Python Method

[Pellegrino]

I've had fish in my tank now for three weeks, and I give all the credit for the fact that they are still alive and appear to be healthy and happy to the folks on the forum. Thanks you, guys and gals!

I have been a little unclear on water changes with my python, though, so I thought I'd post a detailed list of the steps I take and ask for comments. FYI, I have 10 neon tetras, 3 zebra danios and 2 otocinclus cats in the tank and waste levels have been steadily within .25 of 0ppm, usually at 0. Nitrate seems to get to be about 5ppm by the time I do a water change. Maybe this can be useful to somebody else in the future as well:

1. Attach python to faucet and place gravel vac in tank
2. Turn on water to create siphon (I can't put too much pressure on my python or the brass fitting misthreads in the plastic and I get water all over the place, but it seems to have enough pressure to clean the gravel)
3. Clean the gravel by pressing the end of the vaccum down into it and lifting out a "core of gravel" to a height of an inch or two, which then falls back to the bottom. The muck is released from the gravel and most of it goes up into the python.
4. Repeat step 3 till the water level gets down by about 6 inches which is just over 27% of my tank or about 10 galls. At this point my Emperor filter has started to grind and suck futilely so I unplug it. My heater is submerged enough so that removing this much water does not take the water level below the safe point on the heater.
5. Remove the gravel vac and take it to the sink. Reverse the flow of water through the python to clean out the vac and tubing.
6. While it is rinsing I add 1ml of Prime to the tank water with a syringe used only for this purpose. I suck a few MLs of water into and out of the syringe to rinse it a bit and start the prime mixing in the tank.
7. Put the gravel vac back in the tank and turn the tap on just barely to start filling it. I figure if I fill it very slowly the heater won't have to work quite as hard to get the new water to temp and the prime will have time to neutralize the chlorine in my tap water. It takes at least half an hour to get the 10 galls back into the tank. I try to regulate the water temperature a little bit at the tap so the temp in the tank doesn't swing more than a degree or two.
8. Once the tank is full again I turn the filter back on.

So far this has worked pretty well for me. I've done it twice a week for the last three weeks. The fish don't seem to be unduly stressed by the procedure, in fact the danios seem to be extremely curious and often swim right up around where the water is coming into the tank. The neons and otos stay down out of the way.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to make it better/safer/easier? or am I ok? TIA!

[Kasakato]

You are doing it the way I am doing it. Good Work :)

One thing thoe is that you dont need to fill your tank soo slowly. If you get the right water temp out of the tap everything should be fine.

[Pellegrino]

I wondered about the rate of fill vs. temperature as well because when I did a large water change a couple of days before adding the fish I had a hard time keeping the temperature in the right range. My tap seems to either want to be cold or hot... nothing in between. Anyway, I may have been exagerating the time it takes to refill a little. I've never really timed it, but it seems like about 30 mins. I imagine as I keep at it I'll get better at maintaining the temperature and be able to increase the flow a bit.

[Kasakato]

I just did a 50% water change and it took me about 10 min to fill it up on a 20g. The temp stayed at the same temp all the way through, because I made the tap water the right temp. I say use a thermoniter on the tap water and see how close you can get.

[aknif]

I do about this same procedure too on my 125g. I have two power strips running all the lights and filters and power heads, so I can just reach back and flip two switches to shut it all down. Then, I like to hook my python to a hose and drag it out the front door onto the lawn. We've had some dry years here in Colorado and a little extra water on the grass can't hurt! In the summertime, I have a garden out back and I plan to drag the hose in through the back door, hook it to the python, and let the water run into the garden. Fish poo water is a GREAT fertilizer! Got any house plants? :) When I was in the working world, I had my 5.5 gallon on my desk. When I did water changes, i'd send out an e-mail that I had fresh fish poo water available... I had people coming to my desk from 3 different buildings to take their cup of poo water back to their little desk plants! But that's another story... Anyway, I do kinda a combo of the "core" method and just a swooping through the gravel. Usually, i'll start at one end of the tank and do a real thorough vac'ing, messing up the plants (all fake) and everything, to the other end of the tank and then come back while swooping through the gravel and kinda getting it back into the sloped shape that I like it. When I fill the tank, I leave the faucet fitting open to adjust the water temp, once it's right, I close the drain valve forcing the water into the tank, and then I stand there, at the tank, with my hand moving from the tank water to the fill water until the tank is full again, adjusting the temp if I need to during that time and adding dechlorinator periodically as it fills. I've got it down to a science now! Takes me less than 1 hour total, from start to finish! :-)

[illiswiller]

I have a question about this method too...
I bought a 50 ft Python BUT! my tap water comes out at a pH >8.0 and sometimes 9.0! Can I fill the tank and THEN add the pH decreaser?? I didn't think so?? What do you do w/ your Python method if your tap parameters are so wacked out?

BTW: I have Malaysian driftwood to lower pH and am going to hook up a Hagen CO2 thingy, and may start some peat in my canister too. I hate constantly adding the pH decreaser ;)

[illiswiller]

PS I really like the idea about releasing water into the garden! We have veggies in the back - can't wait for summer - one more reason to validate the fish tank to my hubby! :)

[aknif]

I'm not much help here, but I can tell you that my tap water comes out with a ph of 8.0. I posted that info in another thread here and I was assured that my fish will acclimate themselves to my 8.0 water, and they have... everyone has been fine so far! Now 9.0 is another story! :eek: You may want to post another thread in the general freshwater forum and see what people say. I've seen all kinds of things... there was even one person who uses a huge rubbermaid trash can on rolling casters, complete with a pump and heater installed in the bottom of it and they fill that with their tap water to treat it and let it age before pumping it into their tanks... I gotta give it to them! That's some serious fishkeeping there! I'm afraid my hubby would make me pack it up if I had a giant can of water aging in the front hall closet!! :D

[Raskolnikov]

I use my python to remove water from my tanks, but I use a 55gallon plastic drum to age/heat my tapwater before pumping it into my tanks w/ a mag-drive pump. I then refill the barrel w/ the python and am ready for another change in a couple days.

[illiswiller]

Thanks - I'll post to the other forum. I don't think I have the room for a 55 gallon drum OR waste can! Yikes wehre do you keep those? As it is, my hubby is complaining about the big bucket that keeps being moved from teh bathroom to the laundry room and back again. ;)

[mcps95]

One thing you may want to consider doing is stopping the filter before vacuuming the tank. While it's probably minimal, this will cause less wear-and-tear on your filter. I typically turn off my filter and powerhead before I start water changes/vacuuming.

Also, there really isn't a need to be so precise with the Prime. I use the cap from the Prime to judge/measure out the right amount.

Sounds like your fish have a great keeper!

Mike