PWC and Prime

[Mumma.of.two]

Hi. Just wondering when everyone doses with prime during a PWC. I've been treating each bucket before I put it in the tank. Does anyone treat the water after they put it in the tank? If it's safe then I can just run a hose straight from the kitchen tap to the tank and it would save my back!

[ben27]

you can do that but i believe you have to add more prime. For example if you have a 20 gallon aquarium and are only changing 5 gallons, you still have to add enough prime to handle 20 gallons.

[tarpon]

I do it before but people with water changes put the prime in the tank first then fill the tank up like that. Just make sure the temp matches.

[fouldsy]

Typically, turn off your filter and add the dosage for the full volume of water straight in to the tank. As ben27 said, there shouldn't be a need to do each bucket one by one, just make sure you dose in to the tank based on the full volume of water, not just what you're changing. Give it 5-10 minutes after finishing adding in your new water before turning the filter back on to make sure the Prime is well dispersed so as not to then run through the filter and potentially harm the beneficial bacteria

[alex07]

I pour water in the bucket dose 3x the recommended and let it sit for 10-15 min. before adding it to the tank.

[alex07]

Originally Posted by fouldsy

Typically, turn off your filter and add the dosage for the full volume of water straight in to the tank. As ben27 said, there shouldn't be a need to do each bucket one by one, just make sure you dose in to the tank based on the full volume of water, not just what you're changing. Give it 5-10 minutes after finishing adding in your new water before turning the filter back on to make sure the Prime is well dispersed so as not to then run through the filter and potentially harm the beneficial bacteria

How would prime harm the bacteria?

[tarpon]

Originally Posted by alex07

How would prime harm the bacteria?

He means so chlorinated tap water doesn't run through it and kill the bacteria

[alex07]

Originally Posted by tarpon

He means so chlorinated tap water doesn't run through it and kill the bacteria

Ok, why not let the water sit out for 5 minutes so that you don't have to turn off the filter?

[jeffp]

Originally Posted by alex07

Ok, why not let the water sit out for 5 minutes so that you don't have to turn off the filter?

so that if it takes 5 buckets of water you aren't sitting around waiting for 25 minutes

[tarpon]

The OP wants to just run a hose from the faucet to the tank so he/she doesn't have to carry buckets back in forth

[alex07]

Originally Posted by tarpon

The OP wants to just run a hose from the faucet to the tank so he/she doesn't have to carry buckets back in forth

You can do that. Just make sure the hose is long enough.

[hippy guy]

Question! If fish are left in tank, when you put faucet water into tank, will it hurt the fish? How do you "prime" it without needing to take everyone out?

[hippy guy]

Just re red this... would adding the prime at once hurt anyone in there?

[jetajockey]

I fill my tanks directly from the tap all the time.

This is my process. I do the gravel vac/water removal on all the tanks. Then I go around and dose water conditioner in each tank. Then I go back and fill them all.

[hippy guy]

Ok, thanks jeta, ill prolly do that from now on.

[Mumma.of.two]

Thanks everyone!!! That's going to make my life much easier! I didn't want to hurt the fish or BB.

[mr_X]

that process is torturing the fish by adding poison (chlorine) directly to the tank.

[jetajockey]

Originally Posted by mr_X

that process is torturing the fish by adding poison (chlorine) directly to the tank.

What process? Adding from the tap to the tank?

[mr_X]

yep. and heavy metals. plus, there is the temperature factor, and the ph factor to think about.

[jetajockey]

Originally Posted by mr_X

yep. and heavy metals. plus, there is the temperature factor, and the ph factor to think about.

Okay. I respectfully disagree, and here's why.


Water conditioner is intended to work instantly, both in dechlorination and detoxifying heavy metals.

Matching temperature isn't too critical as long as it's close. I even lower the temperature on purpose when refilling certain tanks to trigger breeding. (corydoras). Luckily our tap runs in the mid 70s here this time of year so it's not something I have to deal with, however in the winter time I connect to an inside tap that way I can adjust the temperature as needed.

As far as the pH thing goes, most of my tanks run at a similar pH to that in the tap, and the ones that don't have never had any issues, although I don't keep any extreme pH tanks.

A lot of people use pythons, aqueons, and lee's water changers to directly refill from the tap, so if poisoning were a viable issue I think there'd be more accounts of it happening.

Not trying to be argumentative but if this is a tangible concern it should definitely be verified and documented so that more people (including myself) take care in their refilling practices.

Thanks.