FraserNZ Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Hi Guys, I have just setup a 200l water storage tank for my discus tank which is around 300l. The plan is I will just full the storage tank up and heat it up separately each Sunday when I do a water change. I have placed a pump in the bottom of the storage tank so all I need to do is plug it in and it will start pumping water from the storage unit into the main tank. My question is... how long would it take for the water in the storage tank to go off? Most of the water will be replaced on a weekly basis. But, I'm keen to hear from anyone who does water changes using this method, or something similar. Cheers, Fraser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 I use rainwater that is stored in plastic 25,000L tanks as the main supply of water for our household. In the summer months we happy drink water that is a few months old and that hasn't been refreshed by any new rainfall. Your week old water will be fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FraserNZ Posted February 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 hehe sweet, so if I was to store it for over a week would it be advisable to run an airstone or something to stop it from going stagnant? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Don't bother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 I do my water changes in this manner and after a week the temp is ideal for pumping straight into tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 I perfer a slower 'trickle' set up, so its always replacing water through out the day, so no sudden changes in water parameters including temperature, and this way you have one less tank to heat and one less tank to lose heat and spend power. what i do is have a tank with cold water - then use that cold water straight into the tank but the flow is so low that the tank temp doesnt change, thsi way you only use the heaters in your tank, but that requires an overflow to drain the water. but i wouldnt worry about water going stagnant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FraserNZ Posted February 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 I perfer a slower 'trickle' set up, so its always replacing water through out the day, so no sudden changes in water parameters including temperature, and this way you have one less tank to heat and one less tank to lose heat and spend power. what i do is have a tank with cold water - then use that cold water straight into the tank but the flow is so low that the tank temp doesnt change, thsi way you only use the heaters in your tank, but that requires an overflow to drain the water. I did think about this way. However, I think it was going to get too tricky as I would need to somehow plumb the pipes in permanently as I currently just run them through an open window from outside on the day I do the water change. The other problem is that it’s a heavily planted tank and I'll be using a lot of fertilizer so I guess if I was running the constant water change system it would be hard to keep track of what the levels were in the tank. Does anyone play with their water chemistry at all? The reason I ask is that my tap water has a very low KH level of just 1 or 2 and I'm just a little worried as I'm running pressurised co2. I would like to be able to turn it up from what I have it on at the moment, but if I do I'm worried that the added co2 will cause a major PH crash and harm my discus. My tap water has a PH of 7.2 and KH of 1-2 once it hits the tank with the co2 it drops down to a PH of 6.2 and the KH doesn't even have a reading! Anyone have the same problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 I cranked my co2 up a few weeks ago and my discus were fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FraserNZ Posted February 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 I cranked my co2 up a few weeks ago and my discus were fine yeah but was your KH sitting at 1 or 2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 Low kh is pretty much the norm in NZ. I keep discus and the kh in Taupo was 1-3, here in Invercargill it is about the same.The only place I found a high reading was the molly pools in Tokaanu. From memory I think it was double figures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FraserNZ Posted February 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 Thanks for your response Jim, So do you think it's worth having a play around with? I was thinking about using some seachems product, and just adding it to the storage water first, then adding it to the tank once I had the PH,KH, and GH looking ok... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted February 7, 2012 Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 I would not mess around with discus tank water they will do just fine in tap water. The only thing I add to my tanks is bogwood which helps keep ph right side of 7. Discus have been known to breed in water with a Ph above 7. Kh is a constant battle and I do not know how to increase it without increasing the Ph. Maybe someone else has a better answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FraserNZ Posted February 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 well thats my issue... I have co2 running on the tank and I really want to be able to crank it up a little bit more, which I won't do until I sort my KH out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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