Water Change Evaluation

[Hearthemchainsdiscus]

Hello All,

Well I thought I would tell you all how and what I use for my water changes and get your positive input and advice.

I have a 20 Gallon tank. I have a 4.5" Snakeskin, a 3.5" Tangerine, and a 3 " blue turquoise. I change 50 % of the water every Saturday. I use a python gravel siphon system and find it to work very well. I use regular tap water. After I replace the water to full again. I add the following.

5ml of stresscoat
5ml of stresszyme
2 Tblsp aquarium salt
3.5 - 5 ml of Discus Essentials
5ml of Discus Ph buffer

I have been doing this for as long as I have had the fish. Approx. 6 months. The snakeskin has grown around 2" in the past 6 months. The other two I have had for about 4 months and they were purchase at about 2".

So, What do you guys think? Am I doing it right? And what do you think about the growth rate of my fish. Are they of average expected growth?

I do plan on only having the snakeskin and tangerine in the tank together as they have paired up. I will remove the turq and place him in my 75 gallon tank with more discus, after I move in the near future.

Thanks

[FishLover]

no need for salt in the tank

[flaggy]

I think with the Python siphon system, you would be adding tap water straight into the tank.

In that case, I presume you add enough dechorinator (which removes/neutralises not just chlorine, but also chloramine and ammonia depending on your water supply) for the entire tank (not just enough for the new water) BEFORE you add the new tap water?

[mcloughlin2]

I think with the Python siphon system, you would be adding tap water straight into the tank.

In that case, I presume you add enough dechorinator (which removes/neutralises not just chlorine, but also chloramine and ammonia depending on your water supply) for the entire tank (not just enough for the new water) BEFORE you add the new tap water?

Flaggy,

First of all, a Python Siphon System is a tube used to clean debris from the gravel and bottom of the tank ... You then replace the water taken out by either pumping it in from a water ager barrel or you do it the old fashion way with buckets ...

Either way the water should already have had water conditioner put in it ...

I also believe you are wrong on something else. You do NOT need to add enough water conditioner or ammo lock to remove or neutalise chlorine/chloramine/ammonia in the whole tank ... Unless your tank has not been set up correctly there should be none of that present in your tank water therefore you should only have to treat the new water being placed in the tank ...

Hearthemchainsdiscus,

You seem to be doing a very good job ... Make sure to use a decent water conditioner when you change your water however ...

Your growth rates seem OK but i would be removing that turk out ASAP before he gets harrassed and his growth becomes stunted ...

[flaggy]

Hmmmm, maybe I misunderstood something.

The "Python" Siphon System, as I understood it, does the following (copied this from a site selling this Python product):

Works with your kitchen faucet to siphon water from your tank directly into the sink. No buckets required! Refills the tank with water from the faucet (freshwater only) for ultra-quick water changes.

It seems to connect to the tap and refills the tank with water directly from the tap!

I have seen some advice from Seachem about the amount of Prime to use in the scenario where untreated tap water is added directly to the tank, as follows:

If you are dosing the water prior to adding it to the aquarium you only need to dose for the amount of water you are adding. If you are dosing the aquarium and then adding the water to the aquarium you need to dose for the full aquarium.

Maybe, it is a different Python system we are talking about :oops:

Sure, if the water is being aged first in a barrel or bucket, etc, then we only need to dose based on the amount of new water...

Cheers

[mcloughlin2]

Ohhhh ....


Works with your kitchen faucet to siphon water from your tank directly into the sink. No buckets required! Refills the tank with water from the faucet (freshwater only) for ultra-quick water changes

Yes i have heard of those .... so,me automatically add dechlorinator ... :) Hearthemchainsdiscus, what are you using ...?

[Hearthemchainsdiscus]

All I use for declorination is Aquarium Pharmaceuticals' Stress Coat. I add all the chemicals after the water has been replaced from my faucet via the python. The benefits of Stress Coat are ...

"Contains Aloe Vera which promotes healing and regeneration of damaged fin tissue and forms a synthetic slime coat to help prevent electrolyte loss. Stress Coat also removes chlorine, neutralizes chloramines and detoxifies heavy metals..."

I find this product works well. I use it in combination with Aquarium Pharmaceuticals' Stress Zyme, Kent Freshwaters' Discus Essentials, and Seachems' Discus Buffer.

Has anyone else used these products? I am curious what other people on the forum use.

[FishLover]

I use 'NoSpill' Python. It can work in both directions for water movement. Once you connected to the tap, you can draw water from the tank by turn on the tap and open the valve. It use the tap water to create a suction (not very well) and you discharge tap water and tank water at the same time. When you are ready to put water in the tank, just close the valve and the tap water goes directly into the tank. You can then treat the whole tank with dechrlo.

I don't use the Python this way because there are few things I don't like:

1. You will have to waste double amount of water (maybe more) for every water change.
2. I don't like to stress the fish out with untreated water untill the tank is full. I change 45g of water at a time. It takes about 30 minutes to fill up the 45 g water. In the mean time, your fish have to deal with the untreated water for that period. I think it stress them out. Also, it is harder to control the water temp too.
3. I don't think my wife likes the idea that I pump fish poop into the sink that we used to prepare our food. No matter how much I clean after, she is not going to be happy.

I use the Python to pull water out of my house. I connected it to my gravel cleaner. All you need is to fill the big tube of your gravel cleaner with water, lift it up a bit to create suction. It will start to pull water out of the tank by gravity. I also use it to connect to the tap and fill my water container, treat it and use a pump to put the water into the tank.

Actually, I have two of these Pythons, one is used to connect to the tap water and another is used to connect to the gravel cleaner. I can do filling the container and cleaning the tank at the same time. That cut down the water change time to almos half half hour because most of the time spent was waiting for water to fill or drain. For a $25 or so of total investement, I think I buy back about 30 minutes of my time each time I change the water. It worth the money.