Water Change Question.

Hello all!

I have a water change related question for you - sorry to start a new thread, but I figured it was better than Hi-jacking someone elses.

I have seen many people here make reference to changing their aquarium water by simply draining it out, then adding it back to the tank by means of a hose,.. this quote by Tom even shows a really slick attachment to help automate the process:

My question is, how do you deal with dechlorination when you use this method?

I used to do something like it when I lived in Phoenix and still had my big tanks, but after a while I noticed I always lost fish right after water changes even though my temp was well matched.

I assumed (though possibly incorrectly) that the cloramine was not being neutralized quickly enough, and either the Chlorine, or ammonia was burning the fishes gills and killing them.

I would love to go back to using a hose, but I'm worried about my fish, and wondered if you used some attachment to declor,.. or if you use a particular brand of declor that's better,.. or add water slowly,.. or do anything special to elevate this issue.

Thanks!
Whiskey

 

I follow a 50% per week regimin currently for my water changes, so your quite right, the tap and my tank are pretty close as far as I can tell.

When you said "I doubt the extended time would be an issue" what do you mean?

Do you fill the tank quickly? Do you leave the filter running?

Thanks for the help!
Whiskey

 

Well! That's all the excuse I need to try it again
I will do a few small water changes, try Prime for my declor, and watch the fish - if all is good I'll try changing 50% at one shot this way.

Maybe it was something in the Phoenix tap water - Maybe it was the declor I used,.. Maybe it was something totally unrelated,.. hopefully the last one

Thanks!
Whiskey

 

That's an interesting thought! I never considered that - heck,.. as a kid I always used to drink from the hose! The hose I was using back then is no longer around,.. it didn't make the move to California - it was a cheapo kmart $5 hose.
The one I'm using now won't have any issues though - I bought one of those hoses from the knockoff python things - it's made for aquarium use, and is nice and short. That's a plus since the bathroom is literally right next to the room the tank is in

Thanks!
Whiskey