Maintain Water Temp. During Water Changes

[Jawz]

Hey, i was curious as to how you get ur water to be sorta equal with that in the tank during the water changes. Ive heard its not recommend to use hot water because it releases a chemical which occurs in hot water pipes which could be bad for fish. Also some use heaters, but i prefer not to take my submersible outta the tank and use my old hang on.

so do you:

-use a heater
-mix hot and cold water
-jsut cold water

hmm lately ive jsut added cold water, like 60 F outta the tap, today i mized the water cuz to test and see how the fish coped.

 

[geoffgarcia2]

In all my years of fish keeping I've never considered adjusting the temp of the water I'm adding to a freshwater tank.

I'm certainly not gonna start anytime soon, and I dont think you should preoccupy yourself with it either
hope that helps!

 

[Leopardess]

I am going to completely disagree with what geofgarcia said... it is incredibly important to make sure that the replacement water is as close to possible as the tank water, i.e. water parameters, inclusive of temperature. You don't want to constantly stress the fish by pouring in 60 degree water into an 80 degree tank. BRRR! You might as well add water that has a pH of 5 to a tank that has 7.5 normally. Granted, for a tiny water change it isn't that important, but for larger ones I think it definitely is. So, I know about the whole hot water tank residue thing, but I'm not about to boil say, 20 gallons of water (ideally, you're supposed to heat cold water on the stove) so I just let the hot water run for a long while to flush the pipes and all that jazz....I have a thermometer that I use to check the temp of the replacement water before I go dumping it in the tank.

 

[Jawz]

yeh cuz ive heard of those stress factors and my platies are pretty surely breedin so u want ideal levels.

 

[colesea]

I'm going to agree and disagree with Leopardess.

While it is important to match water parameters during a water change, how close really all depends upon the fish. For discus I would say the replacement water should be as close as possible to the tank water to reduce stress to this delicate species. For danios, hell, I wouldn't even bother with dechlorinator unless my replacement water came from a swimming pool.

Personally, I don't knock myself out trying to make everything "perfect" before it goes in the tank. Provided your tank water came from the tap initially, the parameters shouldn't have changed to much. Unless of course you've been playing chemist in your tank or have gone six months without doing a water change.

Ideals and reallity never agree. Personally, I don't knock myself out getting replacement parameters to match the tank. Usually the water I add is just a little bit on the cooler side, and the fish have never been the worst the ware for it. In fact, my cories seem to enjoy it, even spawning occassionally if the temp is dropped. But this is normal for cories, who spawn during the spring thaw when glacial waters flood their streams *berrrr*.

The best recommendation, room temp water is perfectly fine to add to your tank, and unless you are doing specialty breeding or have a sensitive species, don't knock yourself silly.
~~Colesea

 

[Leopardess]

Okay, perhaps I was slightly ambiguous.... I don't mean that you should be within a degree of your tank water with your replacement water, but what geof said gave me images of someone just running nice icy cold tap water into a bucket and then dumping that in the tank. A twenty degree difference will cause stress to your fish, and while it might not kill the danios or me, I wouldn't be too happy if someone swished air that was twenty degrees cooler into my home all of the sudden. But yeah, the parameters should be similar unless you've tampered with the tank - I simply put that in to say you can't add totally different water to your tank and expect it not to affect the fish.

 

[catfishmike]

well here goes!i do it two ways:like geoffg said just get some water,dechlorinate and add to the tank. but i have a cory commuinity and that works fine for them.other tanks i mix hot and cold untill i get prttey close in tempreture.my loaches don't like all that cold water and from my experience if you try adding a bunch of cold tap to a clown loach tank next comes ick like rain on a sunday so don't do that.colesea said it best though.if you get a python this shouldn't be a big question cause at that point you can add the water at any temp you like.my advice get a python and chill those corys or match for most other fish.

 

[fishaddict]

Since my water changes are about a half hour long and i leave my hood off when i do water changes i let both the tank and water change water get to room temp and then dechlorinate and add it in. My heater gets turned un after that and only heats the water about five degrees in the following day. My room stays kinda warm for some reason even in the winter.

 

[catfishmike]

as an update the other day i did a 30% w.c. and as i was refilling very slowly with my python i only noticed a 2 degree drop with straight tap water.whereas i have had 4 to 6 degree drops with the bucket method.get that python,and make water changes easer.

 

[RogerL]

I'm right there with Catfishmike. It depends on the % water change you are making, but for my weekly 20% changes I just mix hot & cold tapwater (and treat for chlorine & chloramine) and use the "finger dip" method to get the temp. about right. I've never had any problems. I'm sure that you have to be more careful if you're making larger percentage changes.

 

[amishfignewton]

The average person can tell the difference in water temperature from two sources by sticking their finger in it, by 2 degrees (+ or -)

In the tanks at my girlfriend's house, i fill up 3 five gallon buckets, dechlorinate them, and let them sit overnight, then do my water change. At my house where I have my home made python, I simply do the finger test and match the water as close as possible. I never notice any extra stress and never see the thermometer flucuate. Water that is 79 degrees does not require that much hot water coming out of the pipes, and is what I would consider "kinda warm" and cold for a shower.

Now that I think about it, whenever I do a water change, I dont even see the light on my heater turn on, so it has to be close (I put hte python right near the jet which is near the heater)

 

[Scrumpy]

I have a high fish load and do pretty big water changes....80% every week isn't unusual. I used to mess around with buckets adding boiled water to warm them up etc. Now I use a Python and adjust the water temp so that it flows in no more than 3 degrees colder than the tank water.
So....I use the python to remove say 80% of the water...add the right amount of dechlorinator to what's left and then adjust the taps so that the python fills up the tank with the right temp water.
I fill a bucket first and check with a thermometer.
I used to worry about things like contaminants in the hot water but I haven't noticed any problems whatsoever.
A while ago I was in a hurry and the water I added wasn't warm enough. The temp dropped to about 18 degrees. My fish started swimming upside down and the Cardinals went white. I thought they and the rainbow fish were dead.....but when the temp warmed up they all recovered. I wouldn't recommend it.
My 2 hour glass cleaning and water changing routine has now reduced to about 20 minutes...and because it's so easy I do more water changes and the tank looks better and the fish seem happier.

 

[RedTurquoise]

In my 90G planted tank, I do 50% water change weekly using the python and adjusting the temp at the tap.

My 30G discus growout tank I do 75% daily but I age my water in storage barrels for 6-12 hours using aeration and heaters. The water in the storage barrels are exactly the same as in the tanks, temp and ph. My inital tap water ph (7.0) is different than the storage barrels after it is aerated (7.8).

 

[BigCiX]

Originally posted by geoffgarcia2
In all my years of fish keeping I've never considered adjusting the temp of the water I'm adding to a freshwater tank.

I'm certainly not gonna start anytime soon, and I dont think you should preoccupy yourself with it either
hope that helps!

i never maintained neither. after adding the water...the temp only drops down to about 70 degrees. usually its between 78-80.

 

[madhippoz]

As mentioned by others, know your fish. Certain species, as mentioned Discus, are very sensitive to water parameters, and also many fish when breeding need very specific water params. But for the general run of the mill water change and fish, they really don't care at all. If the temp flucuates 2-5 degree's on a 20-30% water change, you're fish won't blink an eye. Their water temps would fluacuate somewhat in the wild too. Like most people have mentioned, get a python to save time anyway, but even if you don't, stick your finger in the tank water, then stick your finger in the bucket as you fill it, get it as close as possible, you'll be within a few degree's, add dechlor into the tank and add the water. Most people spend way to much time fussing about with their ph and water changes, with their test tubes and beakers bubbling away. Heh get your levels steady and keep them that way, its easy to start over-thinking a lot of this stuff.

 

[Jawz]

hmm i got platies, danios and molleys, and a gourami, any worries there? i recently got ich, almost fully treated i think. Goina do a 25% change today and do a 2nd lighter treatment dosage

 

[Somonas]

I agree with colesea... the only thing I want to add regarding adding tap water direct and not using any hot water, is the cold water tends to get colder as it runs. especially in high rises. I run my cold water for 5 minutes and it's ok, but after 10 minutes it's freezing can hardly touch it.

this should change as the weather gets warmer and the river warms up. in the summer the river is around 75F so I can do waterchanges 24/7 and not worry about temperature

Yeah, add hot water, there is nothing wrong with your hot water supply unless you have a REALLY old heater or boiler.

 

[BigCiX]

Originally posted by madhippoz
As mentioned by others, know your fish. Certain species, as mentioned Discus, are very sensitive to water parameters, and also many fish when breeding need very specific water params. But for the general run of the mill water change and fish, they really don't care at all. If the temp flucuates 2-5 degree's on a 20-30% water change, you're fish won't blink an eye. Their water temps would fluacuate somewhat in the wild too. Like most people have mentioned, get a python to save time anyway, but even if you don't, stick your finger in the tank water, then stick your finger in the bucket as you fill it, get it as close as possible, you'll be within a few degree's, add dechlor into the tank and add the water. Most people spend way to much time fussing about with their ph and water changes, with their test tubes and beakers bubbling away. Heh get your levels steady and keep them that way, its easy to start over-thinking a lot of this stuff.

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