water change advice

Well I did the water change today, about 30%. What a mess. I thought I'd
ask some "experienced" people's advice.

I have questions like:

Am I the only one using store bought water?!
What do you mix your new water in?
Do you sit there and stir or have extra powerheads doing the trick or is
there something I haven't thought of?
What's the best way to take the water from the container on the ground up to
the aquarium?

Here's a couple of things I didn't think about before I started. Thank
goodness there's nothing but snails and hermits right now.

1) I have Emperor 400's, when the water is too low they can't pull in the
water to circulate and aerate. This leads to one deadwater tank. I thought
maybe I should throw in air stones... is that what you guys do? Is stones
enough or do I need to have some filtration still working?

2) When I'm putting water back in (I lifted those 5 gallon water jugs) it
sure seemed like the flow from pouring might a bit rough on the rocks and
critters below once I get them. Yes I can sit there much longer and only
let the heavy jug slowly pour out, but there's gotta be another way. Can
you siphon uphill as easily?

Anyway, I've read a couple of things on the web but I don't have a sump,
refugium or a RO/DI connected nearby so I didn't get a lot of help. And
about those RO/DI's, do they have one that doesn't have to be plugged into
my plumbing? (small house, no basements in Texas and a decorator wife
wouldn't allow it). I'd like one that pulled water from one container into
another.

So what is your smooth water change technique?

Thanks for your time and advice,

Bryan
www.geocities.com/bryg30/ for setup details