is to get the temp up to my tank. I use cold oxyginated tap water.

 

[woodyg3]

The next day I use the python to remove 20g from the tank, then fill with the 20g from the trashcan. This process takes 10-20min each day maximum...unless I'm cleaning a filter. I get pH, kH, GH, temperature perfect water.

I've done this, as well. I put a small pump in the trash can and then I could pump the water right into the tank with a long hose.