Dechlorinator On Water Change

As long as you add the new water fairly slowly, yes, you can easily use cold water, although possibly not for very new set ups; you might want to be a bit more cautious if it's less than six months old; although I've never bothered!

I've never used plant substrates, so I can't comment on that.

Nutrients in planted substrates occur as salts so are not charged, and the majority of the elements in planted substrates are more reactive than the Sodium in the Sodium thiosulphate which is why they wont be displaced, and even if they are they still remain in the water as a compound so the plants still have access to them.

Does anyone know a good and cheap chlorine tester? My API master kit doesn't test chlorine. I'd love to experiment.

Stephan said:

Does anyone know a good and cheap chlorine tester? My API master kit doesn't test chlorine. I'd love to experiment.

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How about checking out a local swimming pool supplier, I have loads of those in my area!

When you say add the water slowly, would 30% over an hour be fine or could I even pour the cold water over the heater or would this damage it? Also what about means of transportation seeing as my tap doesnt have a detachable nozzle (lol don't know it's proper name!) seeing as my tank will be virtually level with my sink. One last question, aren't hot water tanks usually made from copper? Mine is so would the copper get released in large enough quantities to hurt shrimp and other invertibrates?

Copper isn't soluble, so that would be impossible.

Probably the most accurate test you could carry out for chlorine concentration would be a titration, but even then the chlorine would gas of quickly invalidating the results.

Like many people in the UK, we dont have a hot water tank any more. If you have one of the new type "combi" boilers your water is heated instantaneously and therefore no need for a tank. I use the kitchen mixer tap, get it to the right temp for the tank with a balance of warm and cold, then use a hose water changer which is made like a python, with one difference: the waste water goes on my garden to water the plants. I made the water changer myself which works like a python type. I add the dechlor straight to the tank, I use prime and the dose is a compromise between the stated dose for the whole tank and the dose for the 25% replaced. I use this on two tanks and I turn the filters off when water changing. As far as I know I havent wiped out my good bacteria and I havent had any problems since adopting this method. I have a bad back and cant be doing with carrying buckets, nor do I want to do the huge bucket with pump thing either, but I would do this if I felt there was a problem to the fish.

I started using the hosepipe method after visiting a couple of local breeders with fish houses and watching them.

about dechlor and topping up to account for evaporation (in trop tanks between water changes)... could I keep a bottle of dechlorinated water near my tank ready to top it up if it has evaporated? I havent noticed a big change yet, but in the winter I can see evap being higher due to the coldness of the air....

ATK!!! said:

When you say add the water slowly, would 30% over an hour be fine or could I even pour the cold water over the heater or would this damage it? Also what about means of transportation seeing as my tap doesnt have a detachable nozzle (lol don't know it's proper name!) seeing as my tank will be virtually level with my sink. One last question, aren't hot water tanks usually made from copper? Mine is so would the copper get released in large enough quantities to hurt shrimp and other invertibrates?

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I take about an hour to do a 50-60% water change and yes, the temp does drop, but it's gradual, so doesn't do any harm; it's just like a cold downpour of rain. Some people (although I can't seem to lay my hands on a reference right now) think it's it's actually healthier for fish to experience variation in temperatures as long as it's not sudden.

I wouldn't pour it directly over the heater; it might crack.

How high it is doesn't matter; I haven't tried it, but I've been told the mains pressure is enough to be able to do upstarirs tanks from a downstairs tap, so them being virtually level shouldn't be a problem.

I don't have a proper tap either so got myself something similar to this; Tap adaptor.

I've been doing all my tanks (except the Edge, lol; even I can manage the Edge!) this way for 5 or 6 months now and have not experienced one single negative point.

Stephan said:

Does anyone know a good and cheap chlorine tester? My API master kit doesn't test chlorine. I'd love to experiment.

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These look good : http://www.hannachecker.co.uk/

Just wish they'd produce some for topical ammonia, Nitrite etc

Miles

They do don't they! I wouldn't really spend that much for one test kit though, no matter how accurate it is. Simply cos they're not really needed (actually having an accurate nitrate one would be pretty good ) Thanks for the link to that tap adaptor, now I can properly persuade my dad that this is a good idea!

I think we may have a combi boiler.... But we also have a large copper tank??? How does that work?

Just found out that it is a Convection boiler and therefore does have a hot water tank, is this still ok?

The best and cheapest way to measure free chlorine would be to titrate it.

Copper isn't soluble in water, so water tanks aren't a problem.

Ok then. Thanks for the help and sorry for hijacking the thread!

So this will be fine:

I buy a tap adaptor and a normal 30m garden hose. I attach tap adaptor and leave tap running until I have a constant temp of around 18c, therefore I'm mostly using cold water but staying closer to the tank temp. I then turn off tap quickly whilst I put on hose and then I slowly trickle water in, close but not next to the heater. At this time I have the koralia powerhead going but not the main filter (external) I add a third of the dechlor before starting, a third whilst the water is going in and a third after it has gone in. I then leave it for a few mins before restarting the filter.

I will use around 50% of the reccomended amount of Seachem prime for a whole tank unless I am having seroius problems with ammonia/nitrites. I may lower this later depending on how the fish get on.

Oh and btw two last questions! One: how do you measure the temp of the tap water, put part of the thermometer in the flow?
Two: Do you think the tap adaptor will fit around my tap, it's about 6cm/ 2 1/4inches wide. Heres a pic:

You're making it much more complicated than it needs to be.

This is how I do it; syphon water out of window. Attach hose to tap and put other end in tank and add enough dechlor for the tank. Turn tap on. Fill tank. Take end of hose out of tank and put in bucket, turn off tap.

My tank is higher than my sink; it wants to syphon back out if I switch the tap off first! I don't think a tap adaptor, certainly not the kind I bought, will fit your tap; I'd take that pic to your local DIY store and get their advice on that.

I'm really not understanding the desire to limit use of Prime It's not hideiously expensive and a capful is more than enough to sort a tank of at least 50 G - at that rate it'll be months, possibly years before I've got through my bottle.

When u r doing very frequent water changes it adds up.