water changes

[Delilah]

when i do my water changes, i usually do about 25ish (more if i feel it's safe enough) percent of my 20 gal. tank. i add the recomended bacteria stuff as well as water treater...here's my question, how LONG do i have to wait after i put my water conditioner in before i add the bacteria stuff if i'm realistically only changing about 5 gallons? i was waiting an hour, but i'm wondering if i could speed up the process.

[Jay.B.]

I don't think you need to be adding extra bacteria at water change time, as most of the bacteria lives in the filter, and unless you're adding live bacteria it isn't actually helping anyway.

[SpockthePuffer]

All you need to treat the water with is the conditioner, you don't need to add bacteria... what bacteria are you adding? StressZyme?

[imafry]

Yeah you don't need to add bacteria at water changes. Just the conditioner. The bacteria can be added (if you are so inclined) into the filter medium, where it will hopefully add to the culture there. But no, a 25% water change of a 20 gallon is what I do and I never add bacteria.

[Delilah]

well, thanks for letting me know. how long do you or should you usually wait after you add the water conditioner?

[SpockthePuffer]

You don't have to wait at all. Some people put the conditioner in the tank first and then fill the tank with a hose connected to the tap water

[Jay.B.]

You don't have to wait at all. Some people put the conditioner in the tank first and then fill the tank with a hose connected to the tap water

I personally would mix the conditioner with the new water before adding, it does it's job better that way and there's less risk of exposing your fish to the chemicals the conditioner removes, but that's just my preference

[SpockthePuffer]

I don't have a python so I always mix it with the water in a bucket but people with a python just put conditioner in the tank

[By_a_coo]

I don't think water conditioner works this way. You have to mix it with water by itself then add into the tank.

[Nick]

I've done dozens and dozens of water changes with a python adding it to the tank after emptying before filling, and I've never had any fish get upset, or, the much bigger risk, killed my biofilter with chlorine exposure. I add enough to treat the full volume, so it neutralizes as quickly as possible, because prime is cheap.

[By_a_coo]

I wouldn't put my hand on this fire! LOL I still prefer not to run this risk and mix them apart and then add it to the tank. That's the way I feel confident.

[Pufferpunk]

In the 30 or so years I've been doing weekly 50-90% WC, I've always added the conditioner (my choice is Prime) directly to the tank--enough to treat the entire water volume of the tank. I never bother to add any bacteria (a huge rip-off), especially since all it is doing is adding more waste (dead bacteria) to your tank. If your tank is fully cycled, you have plenty of bacteia to support the bioload in that tank.