Re: [APD] De-chloramination

[Thomas Narten <narten at cs_duke.edu>]

> I have a 100G tank, so a 50% water change means a lot of water. A week after 
> the water change I fill a 50G barrel with tap water, with a heater inside 
> and an internal filter for water recirculation. After a week the water is 
> chlorine free and at the correct temperature. Prior the water change I add 
> some soda to adjust PH. I fill the main tank with a hose and a power head 
> placed inside the auxiliary barrel.

Seems like a lot of work. If you have that kind of time, go for it.

For some 8 years or so now, I do 50% water changes, by adding de-chlor
to the tank and then filling direct from the tap (via a hose). Having
the temp within a few degrees or so (say 5?) is good enough. I just
don't think healthy fish are that sensitive to that kind of change in
water temp and/or chemistry. (Do you think water conditions are
completely constant out in the wild?)

I do this with fry in grow out tanks too, and again, no problem.

And, my tap water is very soft, so I have pH issues sometimes. It
comes out of my tap near 8, but the pH in my tanks has been at 6 (or
lower -- test kit doesn't say!) and then done a water change in which
the resultant pH goes up to 7 (or from 7-8) as a result of a water
change. Again, I don't think this has caused any actual problem in
practice. (The fish in question are Rams, btw, which are supposed to
be more delicate than other fish.)

I've only had one incident doing this, and that was clearly operator
error. The fish looked stressed almost immediately after the water
change, so I added more dechlor. But a good number of them died.  I
surely forgot to add the de-chlor or something, which one must watch
out for when doing many tanks and trying to be fast about it while the
mind is thinking about other things...

Point is, no need to be overly careful here. Just be sure to add
dechlor. It's very cheap insurance. (And I only bother with the stuff
that is for dechlor only and takes 5ml per 20G or so)

Thomas
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