What water for my water changes?

F

fyrfighter2004

AC Members
Nov 14, 2007
10
0
0
I know tap water is terrible and needs to be treated and such but so i have a plan. For water changes I have 2 exchangeable 5 gal purified drinking water jugs(local grocery store) that i was going to fill up with my siphoned dirty water from the tank, drain/rinse media, exchange, and then fill the tank. All in all it costs $15 each time(monthly 20% water change),which can be a pain if i need to make more frequent changes(such as now). I was planning on doing this because i am under the impression that tap water can take a while to be tank ready even in a established tank. So here are my questions


Would you suggest just treating my tap water rather than my plan? and if so...
Are there conditioners that can make tank water ready quickly(a few min)?
What conditioner would you suggest?
And what methods for doing so might you recommend?

thanks so much!
 
most conditioners work pretty quick. I personally use prime and treat the entire tank as I don't do bucket brigade I use a python.

I add the prime (enough for the volume of the tank) to the tank and add tap water directly to the tank.
 
treat your tap water

i use Seachem Prime as well, the same way. in a 50g tank i add one capful of Prime - enough to treat 50g - and then i refill the tank with water directly from the sink. you just have to make sure the temperatures match. it works right away.
now that you're not spending a fortune on water, you can afford to do weekly water changes of 20% or more, instead of monthly. Waiting that long is really not good for the fish.
 
Yeah unless your tap water is particularly polluted (I mean where you shouldn't be drinking it!) there is nothing to merit any concern with using it in your tanks. Aside from treating it with Prime, Amquel, etc the only thing that you might be concerned about is hardness and pH if you're trying to do specific water conditions.
 
wow. 15 bucks a water change. BTW if you do go with the Prime, I'd switch to weekly or bi-weekly if you can. better for your fish
 
I agree you should be doing weekly water changes of atleast 20% (I would do 30-40%).. A month is a long time to wait between changes. Invest in a Python water changer/vacuum to do water changes... Hooks right up to the sink and can be used to drain and refill all at the turn of the switch... Add conditioner to the tank before filling and you are as good as gold :)
 
Great stuff i kind of figured a month was a while to go but thats what *enter bad pet store here* guy said to do.

One more question, i plan on getting a python for the changes, but does it directly drain your tank water into the sink and if so, should i just remove some extra tank water to rinse my filter media with.

Ok sorry one more, Im full of em today! When i replace my filters AC bag with the new carbon it says to rinse it thuroughly to remove dust and what what not. Should i rinse the AC bag with old tank water rather than tap water?
 
you can use the python to drain water into the sink, but you can also just drain into the bathtub (lower than the sink and you can use gravity instead of wasting water) or outside through a door or window. then just hook it up to the sink to refill the tank.

you can rinse new carbon filters with tap water, as there is no bacteria on them to be killed by the chlorine, and the amount of chlorine left on them when you are done rinsing and draining them (so they don't drip all over the floor between the sink and tank) is nothing to worry about at all. no need to replace the filters though unless they are on the edge of falling apart completely.
 
When I drain my tank I run my Python out the door close to my tank....seems to get better suction for vacuuming the gravel...plus no water waste using the faucet water to supply the suction.

I have a bucket just for rinsing my filter cartridges in... when I start draining the tank I just fill the bucket up with tank water to rinse the filters in.

When adding a new filter it is fine to rinse it under the faucet with tap water the first time as no bacteria is built up in the filter to kill .... But instead of replacing with a new filter each month like the package says just rinse it every few weeks in the tank water you drain during water changes so it doesnt kill off the good bacteria .. The chlorine in tap water would kill the good stuff off is why you shouldnt rinse them off under the faucet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom