Maybe I'm doing it the hard way ?

Recently I've read people using hoses to refill their tanks which I have often thought about doing

But I have always been concerned about water temp so I run the hot and cold together into a bucket with a thermometer till I get the temp right then bucket that in

do those ppl using hoses reg the temp first or just straight in with cold ?????

Gaz

personally i use the taps from my sink when filling my tanks. all i do is adjust the water to the proper temp add the declorinator and fill the tank up......
when dealing with larger tanks it would be time consuming to say the least if buckets were used for water changes....

i use a lengh of pve pipe i connect to my kitchen sink, i live in an aprtment so the tank in only about 5 meters away. The tap is a mixer tap so through trail and error i have worked out where to position the tap so that the water comes out pretty close to the tanks temp. makes it pretty easy.

hi i use buckets, i just judge the temperature, by using my elbow, seems to work for me,

living in the tropics eliminates the temp problem.... i just open the hose direct the
tank immediately after disposing the unwanted old water... tap and tank almost have
the same temp

I just let the warm water run and heat al the pipes and the hose, and adjust the heat to the temp of my tank.
I just feel the tap, and expierience has taught me to refill with less than 2o difference in temp.
I do check say 5 times per waterchange by feeling the tap itself, to make sure there is no sudden heat change.
The hot tap seems to lower it's flow when running for some time.

I have a water bed drain and fill adapter for my sink. I turn on the water (going into the sink) on hot so that I'm sure that the water won't heat up anymore. Then I add turn on the cold water with it until it gets to the temp I want. As long as you start with the water as hot as it can get, once you add the cold water, it shouldn't change temp very much at all.

Thanks all

I use the mixer tap in the laundry which had no way of fixing a hose hence the bucket

It was just the way some described filling made me wonder if they premix or were filling cold

I have changed the fittings now to nitto so the hose just clicks in and fitted a ball valve to the other end so I can control flow @ the tank

I'm playing with an idea of an inline thermometer keep you posted

cheers Gaz

I use hoses also. One going into the backyard, and one going from the tap to the tank.

I remember reading, years ago, that tropical fish actually like having cooler water entering in the tank occasionally. It symbolizes something in the wild where waterfalls or other water enters the river or lake at lower temperatures... then soon adjusts to the warmer temperature. -has anyone else heard or read something like this?

when im filling the tank my oscar plays under the water coming from the house, i see him playin under the outlet flow as well. must like the bubbles from the water hitting the surface.

but yer, i use a hose from the laundry, just push it over the tap and make nicey nice temp and let her flow.

and let the oscar play

edit: and yer gazza, i used bucket once, before a quick trip to bunnings... lol

Gazza wrote:


mixer taps are the way to go when you have big tanks!!!!
Filling with cold water is a big NO NO

Be careful with the ball valve if your hot water system is a hot water storage type (these have a hot water storage tank). The cold will be mains pressure and the hot will be a lot less, so when you close off the end of the hose (in your case ball cock switching water off), the cold will push back up throught the hot system. If you have a demand boiler (turn hot water on and boiler fires- no hot water storage) this is not a problem

If you have hot water storage then you will need to turn the taps off after the ball cock has turned the water off

Since I only have a 55 gallon...I just use buckets from the tap. Only takes about 3 bucket fulls, and all done. I usually stir it around, put in the conditioner, and wait about 2-3 mins., then in it goes. I've found like most I got used to measuring temp by hand. I just have it slightly, slightly cooler than exactly lukewarm and it ends up right around 78 degrees, which is where I keep the tank.

I tried using a garden hose connected to a faucet and I kept having issues with the hose crimping, nozzle falling out of the tank, the faucet nozzle not being connected well enough and spraying water all around the kitchen, water left in the hose, and I had trouble not being able to gauge temp as easily. I figured since I like putting the conditioner in first separately and letting it sit for a small bit the buckets just were easier.

I can definitely see where anything above say 90 gallons would necessitate hosing though.