Hello everyone!
I'm new to this forum and haven't had a tank in 10+ years, so I'm super rusty and my dad took care of the tank we used to have.
This is probably a dumb question, but how exactly do I do a partial water change so I don't hurt my fish and plants?
We have a 38-ga tank and the guy at our store had us get started with 7 Harlequin Rasboras to cycle the tank (now I've read up on the fishless cycle and kind of wish I went that route, but at this point it's too late).
I have a Python maintenance system to fill/clean/empty the tank that hooks up right to the tap. If I empty say 1/3 of the water do I just refill that 1/3 straight from the tap, and then add the dechlorinator after?
Or do I add dechlorinator AFTER I empty 1/3 of the water but before replacing it with tap water?
OR (and I hope this isn't the case) do I need to purify the water in a separate bucket and then dump that into the tank?
Thanks for the advice!
*Edit - I should mention my main concerns of filling straight from the tap are twofold: 1) the water is really cold in the tap from our office; 2) I don't want to shock the fish with chlorinated water.
I'm new to this forum and haven't had a tank in 10+ years, so I'm super rusty and my dad took care of the tank we used to have.
This is probably a dumb question, but how exactly do I do a partial water change so I don't hurt my fish and plants?
We have a 38-ga tank and the guy at our store had us get started with 7 Harlequin Rasboras to cycle the tank (now I've read up on the fishless cycle and kind of wish I went that route, but at this point it's too late).
I have a Python maintenance system to fill/clean/empty the tank that hooks up right to the tap. If I empty say 1/3 of the water do I just refill that 1/3 straight from the tap, and then add the dechlorinator after?
Or do I add dechlorinator AFTER I empty 1/3 of the water but before replacing it with tap water?
OR (and I hope this isn't the case) do I need to purify the water in a separate bucket and then dump that into the tank?
Thanks for the advice!
*Edit - I should mention my main concerns of filling straight from the tap are twofold: 1) the water is really cold in the tap from our office; 2) I don't want to shock the fish with chlorinated water.