Adding water back to the tank ?

CPFAN001

After a 12 year leave of abscense I am back into the fray now keeping a freshwater aquarium. Previous experience was with small 20 gallon tanks.

Current tank has been running about 4 months now.
60 gal Community tank, since for the most part the fish have been doing fine as have the 5 or 6 live plants, I'll avoid posting any equipment details for now. I'm up to about 35 fish with a mix of 6 or so species.

I change anywhere from 15 to 25 gallons of water every 8-12 days. Here is where I feel my wife's blonde hair has rubbed off on me.

Please tell me there has got to be an easier way to put 25 gallons of water that is suppose to be treated and closely matching the chemical read outs of the water that was in the tank, including temp.

Still considering myself a novice I have been afraid to simply run the hose from faucet to tank hoping I somehow get the temp and chemicals right.... so I have been managing the Five 5 gallon bucket program making sure each bucket is as close as possible in temp etc. - Perhaps I am a wimp but pouring 5 5 gallon buckets of water is a PIA.

I thought about buying a 30 gallon tub and just syphoning the water from that to tank but for some reason, I can't get the cyphon to do right from ground to tank? Should I buy a small external pump?

What method do you use to put 20or mroe gallons of water back in your tank?

Take it easy... I'm a newbie here.

PRichs87

If you want the siphon to work, the buckets need to be higher than the tank, gravity will do the rest. Use a ladder? Don't directly pour from your faucet, untreated water contains chlorine which will kill your beneficial bacteria you have built up in your tank.

5 gallon buckets are a curse to this hobby, my suggestion is to just get used to it. Sorry! :)

CPFAN001

Thanks for your feedback.

Anyone have a different method?

I'm thinking a 30 gallon plastic tub used just for the aquarium and buy a cheap external aq pump to pump the water from tub to tank? Sounds like it should work. ?

xdaCostax

Sounds like a sure deal to work.
I have a 16g tank and I do the good ol back and forth from the sink.

tanker

I have a garden hose with fittings. I attach the siphon to one end with the other end of the hose out in a bucket in the garden (the bucket's just in case I siphon out a fish or something, I'll be able to see him in the bucket before I tip the water out).

When I've emptied out the water, I attach the end that was in the garden to the laundry tap (I had a plumber put a garden tap with a thread on it on the laundry outlet) and attach a watering gun thing on the other end which I use to fill the tanks. I add the Prime to the tank just before I start the hose up and I dose for the whole tank as per the instructions on the Prime bottle.

I don't adjust temperature. I live in Australia and the tap water is not cold, it doesn't drop the tank temperature much. If I had cold tap water, I'd just turn on the hot tap a bit to take the chill off.

CPFAN001

Thanks...

I've got the same hose set up if I need it. As mentioned earlier... I need to do just a few things to the water so was afraid to add directly from hose to tank.

Perhaps when I gain more experience.... ;)

tanker

If I was restricted to using buckets, I'd never have upgraded to the big tank. I can't lift the buckets up to put them in there anyway, and carrying them back and forth would be a deal breaker for me. With my smaller tanks, it was one or two buckets and that was ok, but lugging 25 buckets was never going to happen.

jeaninel

Ditto here. Once I bought my first 55 gallon tank I also bought a Python. I still use the 5 gallon bucket and siphon on the smaller tanks but can not imagine using anything but the Python on the larger ones. However, I don't need to buffer my water. And I just adjust the temp at the tap and can get within a degree or so. I do the same as Tanker as far as adding the dechlor before refilling. Never had a problem with this method using the Python. But I can understand if you have to buffer your water for African cichlids or Discus or something like that.

tanker

I'd be interested in how the aquarium shops do theirs. I'm sure they fill their tanks with hoses/pythons or the like, they'd be lugging buckets from dawn until dusk otherwise.

Byron

Back in the 1980's I used the bucket method, and my largest tank then was a 55g. As someone mentinoed, the buckets have to be higher than the tank, so I had two stacking tables. Lifting a 3 gallon pail of water high is not that easy, as I think tanker mentioned. Then in the 1990's when I bought my 90g the store sold me a Python. I've never looked back.

And stores here connect directly to the tap, same as I do. As long as you know what is in your water, you can manage fine. After I drained out about half the tank, I adjust the temp at the faucet to closely mjatch the tank and then flick the valve and start filling. I walk back into the fishroom and squirt the conditioner in and leave it to fill. In more than 15 years I've only once had a problem, and that was when I forgot the conditioner in one tank.

Water conditioners work instantly, so there is no danger of chlorine/chloramine using the direct tap fill method if the conditioner is in the tank within a few moments of starting to fill. I've even had fish swimming into the current, and they would never do that if their gills were being burned by chlorine.

CPFAN001, may I ask what adjusting you are doing to the water, aside from conditioner? It may not be necessary, depending upon what it is. And changing more of the tank water may be beneficial, depending upon your situation with fish species. The more water changed, the better for the fish. I do 50-60% weekly.

Byron.