Water changes & water temperature

[rfrancis]

I have a 75 gal. freshwater tank that I have had up and running since late December. I've been changing 25% of the water every 2 weeks. I'd like the water changes to be a stress free for the fish as possible so I'm looking for suggestions on how best to:


Age the new water before the change
How long should the water be aged?
Maintain water temperature between new water and water in the tank.


We have an assortment of Tetras, danios, cherry barbs, algea eaters, and a couple of yo yo loaches.

Thanks for any and all advice.

[Skittyfish]

You can put the water in a large container (new garbage can) with a heater and a small powerhead. Let it age a day or two until it reaches the parameters you want.

[wetmanNY]

Whoa Skittyfish! that's okay for us who are merely chlorinated, but chloramines have to be treated.

rfrancis, if you're chlorAMinated, I'd suggest a few drops of AmQuel.

I add potassium chloride, to fertilize the plants. But you don't mention plants.

One thing I don't do myself is heat up the water. It's at cool room temperature. In the winter I set the six-gallon jug on a kitchen chair, up off the floor. But that's all.

Freshwater fishes are used to rainstorms and a rush of cooler water. Corydoras cats are even induced to spawn.

I pour in the fresh water roughly enough to stir detritus up off the gravel, so my filter can catch it...

I might add some peatwater, with your group of fishes. Or a little "blackwater extract." But I don't use cocktail "conditioners."

[rfrancis]

Thanks wetmanNY and Skitty.

I just went out and bought a trash can, heater and such (I needed backups any way).

One suggestion for others would be to make sure you buy a well constructued container - check for possible leaks. I was in a hurry and found mine had a small crack on one of the seams once it was filled with water (ugh! It is the middle of the night and I have no desire to go back out). A quick seal job will take care of that tho.

I do have live plants (sorry - can't imagine setting up a 75 gal aquarium and not going all out for live plants), that thus far are doing quite well. Although I just clipped them and have been working to root the clippings, so some fertilizer may be a good call.

Thanks!

[NJ Devils Fan]

I really don't see any point in letting water age. All you have to is put a declorinator in the water as it enters the tank, such as Stress Coat. It will de-toxify metals and such.

[Skittyfish]

NJ- That is exactly what I do. I run it from my tap byway of my python and squirt Stress-Coat in with it. And my tap is by no way near the parameters of my tank. Seems to work for me.

[thom336]

ive always just used water from my tap and dechlorinated it before adding it to the tank. i dont really have the space (well, i do, but my parents wouldnt want buckets of water filling it...) or the frequency to age it. i do monthly water changes on my large tanks, and weekly or fotnightly on my smaller, and i dont have a set date to do these, i do them with i have the time and when they seem to need doing. of course, i would never comprimise where my fish are concerned, i just use this method as it has worked for me for years.

[JSchmidt]

If you're going to age your water and you have chloramines, Amquel is not needed. Your aging tank will develop its own modest biofilter and that will handle any ammonia freed when you dechlorinate. I use plain old sodium thiosulfate on my chloriminated water. I get about 1 ppm ammonia shortly after using the thiosulfate, and less than 24 hours no ammonia is detectable.

Amquel is fine and safe, so using it in an aging tank certainly won't hurt anything, but it's a bit more expensive than plain dechlorinator.

Re: the benefits of aging, in addition to allowing ammonia (if present) to be scavenged by the aging tank's bacteria, you have additional control over temperature and parameters like KH, GH, etc., which can be handy if you keep fish that prefer water unlike your tap water. Also, in cold climates, cold water from the tap can contain a variety of dissolved gasses that can harm your fish. This probably isn't a big worry unless you do large (i.e., >25%) water changes.


HTH,
Jim