How Do You Top Up Your Tank?

[seangee]

Moving my fish from a 70l to a 300l tank this weekend. Its a Venezia 350 which is quite deep. Had a go at topping it up last night. With my old tank I just used a 8l bucket and pored into a bowl. I've bought a pair of 15 litre buckets now and ended up trying two approaches.

1) Used a little jug to manually sccop water from bucket into tank.
2) Parked bucket on a ladder and siphoned it in.

Neither of these seems ideal. How do you do it?

 

[5teady_2012]

Moving my fish from a 70l to a 300l tank this weekend. Its a Venezia 350 which is quite deep. Had a go at topping it up last night. With my old tank I just used a 8l bucket and pored into a bowl. I've bought a pair of 15 litre buckets now and ended up trying two approaches.

1) Used a little jug to manually sccop water from bucket into tank.
2) Parked bucket on a ladder and siphoned it in.

Neither of these seems ideal. How do you do it?

I juts poor it straight in my big tanks, if your worried about the substrate moving and being disturbed, put a plate in the bottom of the tank and poor above the plate, this way the water bounces of it and does not disturb the substrate , one done take the plate (or dish, or bowl) out of the tank

 

[Snooks1!]

I siphon.

It takes a bit longer, but it's much easier than just pouring water into the tank.

 

[chr15_8]

a normal garden hose.

put it on a set of mixer taps and you can get the temp roughly the same

 

[Inchworm]

Hi seangee

300l converts to 78 US gallons. That's a big tank! Do yourself a favor and buy a Python for doing your water changes and filling the tank. It will be well worth it in the long run.

[URL="http/www.pythonproducts.com/aqprod.html"]http/www.pythonproducts.com/aqprod.html[/URL]

 

[geo7x]

On my 15g I siphon it in but only because I don't want to uproot the plants. In the unplanted 30g I just pour it straight in.

 

[-SPB-]

i've got a 300l and use a bucket, it's deep to. I use a chair then pour 15 litres in, i've very nearly fallen of the chair on several occasions when i get up onto it with a full bucket of water. Gets messy. I really need to invest in a python or make my own.

 

[seangee]

Thanks for all the replies. Hosepipe / python sounds like a better way to go.
Am I right in thinking that when you guys add de-chlorinator you then add enough to do the whole tank? Using a bucket I have always just added enough for the water I put in because I mix it in the bucket.

 

[shelaghfishface]

wish i was having your weekend

u lucky thing

 

[rdd1952]

Do yourself a favor and buy a Python for doing your water changes and filling the tank.

One of the best things in fish keeping. Couldn't do without it on my 75 gallon.

I haven't seen anyone mention it yet and maybe you weren't asking but when you move everything over, I would move as much water as possible from the current tank into the new tank. Add the fish and then slowing refill the tank. The closer the tank pH is to the tap pH, the quicker you can refill it. Just keep an eye on the temp and don't let it rise or fall too much and cause problems.

 

[billy0510]

i use a garden hose attached to my sink. I know roughly how much water i will be adding and ad the dechlorinator (from a gallon jug pre mixed with water) little by little as the tank fills up. I did the bucket thing for a while, screw that this way is much easier. If your ph is the same i try to keep the temp close but doing 10-15% with stright cold water only changes my temp 1 degree.This is for my 125 gallon my 20 i use a bucket.

 

[Behold]

I feel your pain!!! i bought a 500l tank and i built a python (Cos its cheaper!! and mine works EXACTLY the same) its great for top ups as the water temp is minor change and thats with pumping the cold directly next to my themometer.

just add the declor as it pumps in to the tank. i know what is roughly about 20l on the tank I add declore first and then each 20l i add the required declor folowing up with a bit extra at the end. works fine for me.

 

[seangee]

just add the declor as it pumps in to the tank. i know what is roughly about 20l on the tank I add declore first and then each 20l i add the required declor folowing up with a bit extra at the end. works fine for me.

Ok lets make sure I've got this right so I don't kill any bacteria. (So far they've been in for 12 hours along with my old filter media and ammonia and nitrite are still zero - but no feeding so far)

If I am replacing 30l (10%)
1: Add enough declor for 30l
2: Add tap water
3: Add a bit more declor

Do you turn off the pump while you do this? At this point I have 30l of chlorinated water mixed in my tank. Not enough chlorine to bother the fish but what will it do to the filter? Does the declor work instantly or does it need time to neutralise the chlorine? I use Seachem Prime and usually allow 5 minutes in the bucket before adding it but there is a much higher concentration of Prime as it is mixed directly with the tap water.

Sorry if I sound pedantic but I found it very hard to resist a little school of pepper cories in LFS today and I would hate to set the cycle back ...

 

[geo7x]

If you're putting 30l in you only need to add enough dechlor for 30l, you don't need to add any more.

About the filter it depends where it is positioned, if the water level is going to go below the intake when the water is taken out then you will need to turn it off so that it doesn't run dry. If it won't go below then you don't have to.

Dechlor is virtually instant but I always give it a little stir.

 

[seangee]

If you're putting 30l in you only need to add enough dechlor for 30l, you don't need to add any more.

About the filter it depends where it is positioned, if the water level is going to go below the intake when the water is taken out then you will need to turn it off so that it doesn't run dry. If it won't go below then you don't have to.

Dechlor is virtually instant but I always give it a little stir.

Cool - this is going to make my life a whole lot easier. Thanks to everyone who chipped in