# water changing tools



## PeterL (Nov 30, 2011)

Hi folks... great forum!

So, I'm getting a 30 gal tank for my GW as a birthday present and I bought a package that includes a wooden stand/cabinet.

One thing I realize is that its necessary to change some of the water in the tank on a regular basis.

I'm not sure what our local tap water is like... I have to get a test kit. What I did years ago was fill a large water bottle and lit it sit for a day or two to allow the chlorine to disperse, and then I used that water.

Will that still work?

My main question is how to change the water. The tank and stand are going to be sitting on carpet, so I will want to avoid spills as much as possible. I dunno if that hope is realistic or not! I'm thinking of some sort of carpet protection, but I'm not sure what will work.

So, anyhow, what do you suggest for removing water and pouring more in?

I can easily get a siphon for removal... into a bucket. Is that the best way?

As for adding new water, should I just dump it in? Or should I get a small pump to pump it in slowly? I KNOW I don't want to dump it in so quickly it disturbs the plants or gravel, but I wonder if you have an alternative suggestion.

Thanks


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I use this Aquarium Maintenance and Water Changes: Aqueon Aquarium Water Changer Works the best for me and will work just fine if you go to a much larger tank in the future where bucket carrying becomes impractical. As far as chlorine, I think a product called Prime is the most popular brand for chlorine removal.


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## jbrown5217 (Nov 9, 2011)

I use a gravel vacuum and clean my gravel while I take out water. They act as a siphon. You can get them at your local lfs or lps. Top Fin® Gravel Vacuums - Aquarium Maintenance - Fish - PetSmart That is the one I use.

Get a decent sized bucket and do 20-50% water changes every other week. I prefer to do my water changes every week, but biweekly is generally ok, it depends on what you have in the tank and if it is overstocked, understocked, or perfectly stocked. If you are new to the aquarium hobby (I still consider myself a newbie as well) I would suggest understocking your tank, I overstocked my 3 gal based on the fish store guys advice and I need to be diligent about cleaning it. I am okay with it now, but I would have started with a beta if I had known better.

Also I would suggest reading up on the nitrogen cycle. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f66/fishless-cycle-15036.html

Good luck to you


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## PeterL (Nov 30, 2011)

I dunno about this process of vacuuming gravel...

Can I not set up a well balanced system that need no gravel vacuming? Years ago, I used to take out about20% of my tank's water and use it to water my house plants, and replaced it with water from my jug. Unless something went really wrong, I could maintain this for years, never needing to vacum it out.

Maybe I'm wrong, if so please help, but I thought a well balanced system would have the plants eating the nutrients that the fish excrete and returning O2 to the water for the fish.

I realize that it may take a while to get to that balanced state, but that's my goal.


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## jbrown5217 (Nov 9, 2011)

You are right plants will eat up hazardous toxins that can kill fish, but it is never a bad idea to vacuum your gravel (assuming you aren't using something like sand or another fine substrate). It will remove any leftover food on the gravel and clean up some algae, but if your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are reading fine it may not be necessary.


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## tmfish (Sep 9, 2011)

Get yourself a Python water changer. These are great easy to use and no spills. Google it


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## PeterL (Nov 30, 2011)

jbrown5217 said:


> You are right plants will eat up hazardous toxins that can kill fish, but it is never a bad idea to vacuum your gravel (assuming you aren't using something like sand or another fine substrate). It will remove any leftover food on the gravel and clean up some algae, but if your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are reading fine it may not be necessary.


Ok, perhaps I was misunderstanding... I can see vacuuming the top surface of the gravel to remove loose stuff, extra food, fish poop, etc... I thought when there was previous reference to vacuuming it was almost total removal of the gravel to clean it... that would disturb the plants too much...
Thanks


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## TypeYourTextHere (Apr 20, 2011)

If you are worried about water on your carpet get a tarp. Those are cheap and work great. As far as water changes go, you can use a Python or equivalent or you can go to your local Wal-Mart or K-mart and get one of those blue 5 gallon water containers (usually found in the automotive section or in the camping section) and use that. They are basically gas cans but they are blue and they have the nice pouring nozzles on them like gas cans. As for letting your water sit for 24+ hours to condition it still works.


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## SuckMyCichlids (Nov 5, 2011)

back in the day you used to just let the water sit out for 24 hours and it would be safe but theres more BS in our water now so most definetly use a water conditioner.


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## nhwoj (Nov 6, 2011)

vaccuming your gravel picks up all the nasty crub that's in there from dead plant matter to rotting food, you name it, it's down there. you'd be surprised how gross it gets. vaccuming gravel is definitely necessary, imo.


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## TypeYourTextHere (Apr 20, 2011)

SuckMyCichlids said:


> back in the day you used to just let the water sit out for 24 hours and it would be safe but theres more BS in our water now so most definetly use a water conditioner.


Honestly I have heard mixed opinions about this. I always use water conditioner because I have little knowledge of what is in my tap water.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I dont vacuum my tanks unless there is some plant debris or something I want out. All my tanks are fairly well planted. I will do it if I remove a plant also. My home is carpeted as well. Never had a big problem with water spills except when I overfilled the tank. I walked away from it....not the smartest thing. Carpet wasn't damaged.


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## Bawl (Aug 15, 2012)

SuckMyCichlids said:


> back in the day you used to just let the water sit out for 24 hours and it would be safe but theres more BS in our water now so most definetly use a water conditioner.


Today a lot of municipalities use chloramine instead of chlorine as well which doesn't dissipate when left to sit out so you definitely want some sort of a chlorine/chloramine neutralizer.


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## zero (Mar 27, 2012)

jbrown5217 said:


> You are right plants will eat up hazardous toxins that can kill fish, but it is never a bad idea to vacuum your gravel (assuming you aren't using something like sand or another fine substrate). It will remove any leftover food on the gravel and clean up some algae, but if your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are reading fine it may not be necessary.


one of my tanks needs heavy sand vacuuming weekly but anther one needs vacuuming maybe once a month so really depends on what your final set up will be like.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

The balanced aquarium is a myth - one that sticks around but remains impossible. The body of water in the average tank is just too small and crowded. 
You have to be the water flow - just by changing water. You can try for a balance, and you should as much as possible, but since the human makes the aquarium, you are part of the equation from the get go. You play your role, and it'll work smoothly. You be the rain, the monsoon flood, the great flowing river - it's nice work if you can get it.
You can remove 25-30% weekly for the houseplants - I've used tank water there for years. I prefer the tap connection hose water changing systems (aqueon, python, whichever is on sale). I tend not to use them to empty, unless it is by gravity to the toilet as their system wastes water. I love them for filling though.
I gravel vacuum occasionally, as needed, as I don't overfeed or overstock. If I did either, I'd do it every two weeks. Ditto for if I had small tanks (under 20 gallons) and didn't use sand. 
You can add dechloramine chemicals to the tank and then add the water directly, temperature adjusted. There is no need to let it sit. The danger is chloramine - chlorine is easy to manage, but chloramine does not break down easily and is very popular in water treatment systems. 
I say this as someone who runs multiple tanks and never loses fish after water changes. No Ich, no losses, no buckets of standing water. About 5 years ago, my municipality surprised me with a chemical flush of the mains in Springtime that cost me a tank of fish on a water change, but that happened once in (gulp) 45 years of fishkeeping. Unless your water is really foul (and I live in a city of 3 million, so it isn't mountain Springwater here) you are way better off with a hose system - we tend to enjoy easy work more than carrying 40 pound buckets.


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## Aeten (Aug 4, 2012)

AQUARIUM MULTI-VAC GRAVEL CLEANER BATTERY POWERED HOSE | eBay


That's a really great battery-operated siphon/gravel vac I bought a while ago. It creates a siphon without you having to pump it, and this makes it more accurate because you don't make it shake at all.

Can be a bit difficult to use at first, but once you understand it it's a breeze to use. You should order it from a US seller, however, not the sample seller I gave from Hong Kong unless you like waiting for a slow boat from China.

Remember to buy at least 2 'C' batteries before it arrives, that's what it runs on and they don't come with it.


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## Seena (Aug 21, 2012)

I second what all the people have said before.

What I use is a simple gravel vacuum to create the syphon and to go a little around the tank to catch up debris. Water goes in one of those 5 gallon buckets, you can get everywhere filled with water. I prefer those to a bucket because they are easier to handle.
If you wanna pour water back into the tank, just put a little pan or something at the spot where you wanna pour the water in, so the gravel doesnt get disturbed.

With this system I do not have any water spill problem and the tank is right next to a Persian rug.


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## Donald Hansen (Jan 21, 2011)

I have a 25 ft clear vinyl 1/2 inch hose with one of those gravel cleaning tubes attached to one end and a garden hose fitting to the other. To drain the tank I just use gravity to run it to the bath tub. To fill the tank I remove the aerator from the bathroom faucet and screw in an adapter I bought at Ace Hardware for 3 or 4 bucks. To this I attach the garden hose fitting on my drain hose. I get the correct temperature by running the water over a thermometer hung in the aquarium. I do this at a rate so that it takes about 20 minutes to replace the water I removed so as to shock the fish as little as possible. When about half of the removed water has been replaced I add the water conditioner. As far as getting water on the carpet, the fish splash more water than that when I feed them.

DLH


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## piklmike (Jul 14, 2011)

navigator black said:


> The balanced aquarium is a myth - one that sticks around but remains impossible. The body of water in the average tank is just too small and crowded.
> You have to be the water flow - just by changing water. You can try for a balance, and you should as much as possible, but since the human makes the aquarium, you are part of the equation from the get go. You play your role, and it'll work smoothly. You be the rain, the monsoon flood, the great flowing river - it's nice work if you can get it.
> You can remove 25-30% weekly for the houseplants - I've used tank water there for years. I prefer the tap connection hose water changing systems (aqueon, python, whichever is on sale). I tend not to use them to empty, unless it is by gravity to the toilet as their system wastes water. I love them for filling though.
> I gravel vacuum occasionally, as needed, as I don't overfeed or overstock. If I did either, I'd do it every two weeks. Ditto for if I had small tanks (under 20 gallons) and didn't use sand.
> ...


I do pretty much the same system and it works for me too. I made my own "PYTHON" trying to save money. Not sure if it's as good as the real thing but it works.


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## peterbright (Aug 19, 2012)

Every weekly water change I use the siphon to clean the gravel. I use an old (But clean) kitchen garbage can to put the dirty water in as it's relatively easy to carry outside. The dirty water is used to fertilize the vegetable garden.


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## teday (Mar 26, 2011)

navigator black said:


> The balanced aquarium is a myth - one that sticks around but remains impossible. The body of water in the average tank is just too small and crowded.
> You have to be the water flow - just by changing water. You can try for a balance, and you should as much as possible, but since the human makes the aquarium, you are part of the equation from the get go. You play your role, and it'll work smoothly. You be the rain, the monsoon flood, the great flowing river - it's nice work if you can get it.
> You can remove 25-30% weekly for the houseplants - I've used tank water there for years. I prefer the tap connection hose water changing systems (aqueon, python, whichever is on sale). I tend not to use them to empty, unless it is by gravity to the toilet as their system wastes water. I love them for filling though.
> I gravel vacuum occasionally, as needed, as I don't overfeed or overstock. If I did either, I'd do it every two weeks. Ditto for if I had small tanks (under 20 gallons) and didn't use sand.
> ...


I tried the hose straight from the sink to fill my tank but occasionally had a lot of fish just die. I assumed it was because of chlorine but that was some years ago. I really liked the convenience, but now live in a house with a water softener. Softened water is bad for plants so I'm assuming its also bad for fish. Is that true?


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## Abbeysdad (Mar 12, 2012)

Unless you have a heavily planted tank with rooted plants, you will need some periodic gravel siphoning to keep it clean. The trouble with most gravels is that their size allows uneaten food and waste to get down under and decay. If not periodically cleaned, it may become a 'nitrate factory'.

I think sand is a much better substrate as nothing gets below the surface and it can more easily be removed by hovering the siphon above the surface.
I use pool filter sand but many have success with play sand. Any sand should be well rinsed before use to eliminate 'fines' (small particles of sand).

You should always use a conditioner for water, as previously mentioned, many municipalities are switching to chloromine because it doesn't readily dissipate like chlorine. I suggest you use Seachem Prime.

You can get a Python or Aqueon type device or just get a hose adapter for the sink. Siphon water out doors and refill from the sink ensuring the water temp is close AND you have added enough conditioner to handle the entire tank volume. Some only use enough conditioner to treat the volume of new water added, but I always fear that the dilution before adding the new water may represent a risk.


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## foster (Sep 2, 2012)

Check out a Python, or Aqueon water changer, its the easiest way to change water. If you have a municipal water supply, be sure to add dechlorinator to the tank before putting new water in. Most people use Prime. I lay an old blanket in front of my tanks when working on them, so no water gets on the carpeting. Hope this helps!!


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