Water Storage and Aeration Requirements

[Marksor]

QUESTION: When storing water in a container for water changes, is it necessary to pump air into the water (i.e. using pump with air stone), or is good water circulation in the container enough to achieve the desired aeration?

MY SITUATION: I have a 32 Gal Rubbermaid Commercial Trash Bucket, and place the Heater and a Hagan 201 Powerhead on the bottom (201 is rated at 120 GPH). So I have good circulation (looks like slow boiling water in a pot). Given this setup, do I need to add a pump and air stone? (I am trying to avoid due to extra cost and noise from air pump).

Other questions: when filling your storage container, do you fill with cold water, room temperature, or tank temperature? Leave the lid off the storage container (i.e. surface exposed to open air)?

Thanks - any advice is much appreciated .....

[limige]

imo the power head isn't needed. with a heater and airstone a small current will be estblished. air is needed to help get the cholorine out. without an airpump it will take longer for the chlorine to disapate.

but.. you could raise your powerhead so that is on the waterline with the nozzle just above the water so it catches air as in goes back in... ok i explain poorly sometimes, hope you understand..

many powerhead have a place to attach an airline. some you dont enen need an airpump attached, on some the water pressure pulles the air through.

check out the smallest maxima airpumps that have two outlets, they cost $10-15 and produce tons of air! i have one powering 5 tanks at a high flow rate! and their real quiet too!

[Dennis_Hardenburge]

I fill with warm water as the gas hot water heater can heat the water cheaper than the aquarium heater.
I use a small power head in each one of my four fifty gallon barells, just because I had them, an air stone will rid the clorine quicker but I use prime as I also have chloramines.
Dennis

Hi all, I think this is a good post to tell a little story that happened to me a few years ago......
At one time when I was still using straight tap water I would fill my holding tanks and many times add water straight to my tanks using water from the tap that I would adjust the temp using the hot and cold water faucet to save me some time waiting for the heaters to warm the water to tank temp in my holding bins.
Well I started having problems with cloudy/dirty water and could not figure out why, which was causing undue stress to my fish...
After thinking it over for awhile I was able to determine that my problem was occuring only when I using water warmed from the tap.....The problem I encountered was that I had not cleaned/flushed out my hot water heater in several years......So I hooked up the garden hose to the hot water heater and started flushing it out.....Let me tell you some of the junk that came out of the bottom of my hot water heater really scared me.......
So for everyone that uses their hot water heater to adjust their water temp make sure you flush your hot water heater out at least once a year to save yourself a lot of headaches...........


Randy

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Marksor:

You need to do a test to determine how much agitation you need to raise your pH. If you have soft water it will stabilize much faster than hard water.

Are you on a well?
Do you know your GH and KH?
What is the pH from your tap and the pH in your tanks?

Fill your holding tank, use your powerhead and see how long it takes to raise the pH. Try the powerhead at the top of the tank and see if it works better.

I run my pond pump for three hours with the end of the hose draped over the top of the barrel to create a waterfall. Sissy airstones and powerheads don't work on my hard water

When I fill my barrels I turn the hot and cold on full blast. I have not had a problem with my filtered well water and newer hot water heater.

Carol

[BlueTurquoise]

We now have a continous gas hotwater so thank god I don't need to worry about hot water tanks and carroded brass fittings any longer! woohoo! But in the past I have always used cold water only and heat it up overnight using an appropriately sized aquarium heater.

In Sydney our GH is low so an airstone overnight is all that is needed to stabilize ph.

What is worste; a 2-3 degree temperature difference per waterchange or a 1/2 - 1 degree difference in PH? I would have to say PH, but i could be wrong...

Chong