Water changing question

[Mark]

I'm a relative newbie to aquariums, and I'd say I'm still in the
learning phase, soaking up as much as I can. I've read in all the
books I've found about the need for water changes, and I do about a
10% change every week (5 gals for a 40gal tank), but there are some
questions about the specifics that I haven't found in the books, so I
wanted to run my process past you folks. The water chemistry seems
fine, so I know I'm not too far off the mark (or I've just been
lucky).

I have a 5 gal bucket that is dedicated to water going into the
aquarium. I fill it with tap water, then let it sit for several days.
It sits outside in the summer, but indoors now. I put the lid on it,
but not tightly. When it's water changing time, I get out the "dirty
water" 5 gal bucket and my gravel vacumm. I draw 5 gals out while
vacuuming the gravel and sucking up all the "stuff" left behind (which
usually disturbs all the decorations, leaving them no longer buried).
While I'm doing this I leave the filter running. It's a Fluval 204
and it continues to suck water in and pump it out. Once the old 5
gals are drained, I put some dechlorinator in the new water and slowly
pour it in. Then I'm done.

Anything else I should be doing for water changes? I used to shut the
filter off when changing water, but turning it back on would cause it
to pump out some junk briefly, so I'm trying to avoid that.

Also, is it ok to put a gallon or so of straight tap water that hasn't
sat when topping off the tank from evaporation? I mix in a little
dechlorinator when I do that, but not much.

Thanks!

[Paul]

if you are using dechlorinator you should not need to let the water sit


Mark wrote in message >...
>I'm a relative newbie to aquariums, and I'd say I'm still in the
>learning phase, soaking up as much as I can. I've read in all the
>books I've found about the need for water changes, and I do about a
>10% change every week (5 gals for a 40gal tank), but there are some
>questions about the specifics that I haven't found in the books, so I
>wanted to run my process past you folks. The water chemistry seems
>fine, so I know I'm not too far off the mark (or I've just been
>lucky).
>
>I have a 5 gal bucket that is dedicated to water going into the
>aquarium. I fill it with tap water, then let it sit for several days.
> It sits outside in the summer, but indoors now. I put the lid on it,
>but not tightly. When it's water changing time, I get out the "dirty
>water" 5 gal bucket and my gravel vacumm. I draw 5 gals out while
>vacuuming the gravel and sucking up all the "stuff" left behind (which
>usually disturbs all the decorations, leaving them no longer buried).
>While I'm doing this I leave the filter running. It's a Fluval 204
>and it continues to suck water in and pump it out. Once the old 5
>gals are drained, I put some dechlorinator in the new water and slowly
>pour it in. Then I'm done.
>
>Anything else I should be doing for water changes? I used to shut the
>filter off when changing water, but turning it back on would cause it
>to pump out some junk briefly, so I'm trying to avoid that.
>
>Also, is it ok to put a gallon or so of straight tap water that hasn't
>sat when topping off the tank from evaporation? I mix in a little
>dechlorinator when I do that, but not much.
>
>Thanks!

[Gail Futoran]

"Mark" > wrote in message
om...

[snip]
> Also, is it ok to put a gallon or so of straight tap water
that hasn't
> sat when topping off the tank from evaporation? I mix in
a little
> dechlorinator when I do that, but not much.
>
> Thanks!

Depends on whether your water contains chlorine or
chloramines. For the latter you need a water treatment that
specifically deals with chloramines. You can call your
local water company to find out what's added to the water,
then your LFS should be able to recommend suitable
additives.

Also, the bottles of chlorine or chloramine treatment
provide instructions on how much to add. I usually try to
follow the instructions faithfully, not adding too much or
too little.

And with the water treatment you don't need to let the
replacement water sit.

Gail

[MartinOsirus]

In general - its better not to "top off" the tank(leads to mineral build up)-
but do frequent partial water changes instead.If you use a product like Amquel
- it takes care of chlorine and chloramine etc in newly added water - then no
need for the water to sit.

[Bruce Abrams]

"MartinOsirus" > wrote in message
...
> In general - its better not to "top off" the tank(leads to mineral build
up)-
> but do frequent partial water changes instead.If you use a product like
Amquel
> - it takes care of chlorine and chloramine etc in newly added water - then
no
> need for the water to sit.

From the standpoing of water chemistry, it's true that you don't need to age
water if you're going to be using a dechlorinator, and in the warmer months
I don't. However, in the winter when tap water can be very cold, I find it
to be extremely important to allow the tap water to come to room temperature
before adding it to the tank. (For this reason, I don't add water during
the winter from the Python. I only remove it.) The reason for this goes
back to high school chemistry and the gas laws. The solubility of gas in a
liquid is inversely proportional to the temperature of the liquid. So, the
colder the water is, the more dissolved gasses are in it. When that cold
water is suddenly warmed when poured into the tank, much of the dissolved
gasses (primarily air) precipitate out in the form of microbubbles which you
can see. These microbubbles will often form on all surfaces in the tank,
including the gills of the fish. For this reason, it makes good sense to at
least allow replacement water to sit for several hours and come to room
temperature.

[Toni]

"Bruce Abrams" > wrote in message news:F%_Bb.48336>
> From the standpoing of water chemistry, it's true that you don't need to
age
> water if you're going to be using a dechlorinator, and in the warmer
months
> I don't.


I have to age my water year round- right out of the tap my pH is close to
7.8 but after 24 hours with aeration it reads a more fish friendly 7.0.
Something about outgassing and the chems used in my municipal water
treatment plant??


--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/discus.htm