water change

[Nerville]

Just pour it in straight out the tap or let it stand for a few hours / days first?

[tyronegenade]

IMHO, 24 hours is fine unless your municipality is using fluoride or chloramine to treat the water to subdue the population and ensure strong healthy teeth.

For small water changes, 25%, I've just stuck the hose pipe in the tank and didn't even bother with dechlorinators. Never had a problem but I'm lucky.

[Gertjc]

Same here - the municipality(s) are too damn bankrupt to bother buying chlorine etc,
that could be harmfull to our fish!

[Norio De Sousa]

If you're going to pore straight from the tap without letting it stand or without using antichlorine, do it on a Sunday! They chlorinate our water (in Gauteng, at least, possibly the Cape too), early in the week (Monday) and, by the time Sunday comes along, it's much safer. You can quite literally smell the difference. Go pour a glass of water for yourself today and take a deep wiff. Then do it again Sunday and you'll notice the chlorine smell is almost gone.

That's also the theory some people have of why some people who don't bother with antichlorine, etc, don't have issues - they tend to start their tanks on a free Sunday. Just a theory but it makes sense so I've adopted it

[Nerville]

If you're going to pore straight from the tap without letting it stand or without using antichlorine, do it on a Sunday! They chlorinate our water (in Gauteng, at least, possibly the Cape too), early in the week (Monday) and, by the time Sunday comes along, it's much safer. You can quite literally smell the difference. Go pour a glass of water for yourself today and take a deep wiff. Then do it again Sunday and you'll notice the chlorine smell is almost gone.

That's also the theory some people have of why some people who don't bother with antichlorine, etc, don't have issues - they tend to start their tanks on a free Sunday. Just a theory but it makes sense so I've adopted it

wow sounds great

[tyronegenade]

I used to do water changes on Friday: no problem. Now I do a little every day and change only about 100 L in total. I fill a 3 foot tank up each day with tap water and let it stand 24 hours and aerate it. No problems so far and I do as much as 90% water changes on some of the fry tubs.

If you have fish which prefer alkaline water this method is a nice way of maintaining the pH. I add a little Calcium carbonate and MgSO4 to the water to raise the pH to about 8.5 (above this pH CaCO3 doesn't dissolve any more).

tt

[Silikube]

Sunday is also my water change day, and after getting fed up with always having to buy dechlorinator, I eventually stopped using them a few years ago. Since then, I grab the hose and drag it into my flat to refill all my tanks.

 

[10i]

I aerate for an hour after adding dechlorinator.

[Laure]

In PE we have a chlorine content of 0.8mg/l as it leaves the reservoir. I fill up a 240l drum with a hose pipe and aerate and heat the water for 48 hours and then I use a 3000l/h pump connected to a long hose to pump 50% out of my tanks once a week and then use that same pump to fill up the tanks from the preparation drum. I have never had a problem with chlorine. Clown loaches, which are some of the fish I keep, are extremely sensitive to chlorine.

[Ryan]

If you're going to pore straight from the tap without letting it stand or without using antichlorine, do it on a Sunday! They chlorinate our water (in Gauteng, at least, possibly the Cape too), early in the week (Monday) and, by the time Sunday comes along, it's much safer. You can quite literally smell the difference. Go pour a glass of water for yourself today and take a deep wiff. Then do it again Sunday and you'll notice the chlorine smell is almost gone.

That's also the theory some people have of why some people who don't bother with antichlorine, etc, don't have issues - they tend to start their tanks on a free Sunday. Just a theory but it makes sense so I've adopted it

Are you sure about that Norio? I've also heard that they treat the water every weekday and then on fridays they put in a triple dose to last the whole weekend, making the weekend one of the worst times to do a water change.

In PE if I did a large waterchange my fish would look fine. However, up here, they tend to look a bit stressed out.

[Andre]

I do water changes every day.  Most of the chlorine gets removed while running the water in the tap.  The rest is not dangerous to your fish.  It will actually help to raise the ORP of your tank slightly.  So long as you dont have chloramine in your water you dont have much to worry about.

[Norio De Sousa]

Nope, not certain - just what I heard. I then went and smelled the water each day (I was doing daily changes of about 1 liter at the time) and it seemed to match up with the theory so, while I'm not certain, I do think it's what happens in Joburg and Centurion.

Of course, the best way to know would be to ask someone who knows or to test the water out of your tap each day and see what happens.

I imagine it could be different from place to place.

Are you sure about that Norio? I've also heard that they treat the water every weekday and then on fridays they put in a triple dose to last the whole weekend, making the weekend one of the worst times to do a water change.

In PE if I did a large waterchange my fish would look fine. However, up here, they tend to look a bit stressed out.

[Nerville]

is there any real benefit in doing a water change if
ph is correct
nitrates, nitrates, ammonia are all 0?

[Toshi]

Just a quick q, those of you who use the hosepipe, dont ypu worry about the temperature?

[Andre]

is there any real benefit in doing a water change if
ph is correct
nitrates, nitrates, ammonia are all 0?

The dissolved salt and heavy metal concentration in your tank can build up over time if you only top up the evaporated water.  This is a good enough reason to do regular water changes.