Best and Fastest way to do water changes in 72 gal

I got tired of running back and forth with buckets of water. I decided to buy some 3/4" PVC and run it into the mechanical room behind the fish tank. In Colorado 90% of homes have a floor drain in the mech room. Just have to make sure you have a downgrade or... well you you'll be in for a suprise if you don't! The drain runs against the wall which I strapped with 3/4" clamps and ran it to the floor drain. My wife was insistant that you not be able to see the PVC from the living room so I ran it into the stand with enough rise to get the pressure going! (The 2nd drain you see is for my humidifier.)

Total cost: $15.00 from Lowes and about 2 hours of my time. Happy DIY'ing!
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Hi,
I'm still a newbie. 10 gallon tank that has cycled, but I'm having some problems still.

I was wondering about the Python for water changes. Since the fresh water comes in as the old is syphoning out, I guess it means you have to remove your fish each time, because you have to dechlorinate it after it's in the tank. Or does the system have a way to add conditioner as it is flowing in?

I hate to have to remove the 3 neons, 2 guppies (there were three until this morning....sigh) 2 ADFs, 3 ghost shrimp, and a fairly new addition, an Emerald cat, in my 10 gallon tank. The guppy was one 1 of 2 that I added the same time as the cat. Isn't it extremely stressful to the fish to have to remove them every time you do a water exchange?

I am worried about them all since one of the guppies died, apparently last night. I'm fighting algae, and went too long without a water change (although nitrites were 0 and ammonia 0 during that time and at the time of the change. The gravel was really dirty, I went about 2 months without vacuuming)

Then, I did too much, maybe 85%, as I was vacuuming the gravel, which I think must have reduced the beneficial bacteria so much that it took a week to build back up. The nitrites were in the stress level for several days, and I did 2 - 25% water exchanges, and now they are in the caution level and going down.

Shoul I be really worried about the other fish? The frogs seem to be in great shape. I worry about the cat, although he looks healthy, since several weeks ago I had gotten a pleco and he died after about 2 weeks during a time when the nitrites were at the stress and reached the danger level. I acted quickly and kept making repeated 25% water exchanges every day trying to bring it down. Finally my biofilter is really loaded with some good stuff and the tank seems to be fully cycled.

Sorry for all the questions and tedious info about my struggles. I really love this, but I know I'm a work in progress.

Thanks for any input.

Melo_D
 
Hi Melody,

You should probably start your own thread for these questions but I'll answer some for you here.

No, you don't need to remove the fish for the water changes. When refilling just add the dechlorinator to the tank first (enough for the full capacity of the tank, not just the water being replaced) and then fill with fresh water which is the same temp as the tank.

If your gravel is very dirty, it probably means you are overfeeding.

Vacuuming should not have removed a lot of your beneficial bacteria. They are on the surfaces of everyhting in your tank, including the gravel, ornaments and in your filter.

If your ammonia and nitrites are both zero, as you state, and you have some measurable nitrates then it means your tank is cycled.

Hope that helps. And if you have more questions try starting a new thread. It'll get more attention.


Melody Doucet said:
Hi,
I'm still a newbie. 10 gallon tank that has cycled, but I'm having some problems still.

I was wondering about the Python for water changes. Since the fresh water comes in as the old is syphoning out, I guess it means you have to remove your fish each time, because you have to dechlorinate it after it's in the tank. Or does the system have a way to add conditioner as it is flowing in?

I hate to have to remove the 3 neons, 2 guppies (there were three until this morning....sigh) 2 ADFs, 3 ghost shrimp, and a fairly new addition, an Emerald cat, in my 10 gallon tank. The guppy was one 1 of 2 that I added the same time as the cat. Isn't it extremely stressful to the fish to have to remove them every time you do a water exchange?

I am worried about them all since one of the guppies died, apparently last night. I'm fighting algae, and went too long without a water change (although nitrites were 0 and ammonia 0 during that time and at the time of the change. The gravel was really dirty, I went about 2 months without vacuuming)

Then, I did too much, maybe 85%, as I was vacuuming the gravel, which I think must have reduced the beneficial bacteria so much that it took a week to build back up. The nitrites were in the stress level for several days, and I did 2 - 25% water exchanges, and now they are in the caution level and going down.

Shoul I be really worried about the other fish? The frogs seem to be in great shape. I worry about the cat, although he looks healthy, since several weeks ago I had gotten a pleco and he died after about 2 weeks during a time when the nitrites were at the stress and reached the danger level. I acted quickly and kept making repeated 25% water exchanges every day trying to bring it down. Finally my biofilter is really loaded with some good stuff and the tank seems to be fully cycled.

Sorry for all the questions and tedious info about my struggles. I really love this, but I know I'm a work in progress.

Thanks for any input.

Melo_D
Click to expand...
 
Thanks, I appreciate the help. I'm new at this kind of posting thingy, too. I'll start a new thread next time. :-)
 
Melody Doucet said:
Hi,
I'm still a newbie. 10 gallon tank that has cycled, but I'm having some problems still.

I was wondering about the Python for water changes. Since the fresh water comes in as the old is syphoning out, I guess it means you have to remove your fish each time, because you have to dechlorinate it after it's in the tank. Or does the system have a way to add conditioner as it is flowing in?

I hate to have to remove the 3 neons, 2 guppies (there were three until this morning....sigh) 2 ADFs, 3 ghost shrimp, and a fairly new addition, an Emerald cat, in my 10 gallon tank. The guppy was one 1 of 2 that I added the same time as the cat. Isn't it extremely stressful to the fish to have to remove them every time you do a water exchange?

I am worried about them all since one of the guppies died, apparently last night. I'm fighting algae, and went too long without a water change (although nitrites were 0 and ammonia 0 during that time and at the time of the change. The gravel was really dirty, I went about 2 months without vacuuming)

Then, I did too much, maybe 85%, as I was vacuuming the gravel, which I think must have reduced the beneficial bacteria so much that it took a week to build back up. The nitrites were in the stress level for several days, and I did 2 - 25% water exchanges, and now they are in the caution level and going down.

Shoul I be really worried about the other fish? The frogs seem to be in great shape. I worry about the cat, although he looks healthy, since several weeks ago I had gotten a pleco and he died after about 2 weeks during a time when the nitrites were at the stress and reached the danger level. I acted quickly and kept making repeated 25% water exchanges every day trying to bring it down. Finally my biofilter is really loaded with some good stuff and the tank seems to be fully cycled.

Sorry for all the questions and tedious info about my struggles. I really love this, but I know I'm a work in progress.

Thanks for any input.

Melo_D
Click to expand...

It's kind of nice to hear from the new hobbyist's ...

Sometimes I forget what it was like ...

I'm finally mellowing out ... about to shut down one of the 90's, another 56, and the 29 bowface ...
 
Stupid question here. :idea:

Do you vac with the python or just switch the water? I guess it depends on where you are dumping the water.
 
lovemybarbs said:
Stupid question here. :idea:

Do you vac with the python or just switch the water? I guess it depends on where you are dumping the water.
Click to expand...

Whenever possible you should vacuum the gravel with the python. In my planted tanks that's pretty much impossible because I can't reach the substrate because of the plants. So I just do water changes and hope for the best.
 
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