Where to put all the water???

[Boohoo]

Just a question wondering what do you do with all your water needed for partial changes when dealing with large aquariums? I have 2- 10 gallon tanks and my living room has a bunch of 1 gallon jugs sitting around. I fill them and condition them and then sit them buy the heat source to warm up. I can't imagine how you deal with a tank too much bigger. Please enlighten me as I am considering a larger tank in the near future.

[daveedka]

44 gallon trash can with a heater and powerhead, also a pump to get the water out. but many folks just adjust their tap water temp and out it right in with dechlorinator.
Dave

[Boohoo]

So then it is ok to use water from your hot water tank?? I thought maybe there was less oxygen in it or something.Not the brightest bulb in the pack am I!!!

[RTR]

55-gallon Rubbermaids on casters and spare tanks used as reservoirs, with heaters, pumps for recirculation and aeration.

[tel0004]

Yeah, its fine to use water straight from the tap. Just use chemicals right before you add the water to remove the chlorine, and chloramean. I own a python, so the water for my tanks only left the tap seconds ago. Its the best investment I ever made.

[Boohoo]

Thanks, You learn something new all the time, if you take the time to ask questions!!

[Kasakato]

The best de-chlor is Prime. Little of this stuff is need to treat the water.

[gsk177]

By all means BooHoo, do NOT make water changes harder than they have to be. Water changes are your fishes best friends if done properly.

For 2 10 gallon tanks, a simple gravel vaccum and a 5 gallon bucket is all thats needed along with some Prime. Syphon into the 5 gallon bucket, dump it, then add new tap water (same temp) to the same bucket with the recommended dosage of Prime and pour into the new tank.

[OrionGirl]

I have 2 agricultural sprayer tanks--110 gallons with FW, 65 gallon with SW. Bought new, cleaned carefully, and with hookups for running hoses to the tanks. Water is filtered on the way in, can be agitated and heated as needed. The SW stuff is easy--gravity feed for both FW topoffs and changes. I use buckets to get the FW upstairs for changes on the FW tanks--good exercise. :)

[daveedka]

So then it is ok to use water from your hot water tank??

This is one of those subjects that contains many half truths and myths, but if not clarified, can be a dangerous situation.

The half truth is that Hot water heaters have excessive levels of copper, lime, this that and something else and therefore you shouldn't use the water out of water heater.

The facts are, the water itself is the same as the cold water. The tank where the water is heated, can build up nasties, older water heaters especially those with copper linings can leach those nasties. Lime tends to settle out of hot water very well and build up on the inside of the tank also.

The fact is if your water heater is resonably modern, and you flush it out occasionally there should not be a big problem. One of the blessings I have is the only available water spigot in my basement right now happens to be the drain valve on my hot water tank. that is the source of all of my change water. When I first started using it, I got a lot of junk out of the tank, and did some serious flushing of particles. now, my weekly routine keeps the tank in good shape, and I don't get lime, or mineral deposits enough to see. additionally my fish and snails have no problem at all with the water.

If you have a 20 year old copper water heater, I wouldn't use it. if you have a fairly modern, resonably clean system, I would.
Dave

[johnnyxxl]

I use 2 5 gallon buckets for my water changes as my faucets are in a rental and were the cheap ones with out the screw off adapters that the better ones have. I have not seen i na store the adapter I read about for the python so I may have to order it as I am planning on a large tank.

[A7ESF]

Python = Greatest invention FW Aquariums ever saw! :D

[bigp]

Python, Python, Python...

[Dragon Queen]

Python = Greatest invention FW Aquariums ever saw! :D


I thought he was talking about a snake. Is it some sort of gravel cleaner, or what?

[Kasakato]

LoL its a snake that swims and sucks up water. (J/K:))

Its really a hose with a gravel vac on the end. On the other end it connects to a "fill and drain" pump thing. You can remove water/dirt from the tank and then fill your tank all with the same tool. No buckets/moving water is needed. Heres a link to what it looks like:

http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/category.xml?category_id=2001;ppp=16;page=2;sort=; pcid1=3347;pcid2=;breadcrumb=.

[Dragon Queen]

Cool, thanks for the info .:)

[gali]

I consider getting a python, but one thing bothers me. I thought you're supposed to treat tap water before you add it to the tank. If you use a python don't you do the opposite as water goes straight from tap to tank? You can probably add the conditioner to the tank after you add the water, but it doesn't sound right. Or is it OK?

[Raskolnikov]

I consider getting a python, but one thing bothers me. I thought you're supposed to treat tap water before you add it to the tank. If you use a python don't you do the opposite as water goes straight from tap to tank? You can probably add the conditioner to the tank after you add the water, but it doesn't sound right. Or is it OK?

I use my python to remove water from my tanks, and to fill my resevoir barrels that are in my fish room. The barrels are treated, heated, aerated and aged before I use a pond pump to pump the resevoir water into my tanks for water changes. The python is still crucial to my regiment, even though I never add water directly from the tap/python to a tank.

[Kasakato]

I add the de-chlor as Im filling my tank. So when water from the Python is comming in, it add a few drops of the chemicals. No one has had any problems when doing this.