How Do You Do Your Water Changes?

[bilbok]

Hi Everyone,

I thought this would be an interesting topic.

Just some ideas to get you going!

Do you store your water?

What do you store it in?

How do you get the water in to the tank?

Do you use Prime or other?

Do you add salt or buffer?

If so what benefits are to be gained?

How do you keep your pH and hardness up?

Do you use conditioned tap water like me?

Have you ever had ill effects using conditioned tap water?

Looking forward to your input!

Thanks.

bilbok.

[Mattnshez]

I have a pair of filters on the end of my hose

and just fill up the tanks with that i add buffer

directly to the tank whilst it is filling and dont

add anything else to it.

[MVP]

I have a pair of filters on the end of my hose

and just fill up the tanks with that i add buffer

directly to the tank whilst it is filling and dont

add anything else to it.

What kind of filters?

[Mattnshez]

Aquapure waterfilters with a sediment cartridge

and a carbon cartridge.

The carbon removes chlorine from the water

and other nasties,

So i can just fill all my tanks from the hose.

[ant265]

I siphon into buckets then pour new water back in with buckets. Use prime and 1 teaspoon of unchlorinated pool salt per 40 litres of water

[Josh]

I always thought that water had to pass though carbon slowly, or alot of carbon, to remove chloramines properly?

[Mattnshez]

I always thought that water had to pass though carbon slowly, or alot of carbon, to remove chloramines properly?

Hi josh

i have found that with the particular filters i have the flow rate is

considerably reduced and the cartridges are fairly large so the

carbon amount that the h2o passes through is fairly descent.

The company does not guarantee it to remove 100 % of

chlorine/chloramine but carrying out my own test samples

each water change has proven successful thus far

hth

Matt

[robdog013]

where can I get these filters MVP?

[Mattnshez]

Any plumbing supplier and i believe bunnings has them

should cost around $200 for the housings and cartridges

which will last for around 1 year replacement cartridges

are around $60 for both

[D6C1]

I stick a hose in my tank and the other end out of the window onto the lawn :-)

[m0oks]

I age my water for 2 days with prime in a 200ltr barrel.

It's also aerated at the same time and on day 2 i add Seachem Cichlid Lake Salt an hour before i start doing a water change.

Ohh and a stocking field with coral bones to keep the ph up.

[robdog013]

I dont have to worry about that problem anymore

i downsized my tanks for a while, Iam only running two tanks for now

[Red Tail Shark]

i age my water in 220lt drum for about 12hours to 48hrs depending on how urgently i need it, as the water is going in i use a liquid dechlorinator aquastar which is like prime but stronger, you will find it at the AOA site i have a heater in the drum to bring it to temp and add buffer to the water whatever is needed depending on the tank ill be changing next, water is constantly turned over in the drum with a pump which i then use to fill up the tanks with

hope this helps

cheers Cal

[MVP]

I siphon into buckets then pour new water back in with buckets. Use prime and 1 teaspoon of unchlorinated pool salt per 40 litres of water

What does the pool salt do to the water? And what brand do you use?

[bilbok]

What benefits are to be had by adding both the salt and buffer to the

water? I'm assuming you don't use coral sand or the like in your tanks.

bilbok.

[chorrylan]

I used to do water changes straight from the hose but the fish tried to guilt trip me with their miserable faces in the wintertime (something to do with having to break the ice out of the hose to do waterchanges he he)

So now I have a pair of 1000L tanks setup up behind my fishroom that I alternate between for waterchanges to my malawis and tangs. When a tank empties I add water, prime, salt and buffers (a small, carefully measured quantity of aquasonic corbonate hardness generator which is extremely powerful stuff and a much less careful quantities of bicarb soda and a mixture of salts from seachem, aquasonic, epsom salts and pool salt engineered to give reading around:

pH 8.4+

kh 240-300ppm (13-16 degrees?)

gH 150-240ppm (8-13 degrees?)

The tanks each have a 300 watt heater suspended in each to warm them (very gradually... takes 4 days to lift from under 14C to 20C+ in mid winter although as the only circulation is due to the heating the heaters are not always on); they're insulated as well as I could manage but in sheltered outdoor conditions so the heaters have to compete with sub-zero temps.

Anyhow... the fish are *much* happier in these conditions than they ever were with garden hose waterchanges.

[moldyform]

I too use two filters and use water from the kitchen sink (nearest tap). If i need warmmer water i just crank the heat up. Just set the taps to right pressure and heat and let'a go.

To to a water change i just run a 2cm D. pipe out to the garden.

[vwboy53]

I just use a host to drain into the garden, then hook it up to the tap, add some ager in the tank and fill it up.

Simple as.

[fongyfong]

i use the garden hose and fill her up, and when i empty it i empty it straight to the garden, i got lees utimate gravel cleaner cant use it yet cos it doesnt fit my tap so yeah but the ultimate gravel cleaner is the best makes water changes alot easier

[stylez]

i store tap water in a 220L drum and treat it with prime. it is aerated with an air stone aswell as a stocking filled with crush coral. ill leave it for around 2-3days. i use a pump to get the water into the tanks and i also have crushed coral im my sump aswell as using coral sand/marble chip/coral rock as substrate to buff my water.

[ant265]

The salt is mainly to kill germs and there is salt present in the lakes of africa so to as to get the water similar and i use instead of buffer (does similar but lot cheaper). Not sure the brand but from pool shop ask for 'unchlorinated' salt. Mine was about $7 for 20kg bag.

[ant265]

What benefits are to be had by adding both the salt and buffer to the

water? I'm assuming you don't use coral sand or the like in your tanks.

bilbok.

IMO salt n buffer do similar things mainly to mimic lake water chemistry. I dont see the point in spending rediculous amounts of money for something that seems so unnecessary. 2 of my 4fts have coral sand one has normal gravel for now, 2fts dont have any substrate apart from 1 that has normal gravel like the 4ft.

[FlashieFront]

I too store tap water in a 220L drum and treat it with prime to get rid of the chloramines, aerated with an air stone to get rid of the chlorine; I use a pump to get the water into the tanks as well. I fill the barrel up straight away after I do a water change so it it’s ready to go the next time.

When I empty from tanks it goes straight into the garden.

[oakes]

The salt is mainly to kill germs and there is salt present in the lakes of africa so to as to get the water similar and i use instead of buffer (does similar but lot cheaper). Not sure the brand but from pool shop ask for 'unchlorinated' salt. Mine was about $7 for 20kg bag.

I use aquarium salt (ordinary sodium chloride) myself and do not dispute the benefits but to my knowledge it will not buffer your water. For this you need carbonate/bicarbonate salts.

[Red Tail Shark]

The salt is mainly to kill germs and there is salt present in the lakes of africa so to as to get the water similar and i use instead of buffer (does similar but lot cheaper). Not sure the brand but from pool shop ask for 'unchlorinated' salt. Mine was about $7 for 20kg bag.

salt $5 from bunnings