water changing

M

mrmcmasty

Mark
Feb 8, 2005
116
0
0
50
VA
When you do a water change...do you treat the amount of gallonds you changed, or the total amount of gallons in the tank.

ie I just did 50% in my 55 gallon... do I treat the 27 gallons or the 55 gallons?
 
Treat the water you are going to add, not the whole tank. You are treating for chlorine present in the tapwater. The tankwater is (should be) already chlorine free.
 
Most manufacturers say if you are adding to tank then you should treat for tank contents (this is what prime says as well as Amquel Plus and Big als) otherwise just treat the amount per bucket (if you would be using one)
 
Do you add extra to accout for the WHOLE tank. Like if its 1 drop a gallon you do 10 drops for a %50 change on a 10 gal tank? Or do you just throw in 6 or 7 for good measure?
 
I do a 50% on all my tanks. On the 30g I add 20 drops of dechlor, the 20g gets 15 drops and both 10g get the full 10 drops. I amke sure to put the drops in the "path" of the incoming water so it will mix through the dechlor as I add it.
 
Follow up question. Is it recomended to turn off your filter while adding water directly to the tank and treating it? My reasoning behind this is that with your filter off you are temporarily isolating the bacteria in the filter media from the water in the tank. This should ensure that no chlorinated/chloramined water enters the filter. In the event that the actual tank does get exposed to some chlorine/chloramine (due to forgetting to add dechlorinator or it not mixing fast enough or for what ever other reason) only the bacteria in the tank will be affected. While this is by no means a good thing, having at least *some* bacteria isolated from the new water while it is being treated should ensure that a sizeable bacteria population is safe from accidental chlorine/chloramine poisoning. Is this a reasonable assumption worth implementing, is it overkill, or just a really bad idea?
 
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