Water Treatment

[LucG]

I have a question about water changes and using tap water conditioner.

It says to us 5ml for 10 us Gal.

Now, when I do my water changes, I drain/vaccum, refill, then treat. When I add the conditioner should I be adding for the whole tank, or just the water I added.

For example, if I have a 50 gal tank and do a 25% water change, which means I'm replacing approx 12 gal of water. Should I add just over 5 ml, or should I be adding 25ml.

Am I making sense????

 

[phin]

You should be draining/vacuuming water out. In a separate container/bucket fill with the fresh tap water and treat for that amount.

i.e. for a 20 gallon tank and a 25% water change, get two 5 gallon buckets, put old water in one bucket, new water in second bucket. Treat the 5 gallons of water (2.5 ml of conditioner) then add to the tank.

never put untreated tap water into your tank first.

Always dechlorinate the tap water before you add it to your tank.

 

[phin]

To answer your question: 6ml to treat the 12 gallons of water is all that is needed. but treat before you add to your tank.

 

[LucG]

Thanks!

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the worst, How bad is it to being doing water changes straight from the tap to tank.

Keeping in mind that I usually added 25% more conditioner due to the fact that I was doing this...

What effect would over treating have on the fish?

 

[phin]

It depends, if you have a HOB power filter and the untreated water is passing through it you are killing all the beneficial bacteria in the filter before you dechlorinate the water. If untreated water is not passing through the filter then then at least the bacteria in your filter is still there, but the beneficial bacteria also live throughout your tank in the substrate and on hard surfaces (sides, decor, etc). This can result in your tank having to re-cycle, thus increasing the levels of ammonia and nitrite in your tank during this re-cycle process causing damage to your fish.

I don't think adding a little more conditioner than is called for will harm the fish, what brand do you use?

 

[LucG]

I do my water changes once a week, usually replacing 20%, it dosent take me long. So I allways turn off my HOB Aquaclear Filter, so at least I'm not running the untreated water throught my filter.

I use Nutrafin African Cichlid Conditioner.

 

[OrangeCones]

Using too much dechlorinator will reduce the oxygen available to your fish. As long as you have eithe airstones or a HOB type filter making a splash, you'll do ok.

A lot of folks that do large amounts of water changes (multiple and/or huge tanks) use a Python and add the dechlor as they fill the tank.

 

[phin]

I guess since most dechlorinator works pretty much instantly, you could add it to the tank first then fill the tank. I know when I first started I used to fill my tank up first, while the filter ran and added dechorinator at the end. Needless to say, took a while to cycle until if figured out what I was doing wrong.