Water Change System

[Astex]

I am planning on setting up a 30-50 gallon container of treated water to use when I change water on my 55gal.

I wanted to know what kind of pump should I be looking for to use in the barrel to fill the aquarium. It's obviously going to have to be big enough to overcome the head pressure but beyond that I'm not sure which specific ones to consider.

Thanks!

[PhishPhreek]

The question is......
How long do you want to stand around and watch your tank drain & fill ?
If it takes to long, you will get distracted and the tank will overflow while you are doing something else.

If you want to move 50 gallons in 10 minutes you need a pump rated at 300 gph for the head required. How high is it from the bottom of the drum to the top of your tank. (6ft ?) If so, you want a pump rated for 600 gph at 0 head (a mag 7 is rated 700gpm)

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=47136

[rage]

Water change

Don't sweat it too much. I've used pumps ranged from 300 gph to 600, 800 gph. The smaller one obviously takes longer. The biggger one, faster, but u have to watch it so it does not spray water all over the place. Of course u have to watch it regardless of pump size but the bigger one has bigger kick.

I only use a storage container for my salt water though. For fresh water tank, I run a hose directly from the kitchen faucet. I don't want to have another unsightly container sitting around the house.

[Astex]

I would love to run a hose directly from the tap, but unfortunately League City has chloramines in the water and I don't want to risk not getting it all out with the dechlor.

I didn't think to look at harbor freight, I will have to check it out.

Thanks.

[manifresh006]

Im not sure but i believe i have also seen a topoff system for water tanks at harbor freight(not aquariums) but could be easily modded for the tank if not here a nice little link

http://www.aquahub.com/store/diygaquarium.html

[Zulaab]

Astex -- I dont know how big your tank is, but most freshwater people I know do water changes with water coming directly from the tap, and not pretreated, before it enters the aquarium.
The main thing to remember is that if you do use that system, make sure that you dose your aquarium for the total gallon amount of the tank when refilling the tank. This ensures that there is an abundance of sodium hydroxymethanesulfonate in the water to break down chlorine and chloramines (chlorine combined with ammonia). If you still are worried about your water supply, then I can only suggest you contact fshfrk and either buy one of his carbon bottles, or get his assistance with building a bottle of your own. No matter what is in the water, when you have run it through a carbon bottle there is ZERO chlorine and chloramines in the water.

[rage]

I would love to run a hose directly from the tap, but unfortunately League City has chloramines in the water and I don't want to risk not getting it all out with the dechlor.

I didn't think to look at harbor freight, I will have to check it out.

Thanks.

I am from League City also and I've never had any problems. I remove the old water from the tank, as much or as little as I want. Run a garden hose from the kitchen faucet and add Seachem Prime to the tank directly.

[manifresh006]

BTW adding water treated doesn't make a big difference was doing for about 3 months and think there wasn't many changes going back to tap water

just my opinion

[eklikewhoa]

It just takes one time for Prime or the chlorine/chloramine in the water to make you wish you took the precautions.

[PhishPhreek]

I have had at least 2 times when I had a massiave die off after a tap water change in several tanks and I suspect it was due to a massive overdose of chemicals by the water company. But mainly I like to put my make up water in a drum so I have makup water at the fish room temp (82F) and after circulating the water through an over head sprayer, I know the gasses are gone and the pH is stable. I also add lots of goodies to my make up water - almond leaves, salt, vitamins & minerals. But then I do a 100% water change on 100 betta jars every week.

[Astex]

I've had most of my fish for long enough that I am quite attached and would be heartbroken to lose them to something as stupid as a bad water change.

That happened once this year already (extra chlorine added to city water) and I don't really want to repeat the experience.

I actaully would be interested in carbon bottles for other reasons though, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

[eklikewhoa]

At my new place there are measurable amounts of Chlorine and Chloramine but so far the trusty carbon bottle has kept me going with my 100% water changes.

[rage]

I've had most of my fish for long enough that I am quite attached and would be heartbroken to lose them to something as stupid as a bad water change.

That happened once this year already (extra chlorine added to city water) and I don't really want to repeat the experience.

Being extra careful is good. How do treat your water in the water change container though? How do you know you got rid of the chlorine and chloramine?

[cichlid1409]

Being extra careful is good. How do treat your water in the water change container though? How do you know you got rid of the chlorine and chloramine?

buy a chlorine test kit......

[Zulaab]

The water company around you either adds chlorine or chloramine to the water, they do not add both. The issue people talk about, ie after a large rainstorm it always seems like "they add more" and reality is that is just not true. What the issue is, people use less water (to water their garden, etc.) after a large rainstorm has gone through, and therefore water is left longer in the storage containers. What happens with Chloramine is that it breaks down over time (ie the ammonia and chlorine become free from each other) -- this is how the water company uses chloramine -- to allow the chlorine to "last longer" in the pipes as Chlorine evaporates quick from water (within 24-48 hours). When the "smell of chlorine" is present it means that more of the chloramine in the water. Most humans can smell 3.0 ppm chloramine (4ppm is the max allowed by law to be in our drinking water) Most water treatment plant today puts no more than 3.5ppm in the water, as anything over 4.0 sensitive people (6.0ppm and then its all people) would start getting sick to their stomachs drinking water.

The best way to remove all traces really is a carbon bottle, and having seen EK's success with large volume water changes using only a carbon bottle, and the growth and huge fish, I am a firm believer in the carbon bottle.