How to Make a Safe Water Change for Fish

[leebca]

Covered by not air tight is best. You want to keep dirt and dust out and you don't want an excess of carbon dioxide mixing in with the water. The carbon dioxide will alter the chemistry of the water. That is why using aeration is a big "NO!" for use as a 'mixer.'

 

[tdgates10]

Great! Thanks Lee! I have just been using the Rubbermaid bins with the lid, but I think I will drill a few holes in the lid.

 

[BobinCovington]

Something like this works great for mixing salt...Without the blue frame stand, mine was only about $50. Mine has a loose fitting flat lid that just rests on top (not making a seal) and allows for powerhead cords or tubing. I think they make a version with a cone shaped bottom so you can draw off the sediments before you add the water to the tank.

I have two of them: one for freshwater make up (RO water) and one for mixing salt. The gallon marks on the side make it nice when adding dry salt to the water. The next step for me is semi -automating the process so I can draw 5 gallons of water out of my sump and then add 5 gallons from my mixing tank back to the sump all with switches.

My philosophy is make it easy to use so you are more likely to do regular water changes

 

[atavus]

Or a BRUTE trash can with their dolly. The 32g is a piece of cake to move full. Goes right over a hard floor divider.

 

[vaporize]

Or a BRUTE trash can with their dolly. The 32g is a piece of cake to move full. Goes right over a hard floor divider.

Becareful when you are using those trash can, some of them are not made with food-graded plastics and might leak chemicals back out, especially if you feed RODI water directly into them.

 

[atavus]

From what I've read the Brute brands are fine to use, and mine has been for the last 3 months or so.

 

[jhampton_wsu]

I've been looking for a while now and I can't seem to find the calculator for temperatures affect on Specific Gravity. I'm mixing new water and my heater I use for mixing water broke so I want to have it as close to my desired salinity as possible before putting a heater in it in the morning and then making any minor adjustments necessary.

Thanks

 

[leebca]

I don't have any specific reference for you. I'm sure if you search the Internet you'll find tables of salinity and temperature.

 

[jhampton_wsu]

Thanks I finally found it. I knew I'd seen you write about this before. I actually found the link on one of your other posts.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2002/chemistry.htm

http://books.google.com/books?id=tM...resnum=1&ved=0CAoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

[minhmattmai]

I have a Brute gray plastic trash can. Is this suitable for mixing water? The Brute brand is mentioned above but I just wanted to be sure that the gray colored ones are OK to use.

 

[leebca]

Generally they are. What would be most convincing is if you saw in their catalog or on the label that the container was 'food grade' suitable.