Boiling WC water/Can I do this??

Okay- my great "no water changes since 9-08" didn't work. I have mild brown diatom algae on the sand in one side of my tank. Parameters are still good. So time for a water change. My question is:
I am changing about 30 gallons on a 110 gallon tank. I have mixed and aerated my water, (RO/Instant Ocean), but it's cold- probably 50-55 degrees (my tank is in the basement, the WC water in garbage can on concrete floor). Can I boil a portion of the water to heat the rest? My in-sump heater is not large or strong enough to heat that quantity in any kind of time. Since my last WC was in September, it was still warm in Michigan and temperature was not a factor (I hate Michigan winters!).

 

Yes, you can do that. You may want to purchase a heater good for up to 30 gal. if it can heat a 30 gal. tank it will heat your water change water....unless budget won't allow.

 

I just set my jugs of water in front of a space heater for a couple hours (my RO/DI is in the basement and 50's is probably warm for it this time of year). I don't ever bring it exactly to temp of the tanks or even close really, I just do a water change anyways and the fish deal with it, maybe it's not a great idea but I've never had a problem...

 

I would not recommend actually boiling the water for a WC. It will drastically change the SG of the water, as well as the oxygen content, PH, and so on. If you must, you can heat it, but don't boil it. Of course this is assuming your talking about mixed, ready to go water for the WC?
As unclejed said, just get a heater for your water change container. You could get a 30 gallon heater for around $20 that will do fine for water changes, it's not worth the hassle

 

"Diatoms if you can see them as a brown haze on the sand bed are dead and changing water if you have high TDS levels will only feed another bloom .

If you have diatoms then changing water will just feed them more . what is the TDS of your make up water ? D"

TDS- total dissolved salt? My WC water is at 1.026. I was thinking the diatoms came from stirring the sand in that part of the tank (I was after a rather large bristle worm- I lost the hunt). I assumed a water change would clear the sand.

 

Diatoms only feed on silicates and when they die they leave that brown haze.. TDS is an acronym for Total Dissolved Solids this why all new set ups go through the diatom haze at about 5 days in or so and with in 14 days they are gone..
You well could have stirred up something when you disturbed the bottom strata? And unless you source water is pure and TDS free you will simple create another bloom

Its the little brown skeletons that are used for diatom filters , They just bleach them white . But diatom powder can cause a PO4 spike and silicates so you have to know how to use the pump filters properly Old school but no filters are better at making water sparkle

 

You'll need one that can do more than 30gal if it is sitting on concrete in the cold garage.

 

I do it every week. Take a pot and get it to a high steam just before boiling dump it back in trash can with the other water, then fill the pot again and do that step again. Works for me. If your water is that cold you may need to do it three times. (my pot is maybe 1.5 or two gal.)

 

Then I should forget the WC for now, let the sump/bioballs/protein skimmer do its job filtering the detritus? My water in the tank is clear, and everything is healthy. I will check parameters again tomorrow. Should I be looking for a spike in anything (phosphates, nitrates...)?