Standardizing Temperature During Water Changes

Hello All!

I wondering what your strategies were to ensure that the new water being added during a water change is the same temperature as the tank water. Do you use warm faucet water, stick a thermometer in it, and wait until it drops to the correct temperature before adding it to the tank?... or is there an easier way?

Also... is 25% water changes every week enough?... or too much?

 

I just use both knobs and my finger. Yep close enough. Lol

 

Hello!

I put a cup under running water and stick a food-safe instant read thermometer into the cup. As the water runs, it will fill the cup and the thermometer can read it at the same time. You should also be able to adjust the temp* of the water coming out of your faucet until it read +/- 4 degrees F of your tank temp. This also works two-fold as you should allow your tap to run for at least 30-40 seconds to flush out any extra debris and some of the heavy metals from the pipes. Some people just try to match temps with their fingers of whatever lol; I’m too OCD about that haha

And 25% is usually what the minimum should be weekly. If you run heavier or larger tanks, it’s perfectly fine to do larger WC if appropriate (and this can vary. For example, if you have some sort of buffer in your tank that hardens the water, and your tap water is very soft in comparison, doing a 75% WC is a big shock, and vice versa. But if the tap and tank ph match, larger water changes are fine. Another example is if you have a lot of ammonia in the tap, like I do. It comes out 4ppm+, so I do little and often rather than one huge massive change at the end of the week

*If you can’t adjust your sink, try your bathtub/shower! I’m nearly sure that its adjustable haha

 

For my freshwater tanks, I'd just get it within 2-3 degrees and go ahead with the WC (unless I was doing a near 100% change).

For my saltwater tanks, I mix my water in buckets anyway. I run the water a bit cool (around 75F) and then let the heater in my buckets get it up to 80F, just so it mixes a bit easier with the cooler temps.

Water change amounts depend entirely on what you're stocked with, and your tank size. If you have a planted 20 gallon with a betta, then monthly 10-20% would be fine. But, if you have a 20 gallon fully stocked with guppies or something, then I'd do 25-50% per week.

I'm of the mindset that there's no WC too large as long as it's done correctly. Obviously you won't want to do a 100% change every day, but even going as far as 80-90% WCs weekly are fine as long as you match water parameters (PH, Temp, and to a lesser extent GH and KH). As Kinskicks said, 25% is really a minimum for most tanks.

Water testing is important here to tell you when to change your water. Ideally, you'll have less than 20 PPM nitrate. Sure, fish can handle much more, but 20 PPM is a good top-end to avoid algae issues. If you're just hitting 5 PPM nitrate weekly, you can dial down WCs (or keep on going with your schedule; 5 PPM is great!). However, if you're hitting 40+ PPM, you obviously know to go ahead and up your WC's.

 

Hello!

I put a cup under running water and stick a food-safe instant read thermometer into the cup. As the water runs, it will fill the cup and the thermometer can read it at the same time. You should also be able to adjust the temp* of the water coming out of your faucet until it read +/- 4 degrees F of your tank temp. This also works two-fold as you should allow your tap to run for at least 30-40 seconds to flush out any extra debris and some of the heavy metals from the pipes. Some people just try to match temps with their fingers of whatever lol; I’m too OCD about that haha

And 25% is usually what the minimum should be weekly. If you run heavier or larger tanks, it’s perfectly fine to do larger WC if appropriate (and this can vary. For example, if you have some sort of buffer in your tank that hardens the water, and your tap water is very soft in comparison, doing a 75% WC is a big shock, and vice versa. But if the tap and tank ph match, larger water changes are fine. Another example is if you have a lot of ammonia in the tap, like I do. It comes out 4ppm+, so I do little and often rather than one huge massive change at the end of the week

*If you can’t adjust your sink, try your bathtub/shower! I’m nearly sure that its adjustable haha

Thanks! I think I will try to use the cup method. I have a digital thermometer that I can use.

I just use both knobs and my finger. Yep close enough. Lol

Hey... whatever works haha!

For my freshwater tanks, I'd just get it within 2-3 degrees and go ahead with the WC (unless I was doing a near 100% change).

For my saltwater tanks, I mix my water in buckets anyway. I run the water a bit cool (around 75F) and then let the heater in my buckets get it up to 80F, just so it mixes a bit easier with the cooler temps.

Water change amounts depend entirely on what you're stocked with, and your tank size. If you have a planted 20 gallon with a betta, then monthly 10-20% would be fine. But, if you have a 20 gallon fully stocked with guppies or something, then I'd do 25-50% per week.

I'm of the mindset that there's no WC too large as long as it's done correctly. Obviously you won't want to do a 100% change every day, but even going as far as 80-90% WCs weekly are fine as long as you match water parameters (PH, Temp, and to a lesser extent GH and KH). As Kinskicks said, 25% is really a minimum for most tanks.

Water testing is important here to tell you when to change your water. Ideally, you'll have less than 20 PPM nitrate. Sure, fish can handle much more, but 20 PPM is a good top-end to avoid algae issues. If you're just hitting 5 PPM nitrate weekly, you can dial down WCs (or keep on going with your schedule; 5 PPM is great!). However, if you're hitting 40+ PPM, you obviously know to go ahead and up your WC's.

Thanks for the advice! I will definitely keep an eye on my nitrate levels to help guage the effectiveness of my water changes. Right now... I only have a Nerite and a Dwarf Gourami in my 10 gallon.