Habitat - Indoor :: How do you fill your tank?

[zoologist]

i am very, very, VERY against using a garden hose and garden water to fill a tank for these reasons:

hoses tend to harbor a lot of bacteria and posionous things that could potentially harm your tank. i filled up a fish tank from a hose and all the fish died, seriously.

garden water is deemed un-fit to drink. why would it be safe for turtles?

[joeybsmooth]

what you can not drink water from a garden hose ?

[threshold]

lol am i the only one that fills a 70 gallon with a bucket?...we dont have a hose because we renovated and the people forgot to put one in and we havent sorted it yet...and we cant get pythons in New zealand as far as ive seen ....and i havnt got round to buying some hose to use off the taps

[PcBuilder14]

Our water hose and house faucets are attatched to the well so both are filtered enough to drink, but I don't think it is...it does a weird thing to your throat and makes you feel like you're going to puke. My parents think it's tastes fine.

[Squishy]

It might depend on the area. Our garden hose is connected to the city water supply, so it's safe to drink (I drink it often while out in the yard). Our hose also has quick-disconnects that seal when nothing is connected, so it's not exposed to the elements. The hose is stored inside the garage, so sunlight doesn't hit it either.

Both the turtle and our fish get hose water treated with dechlorinator.

[Chrisbarnett]

i've used the hose for a while and I have had no problems, fish or turtles. I treat my water with Aquasafe.

Our water goes through a biological micron filter hooked up outside, so the water is very clean and healthy, and I dont think the hose really has any chemicals in it that leech into the water..

[joeybsmooth]

My hoes is on a well. So I do not think that it is any different from the normal water we drink .

[Daniel3507]

the water from my hose tastes bad. i still drink it sometimes though

[untsmurf]

I never knew garden water could be harmful. It never occurred to me to even consider it. I've been drinking from our house at every house we've ever lived in, including this one. That's really interesting.

We use a python with some aquasafe. We find that emptying our tank with the python can take forever and wastes a lot of water though, so we either do the bucket method or we use the shop vac.

[PcBuilder14]

I use sump pump and those work fast! It takes like 4 minutes to empty my 50 gallon. And to refill it I fill the bathtu up and suck the water into the tank.

[spaceapple]

I use my watering can...*sigh*... But I also use the water that I take out of the tank to water my plants! Turtle water is great fertilizer. ^_^

[SpenceMasta]

i use a bucket and a smaller bucket, i have to walk to the balcony storm drain to dump and walk from my bathroom to fill fresh water, after 75 gallons out and 75 gallons in you get a workout, that's what i get for having a turtle in an apartment in the city

my turtle is worth it though (except in the winter then i despise her)

[Ronaldo10]

First time poster here. I'm hoping to upgrade to an above tank basking area, but that would obviously require me to fill the tank entirely. So far, I've had it about 2/3 filled, and I've been using alternating buckets to change the water. I don't think I can physically do a full tank. While hoping to buy one of those siphons that you connect to a tap and uses water pressure to change the water, I realized that not a single one of my taps has rims for the siphon to attach to.

I'm hoping for some advice as to what the best alternative is. I read someone's post about putting a bucket under a tap and just using a sump pump to take the water, as it pours into the bucket. I would have to buy a sump pump that is long enough, but is this the best option?

Thank you!

[steve]

It's easier to just use a simple pump (powerhead), attach a hose (I use 1/2" clear vinyl) and it goes directly into the drain. It's also pretty fast and surprisingly cheap. I sue the same hose to refill the tank.

*EDIT*
Couple of personal tips
- Use a clamp so the hose hanging into the tank cannot slip out.
- Use something to make sure the end next to the drain cannot slip out. I usually wrap it around the faucet.
- 1/2 hoses are pretty thin, you will need to check it over time to make sure there are no cracks.