Sorg67
Member
I have been doing weekly 40% to 60% water changes using a python. I drain the water from five tanks. Refill with tap water dosing the entire tank volume with Prime.
My LFS states that Prime takes about 15 minutes to neutralize the chlorine or chloramine and therefore the fish are exposed for this period of time. They recommend filling a bucket with water, dosing the bucket and letting it sit for an hour. That would be a pain. I have 90 gallons of tanks. 50% is 45 gallons. That is nine buckets. If I let each bucket sit for an hour, it would take nine hours plus the time to drain the tanks. I can do my process in about an hour. Less if I fill faster.
I suppose I could get more buckets so that I can treat more water at once. Buckets are cheap and they stack without taking up a lot of space.
Filling with the python also allows me to multi-task. I can do something else while the python fills. I suppose I could get a pump to fill the tank from a bucket. And I could do something else while the buckets sit.
I fill slowly. I assume that helps.
I dose the tap water as I am filling. Would it be better to dose before filling?
I dose with a measured irrigation syringe into the stream of water coming into the tank. My thinking is that it more focused on the chlorinated water and the water distributes the Prime as it fills. However, by doing that, am I concentrating too much Prime in a small area? Will it get distributed fast enough?
My LFS also recommends API Stress Coat + rather than Prime since he states that you cannot overdose API Stress Coat + but you can overdose Prime. This makes sense to me if I am dosing the entire tank volume. Especially if I was doing more than 50% WC.
Anybody have an opinion on this? Wait, let me rephrase. Of course you have an opinion. Anybody care to share their opinion with me...
My LFS states that Prime takes about 15 minutes to neutralize the chlorine or chloramine and therefore the fish are exposed for this period of time. They recommend filling a bucket with water, dosing the bucket and letting it sit for an hour. That would be a pain. I have 90 gallons of tanks. 50% is 45 gallons. That is nine buckets. If I let each bucket sit for an hour, it would take nine hours plus the time to drain the tanks. I can do my process in about an hour. Less if I fill faster.
I suppose I could get more buckets so that I can treat more water at once. Buckets are cheap and they stack without taking up a lot of space.
Filling with the python also allows me to multi-task. I can do something else while the python fills. I suppose I could get a pump to fill the tank from a bucket. And I could do something else while the buckets sit.
I fill slowly. I assume that helps.
I dose the tap water as I am filling. Would it be better to dose before filling?
I dose with a measured irrigation syringe into the stream of water coming into the tank. My thinking is that it more focused on the chlorinated water and the water distributes the Prime as it fills. However, by doing that, am I concentrating too much Prime in a small area? Will it get distributed fast enough?
My LFS also recommends API Stress Coat + rather than Prime since he states that you cannot overdose API Stress Coat + but you can overdose Prime. This makes sense to me if I am dosing the entire tank volume. Especially if I was doing more than 50% WC.
Anybody have an opinion on this? Wait, let me rephrase. Of course you have an opinion. Anybody care to share their opinion with me...