When You're Doing Water Changes

[mscichlid]

What music do listen to? Or do you?

What's in the background when you're doing this mind numbing task?

Me...I change the channels to keep up with what I like to see on the TV in the main room.

Star Trek, Next Generation>Malcolm in the Middle, Seinfeld and I am just about finishing up when CSI come on.

In the fishroom, I have the radio on a Spanish channel to practice my Spanish.

Then when I ask myself why I do this to myself, and take a sit-down and get on the forum.

Tell us your routine.

 

[phishphorphun]

Funny you should bring that up. I just finished doing my three tanks today.

Fox News on both televisions. And bounced around on the forums during fill-ups. Also was interupted with a couple business calls. :angry:

 

[DeeCee]

John Mayer.........if I have the TV on, I keep popping back in to glance at it & end up overflowing tanks....... Not a very good thing to do when you live in a third floor apartment.......the neighbors get a leetle bit owly <_< <_< <_<

DC

 

[Pat Kelly]

I cant watch any tv from the fish room. The 90 yes but not the room.
I usually do it on a weekend morning when I can not sleep. I will try to start
around 6 or 7 am to get a jump on the day. I have to concentrate because I
will have the sump draining 1 tank, the python filling 1 tank, and 3 hoses
draining into a trash can at the same time. Thats 5 hoses
going at one time. If I get side tracked for a second it is a mess.
Even with 4 hoses draining and 1 filling, it takes 3 hours.
In the winter time, I run out of warm water about a 1/4 the way through and then
will sit on the forums for while I wait for the water to warm again.
:blink: whew. Next time drilled tanks. If I live that long.

 

[phishphorphun]

You gotta put a radio in your fishroom. Listen to ESPN sports, FOX sports or maybe... some music

Hey, btw, you haven't answered my emails from yesterday. Are you goint to do it?

 

[Pat Kelly]

I do listen to something......
I listen to the sound of my fish breathing. :lol:

and btw is done.

 

[marya]

I usually clean tanks pretty late while Chad is catching up on TIVO. If I do it during the day I turn on Court TV and listen to whatever trial they are covering. We both love watching star trek reruns, everybody loves raymond and seinfeld but I can't see the tv from the fishroom. The oscar tank is in the television room. He gets better water changes than everyone else because I tend to zone out and stare at the tv while siphoning him...

 

[craby]

How long is it taking y'all to do a water change? I'm done in about 3 minutes.

Not to brag, but I'm kinda a fish gadget geek, coming off a (2) year constant reef tank automation phase, wherein I pretty much have the tank take care of itself.

I fill an (18) gal tote up that is raised on a chair w/ approx. 10 gals of RO/DI water that takes a full work day (13 hours - work is a bear lately). I add Tanganyikan salt & buffer, stir, & am ready for water change.

All that is required now is to siphon the RO/DI water from the tote to my sump, while siphoning waste water from the main tank into (2) 6 gal buckets. Takes no time at all & I don't even have time to turn on the TV.

BTW, does anyone know if it is bad to use RO/DI water for fresh water fish? Maybe it's too clean for fresh water fish. W/ a TDS (total dissolved solid) reading of .03 or 3 particles per million of foreign solids, it is for all intents & purposes pure H2O :huh: .

 

[Pat Kelly]

The 3 hours I mentioned is with some glass cleaning.
50% water change on the 47 tanks in the room.
I usually do the 90 on a different day because it is up stairs.
Would be a lot less if I had another water hose to fill with.
Thats what takes the most time. Filling back up.

My old water goes to the sump. Which, in turn pumps it
to the outside. One benefit.....Even when the yard is brown,
that side of the house is green. 500 to 750 gallons of water being
put down that side of the hill keeps the grass ( and weeds) very happy.

 

[longstocking]

Nothing usually.... If 1 thing distracts me... there goes 50 gallons of water on tihe floor.

I try and do other things with other tanks while I'm doing the water changes... like...cleaning glass... catching fish....redoing decorations... ect.....

I put a radio in the fish room one time... one of those cheap boom boxes... well it was destroyed in about a month.... so I'm not going to do that again lol... fishroom+electronics=no electronics :unsure:

 

[mscichlid]

Originally posted by craby@Nov 15 2005, 08:17 AM

BTW, does anyone know if it is bad to use RO/DI water for fresh water fish? Maybe it's too clean for fresh water fish. W/ a TDS (total dissolved solid) reading of .03 or 3 particles per million of foreign solids, it is for all intents & purposes pure H2O :huh: .

It takes me about 2.5 to 3hrs to finish half of the 30 tanks. I am feeding and squeezing sponges, too.
Then I have to refill the barrels for the next day.
Forgetting- about -water- lesson learned many times. Siphon all the tanks, refill all the tanks, refill the water barrels while feeding, check all lids, check all fish, make sure the cats aren't left in when you close the door.

Freshwater keepers use RO/DI water. Most people don't use it straight without adding some waste water or some kind of buffer back to it. Some folks use it straight to breed fish that require very low conductivity to spawn. Tetras, some Apistos, etc

 

[craby]

Thanks for the reply.

 

[mscichlid]

You're quite welcome!

 

[Thinkfaster]

I have barrel that I keep full (about 65 gal upright) in the fishroom. I add Prime to it, and let the pond pump keep it circulating via a 1/2 hose. I use this hose to fill the tanks I drained. It takes me anywhere from 1 hour to 5-6 hours to do "water changes". I always scrape glass, clean lids, clean water marks on outside of glass, trim plants, re-plant plants, net floating debris, drink a beer, evaluate tank, trim plants again, do something stupid like add water from the python with the gravel vac tube on (with the check valve). As far as listening to stuff, I tried talking on the phone while re-filling my resovoir. Unfortunately, I can't sit for too long while on the phone so I pace. After pacing, I get tired and sit down in another room. When asked how the fish are doing, I curse, drop the phone and run to the overflowing barrel in what is now the "swamp room". Then have another beer and watch the fish. rinse. repeat.

oh, and Phish is great for water changes. As is Beck, Buena Vista Social Club, Bela Fleck, Vivaldi, Primus, and occasionally Joao and Astrud Gilberto.