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Water Change Aeration

2727 Views 8 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  jellopuddinpop, 
puriance
Hello everybody.

I'm relatively new to being serious about the hobby of fishkeeping. I searched this forum, and the wise God google with only some topics brushing on my question. So I turn to you glorious gurus!

My question is, when I am doing 20-30% water changes in my 20 gallon H tank, with a PH of around 6.8, should I aerate the water while it sits before I add it to my tank?

I saw a lot of information for aeration regarding salt water, but not about freshwater. I currently have a heavily planted tank with no CO2 yet (I'm still waiting on my diffuser to arrive). I read that too much movement of the water may "push" the CO2 out of the water. But when I do a water change, I immediately fill the bucket, treat it with prime and then let it sit for about 3 days (right now as the tank is still relatively new) before I do my next water change.

I have a small heater that I put in the bucket to keep the water around the same temperature as my tank, but it has no movement while it sits. I do cover the bucket (with my "dirty water bucket") because any open water source in my house is free game for drinking water and pet hair.

There are currently 5 harlequin rasboras and a snail in the tank. Eventually it will house 5 panda cories, my betta, 10 rasboras a mystery snail or two and a small colony of shrimp.

So moving forward with the maturing of the tank, should I begin aerating the water change water? Or is what I'm doing ok to let it sit covered, treated with prime and a small heater.
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AbbeysDad

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#3 ·
Yeah, Prime works instantly to de-chlorinate water so there's no need to have it set for any length of time. Many add Prime to the tank and fill straight from the faucet.
It has long been held that any aeration will negatively reduce CO2 in the tank. This is really not the case as Tom Barr has recently pointed out - oh, there's a very slight reduction perhaps, but not significant enough to be concerned about.
 
AbbeysDad

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#6 ·
When you think about it, the water going into your hot water tank has been treated to kill germs and at 120F, germs won't grow! .... besides the bacteria in your fish tank far and away exceed any found in your hot water tank - so the hot water can be used safely. With Prime in the tank, and the right adjustment of hot and cold water, you could fill with a hose from the sink and no more hauling buckets! Oh, and once you get a good mix, take a sharpie and mark the back side of the faucets - that way you'll index them (close enough) for every time you use them!
 
AbbeysDad

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#8 ·
99% of all faucets have a simple aerator on the end that screws on. It is simply unscrewed and a hose adapter attached. But if you have a small aquarium and don't mind hauling buckets...:smile2:
 
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