doing a water change... the right way

for the past seven to eight months i have been doing a water change all wrong. i didnt mix up the salt and water then let it sit. sometimes i didnt even get all the salt disolved. i wasnt told any different because i never asked how to do a water change. just thought it was common knowledge. so know i am doign a big water change to get rid of all the ammonia i have been putting in my tank for the past months. i will be doing a 5 gallon water change this weekend. i mixed it today and will let it sit with ample water motion on the top to let the changes occur. hopefully my ammonia issues wil be gone in a few weeks as long as i do the water changes right.
also will i have to worry about any of my live stock being hurt by the change? it is only a 29 gallon tank.

 

if your livestock made it through your "wrong" water changes..a "right" water change should make them quite happy! don't feel bad....i did this too for a while!

 

i felt real stupid when someone on here told me i was doing the water changes all wrong. it made me feel like i has doing it all for nothing.

 

explain to me what you are talking about please with the ammonia thing?

 

Hey don't feel stupid, we all make mistakes. And how could you have known if you were never told. But you asked and got it all sorted out now and that's what matters.

 

Is there a link or thread with the details of mixing the salt and water before adding. I would like to see. Thanks.

 

there are chemical reactions that have to take place with mixing the salt and water and it makes ammonia. if you let the water sit out for a while then the ammonia goes away bound up in other things and not dangerous for the fish.

 

i think this exlpains it. http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/false-positive-ammonia-what-do-i-do-79629.html
if not then i can find another one that i made.

 

Hey, I think I was the one that mentioned "chemical reactions", I was typing in a hurry and misspoke, I don't believe there are really "chemical" reactions, but what I meant was just reactions like the salt dissolving and what not. Sorry about that just wanted to clarify.

Jake

 

I usually wait for 2 hours or so to let it mix. But I have mixed and added right away before and I have never had ammonia show up in my tank because of this. The only thing I noticed is the SG will read lower if you add right away, then raise a little after a couple of hours. This has lead to high SG in my tank, so that's the main reason I let it sit now.