using a siphon?

RLHam3

hey so i've got a small siphon and i've been using it for years and have been keeping aquariums for years. but i just went to pick up a 55 gallon from somebody's house(my biggest tank) and i saw him hooking up a siphon to his sink. he said it made water changes easy. but if you put water striat form the sink into the aquarium it's still got chlorine, nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia in it right? am i missing something?

how does having big siphon like that make water changes easy?

It'sJames

It makes emptying water a whole lot easier, even if you don't use it to refill. I use water right out of my faucet (well water) so I can use a python to empty and fill.

iamntbatman

You can put a bucket right next to your tank and fill that with the python, then add water conditioner, then put it in your tank. Some people also add the water conditioner as they add the water directly to the tank with the python. It seems a little risky to me, but plenty of people do it without ill effects.

1077

I use the python to drain water into a rubbermaid tub I then swish the filters around in this water before putting them back in. I then hook the python to the faucet and run water till it's close to same temp of tank and then before switching the valve to fill what i have taken out,I put enough dechlorinator in the tank to treat the whole tank and then begin filling. If you wish to add only enough dechlorinator to treat what you have removed ,you may wish to measure how much water you remove into five gal. buckets then place a piece of scotch tape on the aquarium glass along the side somewhere and mark the tape with a sharpie. This way you always know exactly how much you have removed and can treat water with dechlorinator for that amount. Either way always add dechlorinator before you add the new water. The way I do it saves from using as much water for I only use the tapwater for refilling. I then use the python to drain the old water from the tub out the back door or into the bathtub.

Flashygrrl

I just add it as I refill and haven't had a problem yet. *knocks on wood*

Oldman47

The way people do a water change with a python is easy. They drain it as you saw, then refill by adding some of their dechlorinator then add the water and add in some of the dechlor as they go. They add enough dechlorinator for the whole tank instead of just the amount of water they are changing. I have done it a few times but don't like the amount of water that it ends up wasting while you are trying to drain out the old water.