water changing in the winter

[discusFans]

Hi,

The cold Canadian winter is coming soon and this is the 1st
time my tank of fishes celebrating their christmas with me ..hehe..:>...anyway back to my topic.

I am wondering, is it common for your guys to mix hot and cold water from the tap for water change in winter time? u know, the cold water from the tap is freezing, even if u let it sit in room temp for overnite. I doubt if it will go any high enough for fishes, like discus. I know someone may suggest to buy an extra heater to heat up the water, but if i change 40G of water everytime, it will take forever to pre-heat the water this way...so, i am thinking why not to use the hot water (of course mix it with the cold one) instead? Am I crazy?

thx!

[aidensmomma2000]

Thats all Ive ever done!  :wink:

[AdamR]

2 things, not sure if they are related.

I've always been told by my dad not to use the water from the hot tap in pots or kettles for cooking as there is a lot of sediment that collects in the hot water heater.

I've seen the heating elements from an old heater and they were very rusty .

[darkdep]

Technically, you're supposed to clean the sediment out of your water heater on a regular basis...there is a faucet near the base of them for just this purpose.  Once every month or two you just empty a bucket and that is supposed to keep it clean.

Now, nobody does that, unfortunately.  I have always mixed; never had an issue.

[kennyman]

water puts alot of crucial trace elemnts into our tanks. We need some of that "junk in the water" to keep our aquatic systems functioning properly. I don't need to dechlor my water so it goes straight in from the tub at as close to 78deg as I can get it. I used cold water once from my well, when it was really hot, and one of my fish got that "air under its skin" thing. Thankgod it got better, but it scared me.

[yellowtang]

have you guys heard of dechlorinators such as aquaplus or warden chlorout. also there is  other additives one can add to water.........if this additives did not work all my marine/and fresh water fish would off died by now........don't you think.
so my advice to you mix hot/cold water to room temp......
has worked for me for the last 7 years.
cheers

[darkdep]

I don't think the concern is for Chlorine/Chloramine...it's for other things like metals, rust, etc.

[yellowtang]

.......first off all..........we all have the same concerns.as we all are into the same hobby........but if you're so concern about metals rust and etc.I would suggest not getting into the hobby itself....it is about enjoying it and not about 24/7 worring about it...like I said before I have never had any fish death from
such things .......better yet. other more experienced hobbist out there have also told me the same.
cheers :roll:  :roll:  :roll:

[repeej]

yellowtang:  Amen to that!  I was starting to think you needed a chemistry degree to keep fish with the amount of water quality threads popping up on here lately.

[darkdep]

yellowtang: You're absolutely correct...I apologize as my message did not come across clear.  I was (mistakenly) under the impression that you weren't clear on the discussion.  My oops!  

Also, I agree with you on the worrying thing...I talk about water chemistry in here with others cause it's interesting to discuss, but I know I'm a heck of a lot more laid back when it comes to my actual tanks.  

[UCGrafix]

Thats all Ive ever done!  :wink:

Ditto

[fishycanuck]

Better yet, get a Python and add warm water from the mixer tap directly into the tanks! Then add dechlorinator.