Change in practice..

[Pepere]

Last week after a water change I lost several fish.  I still really don’t know what I did wrong.  
 

I decided to make some changes anyway in how I will do a water change from now on.
 

Before I even pull out the siphon hose now, I will make sure Fritz complete pump bottle is next to the tank and I will mix up my replacement GH, KH .  I will mix Equilibrium and Alkalinity booster in a shaker bottle shaken up well and place it near the tank before draining.

 

As I refill I will pour a bit at a time of the mineral mix as well as an occasional pump of Fritz Complete.  I use the python to dilute and mix the minerals as I refill.

I never had problems just adding it in after the fact before, but by mixing it up before starting and adding it as I fill, I know I am not going to forget to add it.

Edited June 17 by Pepere

[Mmiller2001]

Take it a step further. Have the incoming water dechlorinated, and mineralized and dosed with fertilizer a day before or several hours before water change. Know the gallonage of the reserve so dosing amounts are known and written down. This way, regardless of the amount drained, the parameters are always matched to the tank. 

My setup. 2x32 gallon brute trash cans. Dosed with Ca and Mg, and taken to 28ppm NO3, 10ppm PO4 and 32ppm K. That's my 1 week dose until 7 days later. Where the process is repeated. No guessing, doesn't matter how much I change and creates the most stable tank possible. I then dose Micros 3x over the 7 days.

[Pepere]

Storage space for the containers would be an issue.  And it involves pumps and plumbing costs…. For now, this will do.  But maybe some day in the future.

 

When I get my 75 gallon in the livingroom, I might build in 40 gallon water storage underneath with a pump up to the main tank after draining down with a built in siphon plumbed to a drain.  The siphon will also have an overflow level that auto drains any water pumped above the intended water level. I intend to have a drain fitted to the top shelf the tank rests on with a waterproof coaming around the perimeter to self drain if the tank develops a slow leak.  I will be able to grab a gravel vac, and stick it into that drain port for clean up work, and once done that open a valve to drain the rest of the tank to designed level.