question reguarding water changes

[Glaive]

First my setup:

Tank:
20 gallon long

Filtration:
Under gravel filtration powered by a power head that moves 80 gallons per hour and one bubble tube <great vocab ;)> with a carbon insert.

Heating:
100 watt heater.

Habitat: <for lack of a better word>
1 nice chunk of lava rock with tons of holes and was boiled for an hour.
Lots of teracotta pots, pieces mostly. A couple lfs fake rocks with holes.
Some wierd multi holed plastic cave and three fake plants.

Occupants:
1 Sciaenochromis fryeri <king of the tank>
1 Altolamprologus compressiceps
2 paired male and female not sure what they are yet <non cichlid>
1 Peacock type cichlid I think maybe a Eureka Red.
1 Synodontis cat <not sure which exactly will figure that out later>


Okay so my question:

I am being a good boy and changing water via vacuum method every week 25% each time. Would it hurt anything if I just replaced the 25% I remove with cold water, keeping in mind my tap water averages 50 degrees and I keep my tank in the 77-80 degree range.

Currently I use a half gallon pitcher and my tea kettle to bring each pitcher up to at least 75 before putting it in my aquarium I have another thermometer from my viquarium for this.

So am I a freak?

Wonder if I should take bids on whether Jonah responds first or not :wink: . Hmmm I think I'll be needing to pay you folks back in tech support before long, lol.

Thank you in advance,

[WorldNation]

heheh, the 25% once a week is good. cold water can send fish into shock. that might be a problem.

the under gravel filter, i would change it to a power filter. but its up to you. gl with'em

[Glaive]

I ended up splurging on a 5 gallon bucket so the fish get warm water and I get one trip, lol.

[merlyn2221]

I use my Python and a thermometer under the out flow. Once I've got it right, the water is the same going in as it was going out. Plus after so many water changes, I know exactly where to put the faucet handles for the right mix of hot and cold! :lol:

If you don't already have one, get a Python and forget lifting the heavy buckets!

[JB wind]

the python rock :D

Even though this is a water question. I can't help not commenting on your fish. a few things to keep in mind. one is i hope you have a bigger tank. you will have 24 inches in 3 fish once they are full grown. and 3 more to go. but you may not have to worry about that cause the fryeri may take care of that for you so you will only be left with one 8inch fish in your 20L and on another note I would get some more filtration going in there. best of luck but I think you may have a nightmare on your hands very soon. If you don't have a bigger tank and if I was you I would take back the fryeri, compressiceps,and the peacock. but thats my opinion

[SGypsyMermaid]

i agree with jb wind's assessment--the tank is much too small--but i think that glaive indicated in another post that he/she would be getting a fifty-five gal tank in 2 or 3 months.

[Glaive]

>> I know exactly where to put the faucet handles for the right mix of hot >> and cold!

While I am am very green when it comes to fish tanks and the fish in them I know a fair amount about houses, and as I recall hot water heaters are notorious for having bad concentrations of metal. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, I just thought it wasn't good to use hot tap water.

>> If you don't already have one, get a Python and forget lifting the
>> heavy buckets!

A five gallon bucket isn't bad, only weighs 40-50 pounds :wink:

PS the greenie has heard python alot now, will search online after work lol

[Glaive]

Absolutly correct, tank is way to small, though for now aggression has subsided and seems to only show up during feeding time. The two mystery fish are Julidochromis ornatus <sp?> not that this magically makes the tank larger lol. I am in the hunt for a bigger tank as SGypsyMermaid said at least a 50 gallon. Can't bring myself to nix my viquarium lol.

Ant one else here have a web cam on thier Tank/tanks?

PS << I'm a he ;)

[SGypsyMermaid]

While I am am very green when it comes to fish tanks and the fish in them I know a fair amount about houses, and as I recall hot water heaters are notorious for having bad concentrations of metal. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, I just thought it wasn't good to use hot tap water.

i read this somewhere and have cheerfully disregarded it for years...maybe the water conditioner that i use with water changes neutralizes the heavy metals, or maybe it's the carbon in the filter, but so far no ill effects that i know of from using warm tap water. the only times that i remember losing fish after water changes were when i did not pre-dissolve the cichlid salts--i have since learned my lesson.

[matt1066]

I also add a bit of warm water from the tap in winter, no problems yet.

[SGypsyMermaid]

PS << I'm a he ;)

:oops: :oops: :oops:

[jonah]

I've been mixing water temp at the sink for over 5 years with my Python with no problems.