"Nikki Casali" wrote in message
...


Scott wrote:
snip

Also i guess I should mention I haven't done any water changes yet, and
going by my water results I don't think thats an issue. When the time
comes to do a water change what is the best way to do this? Do I need
to buy another heater to get the tempature right, or just play with hot
and cold tap and a thermometer?

You're asking these questions as if there will be a definitive and
agreed-upon answer to them all ;~). Many opinions vary, but imo,
generally for municipal water, you can just play with the taps and
dechlorinate in the tank. Gravel vacuum with some type of pipe with
suction (look at how the Python works), and don't vacuum under plants.
For the average person, there isn't any chemical clues as to how often
the water needs to be partially changed. We sometimes go by nitrate
levels, but planted tanks can keep the NO3 level at zero. Typically
then, try to do about 20% water change per week. It is to thin out many
things which you cannot neccesarily measure.



That is a question that I have hassled with since I bought my Python
aquarium cleaning setup. I am still adding water to the fish tanks by
filling a bucket by the tank with the hose and adding the de-chlorinator
to that, then dumping into the tank. So it IS OK to add the chems to the
tank and then fill with the hose from the tap??

Personally, I'm not very comfortable with idea. Dumping the dechlorinator
directly into the tank means that it will be diluted 10 times - 10% water
change. That could mean it takes 10 times longer to neutralise the
chlorine doing damamge in the meantime. But that's purely a guess.

Nikki


That was the issue I was wrestling with - the dilution of the chems to
neutralise chlorine. I would not necessarily agree with it taking 10 times
longer to take effect, though that it not outside of the range of
speculation. Maybe adding the dechlorinator to the tank and allowing time
for circulation vis-a-vis the filter itself would be wiser, then adding the
water from the tap?? I have no qualms with following the advice of NetMax
from my lurking on the newsgroup for several weeks, but I wonder about any
residual effects from stray amounts of chlorine or chloramine that do not
get neutralized immediately. Obviously if you dump anything into a pool of
water, it will take time to distribute evenly, IHMO.

OTOH, since two of the more more prolific posters, and the ones that seem to
have the most knowledge on keeping fish tanks seem to agree on this - I
think I will go along. It will sure save my back some strain!!

---scott