Re: [GSAS-Member] Water Quality

[Matt Staroscik <matt@wrongcrowd.com>]

I don't worry about dumping water. Because it isn't that much, I mean. Not
that conservation isn't a good idea, but consider:

A shower takes at least 10 gallons of water, depending on shower head,
pressure, time, etc. But that seems to be a fair ballpark based on some web
searching. A partial water change in my 90 gal tank (which doesn't have 90
gal in it with the rocks and all) is probably about 20 gal, or 2 showers'
worth.

If you water your lawn--forgettabout it, that's 5-10 gal per minute.

So even with generous water changes, ones' aquariums are not going to be a
big part of water usage unless you have a nice big fish room. Conserving is
good, but if my fish want a water change I am not going to sweat it.

My $0.02.

MS




On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 10:37 PM, Hess, Clay A <clay.a.hess@boeing.com>wrote:

> As an alternative to dumping water down the drain why not recycle it some.
>  Water plants with it.
> Clay Hess
> 787 Fuselage Systems Integration Manager and Team Leader
> 425-931-4322
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: gsas-member-bounces@thekrib.com <gsas-member-bounces@thekrib.com>
> To: Greater Seattle Aquarium Society member chat <gsas-member@thekrib.com>
> Sent: Sat Jan 09 22:17:35 2010
> Subject: Re: [GSAS-Member] Water Quality
>
> Dear Jesse,
>
> I find that setup and routine are essential parts of maintence. While
> it is possible to injure fish without regular water changes, a sudden
> massive wc may have also be deadly. The type of fish also makes a
> difference as a salt reef has absolutily no tolerance for waste while
> some fish thrive in filth and conditions where few other fish can
> survive. I am not advocating for keeping betas in hot swamps with
> little disolved O2 but adaptions like airbreathing do have advantages.
>
> I would suggest simply establishing a routine and simplifing the wc
> process. When maintence is easy to do on tanks I am much more likely
> todo if. A regular water change is the cheapest and most efective
> magic bullet the freshwater community has.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jan 1, 2010, at 17:39, Shango Los <shango@shangolos.com> wrote:
>
> > I'm looking forward to reading this topic line....
> >
> > On Jan 1, 2010, at 1:41 PM, Doerr, Jesse wrote:
> >
> >> As I'm getting into bigger tanks I'm looking for more information on
> >> water quality.  I would like to avoid dumping large quantities of
> >> water
> >> down the drain, and so far my experience is that it is has been
> >> unnecessary.
> >> For a while now I've been keeping a 3 tank system that is pretty
> >> heavily
> >> planted and probably overstocked with fish.  The total system is
> >> about
> >> 45 gallons and has about 30 barbs, 20 tetras, and recently 20ish
> >> platties.  Despite the bioload everyone is healthy, active, and
> >> showing
> >> great colors.  The rummy-nose are showing nice read heads going
> >> almost
> >> all the way back to the first fin and the barb males have a deep dark
> >> color.
> >> So as far as I can tell everything is going fine and the system has
> >> been
> >> stable for about 2 years now.
> >> Water changes tend to be infrequent, typical maintenance is just
> >> replacing evaporation and feeding.  The last water change was over 3
> >> months ago and when I inspected a sample of the water today it
> >> looks and
> >> smells like it's in great shape.  There is no foaming, no odor, and
> >> it
> >> is almost exactly as clear as tap water in the same glass, just
> >> with a
> >> very faint yellow tinge.
> >> Can anyone provide me references on what else I might need to look
> >> out
> >> for?  Is there a risk of a buildup of minerals or chemicals other
> >> than
> >> nitrogen and other derivatives?  I have noticed that juivinals do
> >> grow
> >> more quickly when I am doing actual water changes.
> >> Jesse
> >>
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