Water Changes In Large Tanks?

[Tolak]

I've been mixing hot & cold for years with smaller tanks, never had a problem. On larger tanks, 55 gallon+, I'll run it in a little cooler, but keeping angels in the low to mid 80's creates too drastic a temperature drop with smaller tanks.

Your water heater should be maintained the same as any other household piece of equipment. I drain about 20% out of the bottom of my water heater every 6 months.

 

[Cory_Dad]

A couple of points:

a) Some water heaters are 'glass lined'. There should be no problem with using water from these tanks.

b) My post about pre-treating water is anecdotal: I had a very bad experience NOT pre-treating. From now on I want to be safe, not sorry. As they say "your mileage may vary".

The Corydoras 'experts' I've contacted suggest pre-treating. I do.

'Ya pays your money, ya takes yur chances'.

Cheers.

 

[T1KARMANN]

the temp drop is no big deal mine drops from 86 down to 78 in the winter the rays love it they even breed when the temp drops

i wont be coming around to any of your houses for tea if you are just going to make it from the hot tap

have you not seen how milky the hot water looks sometimes

 

[Tolak]

Tea? Forget tea, good strong coffee, need that caffeine kick.

Just kidding, I know how you Brits are with your tea, same as us with coffee. I do have a couple of tea pots, the hot water heater doesn't crank out good boiling water that would make a decent cup of tea.

I think a lot of it has to do with your water heating system. As mentioned, plenty of water heaters here are glass lined. I've noticed that milkiness you mentioned, but it seems to dissipate after a little bit, which leads me to believe that some gas is gassing out.

I've tried a 25% water change on a 55 with straight cold in the winter, the tank went from the mid 80's to the low 70's. Talk about some sluggish angels, they moped around until the water warmed up.

I wouldn't think of doing this in a juvie tank, they get 50% to 80% water changes. I'm sure that large of a drop would not be good.

Another thing I've been doing with some 40 gallon tanks is adding water then adding dechlor after they are filled. These tanks are used, with overflows. I turn off the sponges I use for bio filtration, run water in until a 40 gallon can is half full from the overflow, then add dechlor. I've been doing this with everything from dime size juvies to some adult wilds, and have yet to have a problem.

 

[T1KARMANN]

i use hydor external heats which warm the tank up much fast than normal heater

if the temp drops to low i just slow down the fill rate

 

[CFC]

The point about differing water heating system is a good one.

Most pre mid 90's heating systems in the UK have a copper water cylinder which has a coil of copper piping through the middle of it, water heated by the boiler is pushed through the coil on a loop which heats up the water in the cylinder where it is stored until you run the hot tap. Copper as we know is highly toxic to all aquatic life and hot water sitting in a copper cylinder is bound to pick up higher than average traces of copper contamination.

More modern systems will most likely have a combi boiler system unless it is a very large house in which case a single combi boiler would be impractical. Combi boilers heat the water as you use it so the contact time of hot water with copper parts is minimal. I presume that these are the systems more often used in the US?

 

[emmsy]

I have a syphon out to the garden and a hose from the tap going in at the same time but from different ends of the tank. If you time in a bucket how long it takes to fill the bucket, then you can work out using time, how much water you are putting in.

Emma

 

[Lateral Line]

Copper as we know is highly toxic to all aquatic life and hot water sitting in a copper cylinder is bound to pick up higher than average traces of copper contamination.

Do you not find that the copper acquires a pretty thick coating of "fur", (aragonite), after a short while? I lived in Hampshire with really hard water and trying to keep the old water system working was a job. I sold my house not long after the combi went in. With the narrow bore of the heat exchanger pipes, I wonder how long that lasts before it needs replacing.

 

[CFC]

From cutting open many copper cylinders i usually find that the insides are coated in a slimy white paste with patches of green eating their way back through the white. To be honest its quite disgusting

 

[simonas]

Good so I ain't doing much wrong then apart from not putting dechlorinator in. I've never used that.. maybe I should

I wa just curious as I now have so much more water t change each week as I like to keep on top of that.

 

[michaelwgroves]

Some of you guys do really big water changes, I've always only done about 10%, why would you want to do more, are you over stocking?
I thought you only need to do water changes to get the Nitrate levels down, but if you got lots of plants thats not a problem?
Assuming you are tropical!

I have a 900 litre tank and use an 80 litre resovior, I pre mix my decholorinator in the resovior before adding. If I really needed to do 20% I would simply do 2 water changes.
All my gear is plumbed in, so just taps on/off for me.

See a picute of the back of my tank

CFC, I thought my tank was big, is that right you have 900 gallons?
Can we see some pictures?

 

[8inary]

I have a 1000ltr tank, and know of the issue you speak of.

I use a hose pipe from outside, I stick the hose in, turn on the tap and allow 5 secs of water to go into the pipe, then I unplug and allow the water to backflow out. I take out between 30-40% and top of straight from the outside tap.

Unlike most, I do not put water treatment in fully first, I will allow so much water to go in first, then I will add some treatment, I thereafter repeat until its full.

 

[michaelwgroves]

Those of you who do big water changes, do you have marine tanks?

 

[backtotropical]

CFC, I thought my tank was big, is that right you have 900 gallons?
Can we see some pictures?

Hi Michael,

CFC does indeed have a 900 gallon tank amongst others, and its spectacular to say the least.

A Little Video Of The 900 Gallon

Enjoy!

BTT

 

[Tolak]

Water changes do more than drop nitrates. You are removing dissolved organic substances, and replacing minerals in the water.

In my case my setup is oriented towards breeding. Fresh water makes for nice healthy fish, growing fry require fresh water to reach their true potential. Stocking rate does play into this as well.