cleaning question

I need some advice...

I have a 55g aquarium with one 30-60 Aqua-Tech filter (wal-mart brand). I
have a few tetras, cories, and dainos in there (maybe 10 fish in all). My
questions are... should I add another filter? What brands are recommended
and what size to add to the existing filter. I am planning on more community
fish in the future. How often should I do water changes? And how much? I've
been doing water changes every two weeks with a 25% change. Also, I'm doing
the siphon hose and bucket routine.... which takes me 3 hours. Does the
water changing system that has a hook up to the faucet work well? I was
worried about the temperature and if it can do great damage if it isn't the
same as what is in the tank. And how about the stress coat, does putting it
in the tank water AFTER the new water is added make a big difference?
Thanks, to all responses... I'm really enjoying my aquarium and reading
these newsgroups.

~Kristen

I do a water change once a week in my 55 gallon. Siphoning and refilling
take less than 30 minutes. I have two 5-gallon pails that I fill with
water and condition etc. i use my gravel vac and siphon the water into
two other buckets and then replace the water removed with the new water.

Kristen Goodreau wrote:
I need some advice...

I have a 55g aquarium with one 30-60 Aqua-Tech filter (wal-mart brand). I
have a few tetras, cories, and dainos in there (maybe 10 fish in all). My
questions are... should I add another filter? What brands are recommended
and what size to add to the existing filter. I am planning on more community
fish in the future. How often should I do water changes? And how much? I've
been doing water changes every two weeks with a 25% change. Also, I'm doing
the siphon hose and bucket routine.... which takes me 3 hours. Does the
water changing system that has a hook up to the faucet work well? I was
worried about the temperature and if it can do great damage if it isn't the
same as what is in the tank. And how about the stress coat, does putting it
in the tank water AFTER the new water is added make a big difference?
Thanks, to all responses... I'm really enjoying my aquarium and reading
these newsgroups.

~Kristen

Subject: cleaning question
From: "Partner"
Date: 9/4/2003 2:02 AM Central Daylight Time
Message-id:

On 3-Sep-2003, "Kristen Goodreau" wrote:

Also, I'm doing
the siphon hose and bucket routine.... which takes me 3 hours. Does the
water changing system that has a hook up to the faucet work well? I was
worried about the temperature and if it can do great damage if it isn't the
same as what is in the tank.

I'm a newbie at fishkeeping (3 months), but I do have experience with the
gravel vac hose you're talking about. It works as advertised, but the
connector that came with it (to connect to your inside faucet) is made of
cheap
plastic. Water leaked and it even blew off a couple of times. What a mess.
So, I discarded the connector altogether and attached the unit directly to
the
outside water faucet. Now I vacuum the gravel, change water and water my
plants all at once. :-) If you absolutely had to drain into your sink, you
could probably find a connector made of metal that would work. I've put that
on my hubby's "to-do" list. LOL!

Also, I don't use the fill option on the thing. It works fine, but that
would
be putting tap water directly into the tank which would also put chlorine
directly into the tank. I always de-chlorinate the water before putting it
in
the tank by filling a 3 gallon bucket in the bathtub and hauling it back and
forth. I asked the sales lady to explain how it worked before I bought it.
She said it was great - that they use it to add water to their tanks every
day
from the outside tap. I'm a newbie, so maybe this is okay, but everything
I've
read says you should always de-chlorinate first, then add the water.......

You attach one end of it to the faucet, pull the plunger down for drain or up
for fill. Turn the faucet on and then go back inside and drain or fill your
tank. The water pressure automatically starts the siphoning process. I like
that. There's a switch on the gravel vac (in-house) end that will stop
either
process, which is very nice, but really only needed when you're filling. I
use
it on my 46 gallon, and wish they made smaller, lighter unit for my 10 gallon
also.

Good Luck! Cheryl

Your making more work for yourself by using bucket to refill your tanks.
You are worried about the water refilling the tank straight from the tap,
chlorinated....all you need to do is put the dechlor in the tank before you
switch it to fill.
It's not going to harm your fish (adding it first).
When you can do water changes on a few tanks in 15 mintues and not use *one*
bucket.....water changes become a weekly breeze!

Subject: cleaning question
From: "rapdor"
Date: 9/4/2003 2:36 PM Central Daylight Time
Message-id:


"TYNK 7" wrote
Your making more work for yourself by using bucket to refill your tanks.
You are worried about the water refilling the tank straight from the tap,
chlorinated....all you need to do is put the dechlor in the tank before
you
switch it to fill.
It's not going to harm your fish (adding it first).
When you can do water changes on a few tanks in 15 mintues and not use
*one*
bucket.....water changes become a weekly breeze!

Thats's interesting. So youre saying that if I remove say 6 buckets of
water from my tank, I can then just add the appropriate amount of
dechlorinator directly into the tank, and then add the fresh 6 buckets back
to the tank--no need to put the dechlorinator in each bucket individually
first. Is this correct? If so, I'm pleased to learn that. But could you
please explain how the dechlorinator actually works in that case? Thanks.


Yes, you can add the dechlor first.
Dechlorinator works instantly.

You are worried about the water refilling the tank straight from the tap,
chlorinated....all you need to do is put the dechlor in the tank before you
switch it to fill.
It's not going to harm your fish (adding it first).
When you can do water changes on a few tanks in 15 mintues and not use
*one*
bucket.....water changes become a weekly breeze!

Boy, that sure would save a lot of work. But I'm still skeptical. Are you
doing it that way? No adverse effects to the fish? I'm a newbie and
everything I've read has advised to treat water before you add it, and some
even add that you should aerate it and age it first! Thanks, Cheryl

15 - 20% water changes straight from the tap (temperature close
to tank temperature, of course) will not harm fish.. No dechlor
necessary. Over that, you should use the dechlor.
If you want to be sure, there are cheap test strips for
chlorine/chloromine
that you can use.

Many of us have enough tanks and experience to confirm.

bob

Subject: cleaning question
From: "Granny"
Date: 9/5/2003 12:37 PM Central Daylight Time
Message-id:

On 4-Sep-2003, (TYNK 7) wrote:

Your making more work for yourself by using bucket to refill your tanks.
You are worried about the water refilling the tank straight from the tap,
chlorinated....all you need to do is put the dechlor in the tank before you
switch it to fill.
It's not going to harm your fish (adding it first).
When you can do water changes on a few tanks in 15 mintues and not use
*one*
bucket.....water changes become a weekly breeze!

Boy, that sure would save a lot of work. But I'm still skeptical. Are you
doing it that way? No adverse effects to the fish? I'm a newbie and
everything I've read has advised to treat water before you add it, and some
even add that you should aerate it and age it first! Thanks, Cheryl


Yes, I have drained the tanks with my Python, *then* added the dechlor, then
refilled the tank.
Have done this for many years and never a problem.
Before I had the Python I would dose the tank with dechlor before adding fresh
water from a bucket.
Your main concern will be to get the faucet temp as close aspossible to the
tank water. It's actually not that hard.
I have a good idea of what faucet temp is close to the tank temp, then I get a
jar of tank water and place it next to sink.
I check the sink's temp, then the jar's temp. It doesn't take but a minute to
find the right temp.