anyway to make my water changes easier?

[Miyavp]

I dread my weekly water changes. I have high nitrates in my tap water, and three goldfish in a 37gallon tank so the bioload is already pretty large and adding more just makes it worse.
So everyweek I drive over to my friends house with 37 one gallon jugs to fill with her hose. Which takes me about an hour. Then I have to load them up into the car drive home and put them in the house. I'm a pretty small person. I only weight about 82lbs.
Then since my tank is sitting on the floor and not on a stand I cant syphon my gravel because the gravel vac doesnt provide enough suction. I pump my water out the window. Then I put a 10gal bucket on a chair, higher than my tank and fill it and pump about 2/3 of the water back in. Then the level gets too low and I have to lift the bucket and pour the rest in. Any advice would be GREATLY appriciated.

 

[Rivercats]

Is there any way to put the tank up on something? Also how high is the nitrate readings in your tank?

 

[Hholly]

Why can't you use your own water? The nitrates? How about getting a reverse osmosis system?

 

[Miyavp]

40ppms. My parents are planning on it but we just dont have the money right now. And I'd like too but I dont have anything. My mom took the table I was going to use.....

 

[Miyavp]

Oh no in my tank its usually around 15ppms-20ppms when I do a water change. Its about 40ppms in my tap.

 

[bevoholic]

You need to call your water company. EPA regulations only allow for 10ppm of nitrates in tap water.

Or get your parents to call.

 

[Miyavp]

You need to call your water company. EPA regulations only allow for 10ppm of nitrates in tap water.

Or get your parents to call.

We have well water, and they dont listen to me. I think if I called they'd be mad. At first they started buying bottled water to drink and cook with but now they've stopped and are back to using the tap....

 

[phishfriend]

I think you should go the old college route. This is 4 milk crates(the plastic ones) or cinder blocks and two 2x4's for crossbars.

This will at least get the tank off the floor and help you with draining.

Also, look into "purigen" by seachem. It wont solve your nitrite problem but it will help reduce them building up so quickly. Plus its rechargeable with a water bleach solution. This will keep you from having to buy it every month.

 

[Miyavp]

I think you should go the old college route. This is 4 milk crates(the plastic ones) or cinder blocks and two 2x4's for crossbars.

This will at least get the tank off the floor and help you with draining.

Also, look into "purigen" by seachem. It wont solve your nitrite problem but it will help reduce them building up so quickly. Plus its rechargeable with a water bleach solution. This will keep you from having to buy it every month.

Do you mean nitrates? And I've looked into that but I read using a dechlorinator with a slime coat additive can ruin purigen. I use seachem prime which has a slime coat additive in it.

 

[phishfriend]

Yes I did! Prime doesn't contain an additive (Slime compound) for slime coat. it just promotes good slim coat reproduction .

Seachem. Prime

It's also made by the same company.

I use both products togather in my tanks.

 

[Miyavp]

Yes I did! Prime doesn't contain an additive (Slime compound) for slime coat. it just promotes good slim coat reproduction .

Seachem. Prime

It's also made by the same company.

I use both products togather in my tanks.

I might have to look into some then. I just added another filter to the tank. An aquaclear 70 and I still have plenty of room in the media basket. I have two running. I would've had three but didnt have the room. I think I'm gonna look at some nearby thrift stores and see if I cant find a cheap table of some sort. Take and renforce it real good. It cant be too tall unfortunately because its a show tank and I'm real short so it'd make things harder.

 

[phishfriend]

Look on Craig's list. The stand I used for my 40g was a tv stand I got for 25 bucks! I also wanted it low. So it was eye lvl with daughter. An old three drawer dresser would work really well for you too.

Just remember to always ask people what it's made of. You don't want to end up with something from Walmart that was "build it yourself"

 

[Miyavp]

Look on Craig's list. The stand I used for my 40g was a tv stand I got for 25 bucks! I also wanted it low. So it was eye lvl with daughter. An old three drawer dresser would work really well for you too.

Just remember to always ask people what it's made of. You don't want to end up with something from Walmart that was "build it yourself"

That'd be scary..... i was thinking of putting it on my dresser but its pretty tall... and my dresser isnt finished. Like the wood isnt sealed

 

[LS240]

Have you thought about heavily planting your aquarium? Plants would lower the nitrate levels quite a bit. When you do a water change you'd still have a nitrate spike but 40ppm shouldn't be too dangerous. In fact, if you did only a 25% water change with 40ppm water and the 75% you leave in the tank is 20ppm, theoretically it should only raise your whole tank to 25ppm which is not a dangerous level and plants could easily lower that.

 

[Zimmanski]

Have you thought about heavily planting your aquarium? Plants would lower the nitrate levels quite a bit. When you do a water change you'd still have a nitrate spike but 40ppm shouldn't be too dangerous. In fact, if you did only a 25% water change with 40ppm water and the 75% you leave in the tank is 20ppm, theoretically it should only raise your whole tank to 25ppm which is not a dangerous level and plants could easily lower that.

That was going to be my suggestion, but with Goldie's I would add that you would need some fast growing, nitrate sucking plants. I've read that Goldie's munch on plants that's why I suggest the fast growing ones, maybe anacharis or a bunch of water wisteria

 

[Miyavp]

That was going to be my suggestion, but with Goldie's I would add that you would need some fast growing, nitrate sucking plants. I've read that Goldie's munch on plants that's why I suggest the fast growing ones, maybe anacharis or a bunch of water wisteria

I had four water westeria in the tank....the goldies uprooted and ate the roots off all but one. I moved those into my betta tank and their slowly reviving. The last one is doing terribly. I need a better bulb. Even the plant food isnt helping it much. I know I need a better plant but I cant find anacharis anywhere

 

[BBradbury]

Water Change Woes

Hello Miy...

Your water changes won't be needed if you're willing to use Chinese Evergreens emersed in the tank water. After several years of carrying 5 gallon buckets of water up and down stairs, I started using these plants.

They've saved me a lot of time and effort and 125 gallons of water per week and my tank water has never been cleaner.

B

 

[Dreadz]

You could try seachem matrix in your filter. It provides surface area for both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria which means it will process ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

 

[Miyavp]

You could try seachem matrix in your filter. It provides surface area for both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria which means it will process ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

Any side effects?

 

[Dreadz]

None that I've noticed yet.