Water changes...... Letting water stand?

[krazypara3165]

To keep things basic......

will be getting discus soon and want to imitate the breeder as i have very similar water parameters, he fills a tank and lets the water sit whilst putting in an airline for 24 hours before filling the discus tanks.

so here is my questions....

Can i let the water sit outside? (around 100l) will there be any adverse problems?

Will a 300w heater be sufficient to heat it up? obviousley it can hit minus. i would throw a heater in a few hours before using.

 

[LancsRick]

Your heater question is a bit misleading. Without a time llimit, anything will be enough to help it hit ambient! The short answer is yes, 300w will be fine, depending on how cold it is it might take an hour or 3.

 

[Ady34]

To keep things basic......

will be getting discus soon and want to imitate the breeder as i have very similar water parameters, he fills a tank and lets the water sit whilst putting in an airline for 24 hours before filling the discus tanks.

so here is my questions....

Can i let the water sit outside? (around 100l) will there be any adverse problems?

Will a 300w heater be sufficient to heat it up? obviousley it can hit minus. i would throw a heater in a few hours before using.

Just test it to see if its enough and how long it takes....although if your doing it outside you may need a proper outdoor electricity point.
I prep mine the night before, fill 3 x25l drums with cold water from the outside tap, add dechlorinator and mineral salts then pop in the garage with 50w heaters in each....never tested how long it takes to heat to the correct temperature, but its always warm enough the following night for water change time.

 

[krazypara3165]

sorry i meant the outside temp can hit minus, so would the heater be ok. obviously it looks like it will just be trial and error as to how long it will take to heat, and what the outside temp is. as far as an outdoor electricity point goes, i was just going to use an extension lead and a waterproof connection box as it will hopefully only be out for a few hours. the other option is to buy another 2 25l drums (already have one) but i always have difficulty syphoning from them.

 

[Ady34]

Yeah I meant test it with the heater to see if/how long it takes to get up to temperature.

I use a liquid transfer pump to get the water from my 25l drum into the tank. Cheap enough to buy from camping stores but may take a while on your massive tank.

Could you use a tall set of stepladders to put the drum on, high enough to syphon direct to the tank?

 

[krazypara3165]

Stepladders could be a call, however as I do not have a shed im quickly running out of places to put my aquarium related kit! And I would also need more heaters. I may stick with the water butt as I would imagine, (hope) when filled the water pressure would be enough., failing that I will get a drill pump and tape the trigger on lol.

 

[LancsRick]

As a rough guide, you can work out the length of time it will take with the formula below (but it doesn't take in to account that once you're warmer than ambient, you will be fighting against the water trying to cool down - in other words, you're best trying to heat the water somewhere warm!).

Time (seconds) = (4200 * (Number of degrees C you want to heat the water by) * (Number of litres of water)) / (Heater power in watts)

 

[krazypara3165]

thanks for that, ive just worked out for the amount of water i would need for my tank i would need a heater on for at least 6 hours if the temp outside is what is was last week (1 degree)