aged water and temps

[Melody]

alright, Im going to ask maybe a silly question. I like to age my water for my rams, because of that whole PH thing and rams not liking chems... so to my question. How do I get the temp up on the aged water? I really dont have the room to have a tub with a heater in it warming water, my water changes on my ram tank right now are a gal every other day, and its going to become a gal every day very soon to bring the KH back up to where it should be. Im going slow with this trying not to give the rams a major ph swing because my waters ph drops after its aged a few days.
When I do a water change now I add a keg cup (you know the red plastic beer cups) of water...wait a hour or so and another cup...and so forth... its a royal PITA! and my water changes take forever! What I have been doing for temp is soaking the jug of aged water in the sink full of hot water. It doesnt bring the temp up as far as it should and Im clueless from here... anyone have a better method? Did this make any sense??? Im a little sleepy and wasnt sure if I was senselessly rambling... sorry

 

[hashbaz]

Lots of people like to put warm tap water straight into the aquarium and then add declorinator to the whole tank. Personally, I don't like that method and also had a hard time finding a way to not temp shock the fish when doing water changes.

The best solution I found was to age the water in milk jugs. I found them a lot easier to pour into the aquarium without disrupting it or spilling water. But first I put the milk jugs into a bathtub with about 4in of hot water. The jugs heat up to my tank temp (76*F) in about 15 min. I bought a cheep digital thermometer so I can leave the probe in a jug and easily check the temp every few minutes.

The only downside I see to this method is the risk of getting soap etc on the outside of the jug and then dripping into the tank, so I simply dry off the outside.

Good luck!

 

[BrianNY]

Well Melody, I change alot of water and my water is extremely soft. This does cause pH swings. To simplify your routine, your tank must be properly buffered. That means raising the KH artificially. I use a handful of cc in the filters to do that. Once the KH reaches 4, you can adjust the temp at your tap and add the water straight from there (using a dechlor).

Keep your daily water changes around 25% and your rams won't stress at all.

 

[TankGirl]

What many people do who age their water is to age it in a rubbermaid tub that has a heater in it. Then use a water pump to pump the water into your tank. If you have space this is a good way to go, but I agree with Brian that you may not need to age your water, provided you get your KH to at least 4 degrees. Then your small water changes won't cause any swings.

 

[Melody]

This is the tank that has the kh reading of 0... I havent been testing much, just tons of water changes. I know I should be testing,
Im just trying to get them used to water changes every day, after I get my kh stable, and dont risk a ph crash,
It would be really nice just to be able to put the right temp of water in the tank all at once, Instead of it taking FOREVER...

 

[TankGirl]

Get some crushed coral in your filter - if your tap water has low KH then the water changes aren't going to help anything much (refresh my memory if we have already hashed out that issue in another thread )

 

[Melody]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?p=261059&highlight=#261059

tap has an acceptable KH range... but lowers with age along with the ph... so maybe the CC is the way I need to go. Im so confused...but on a brighter note... I have noticed a blue tint to my biggest ram... maybe hes turning??? Gosh I hope so.
This tank is still "establishing" itself, it's cycled, but still has a few kinks to work. Diatoms. they are going away, but its slow going. and I have some interesting alge going on. Its black, very stringy, and very long. Almost looks like cob webs... Its starting to go away also, This is a heavily planted tank and there is just not enough for alge to thrive. Im going to let it settle a little more before I add that cc. Just to be on the safe side. As long as I keep up my water changes the'll be fine.

 

[TankGirl]

I remember now, thanks!

Many planted tank keepers use CC in their filter to buffer their water because of the use of CO2, so don't worry a bit about doing it.

It is not going to do anything drastic to your water, takes a few days to get working, and lasts for months. I change mine out about every 3-4 months or so, but it is a very easy way to handle it, to me. Some people use baking soda with water changes but I'm in such a rush with all of the tanks to be done that I go the lazy route and prefer to pop something into my filter instead.

 

[BrianNY]

Melody, if you're pH is that unstable than using cc as a buffer is about the best thing you can do for those rams. Rams are sensitive fish and stress easliy.

 

[Billsgate]

I usually take water from a fosset (correct word? dunno really, but you know what i mean) that has temperature readings on it.....don't know how to put this correctly. Anyway, i always put the temperature a little lower then in my tank, pour it in, and then add dechlorinator to the tank. The fish never seem to be stressed, they just start mating behaviour because of the tiny drop in temperature. I believe in nature same thing happens when it rains, temperature of the water drops a little and fish start courting.

I don't have space to let my water sit for a day.....but i don't see any problems whatsoever with my fish. I've done a little experiment over the last couple of days and did small daily water changes (about 10%), for about a week now. The fish seem allot happier then with their weekly water change and colour has actually improved on my keyhole cichlids (probably due to better water parameters, i still don't have testing kit....i know, don't kill me)

 

[BASSNMAN]

I have 8 tanks to change water in, so I have tried to make it as simple as possible. They are kept at 78 to 80 F. I went down and bought a stainless steel soup pot that holds about 4 gallons. I declor and age my water in 5 gal sparkletts bottles. I fill the pot and throw in a thermometer. It only takes a couple of minutes on the stove to bring the water up to temp. This would be a good time to add the cc if you decide to use it. I can pour right into the tank with no temp shok at all. Hope this helps.