Test Kits & Basics

Out of curiosity I have just measured the temp of our cold tap water, and it is 9^oC. I am not a plant expert but I would think that is a bit cold for tropical plants.

Do you have a combi boiler or a hot water tank in the airing cupboard? If it is a combi boiler you can use hot tap water to warm the water going into the tank. But if you have a hot water cylinder it is safer to boil the kettle a few times to warm the water (because of what might contaminate the header tank in the attic)


Do you intend using a hose or buckets to fill the tank? In some ways a bucket is easier, though it will mean quite a few trips with your tank. It is easier to add boiling kettle water to a bucket. And it has the advantage that you can count the buckets and know exactly how much water the tank actually holds.
With the first fill you have a choice. You will need enough dechlorinator for the entire tank of water. With buckets you can either add the correct dose to each bucket or add it all to the first bucket. With a hose, add it as you start filling.

If you run the water into the tank through a colander, it will disturb the substrate less 

If it is any consolation, I regularly remove 6 or 7 x 12 litre buckets and refill with 10 to 12 x 7.5 litre buckets when I do a water change    [I don't have to lift the dirty water bucket more than and inch off the floor, but I have to lift the clean water bucket a lot higher which is why I use a smaller one to refill]

Thanks Andy, I think you are bang on with the technical.  But I will go kettle and bucket until I am more experienced. Timing wise will not be a burden as I am excited about it all, maybe as time goes by and I gain the experience I will be able to make short cuts.

The chlorine in the water will evaporate

Some water companies are now using chloramine which won't evaporate.
I just looked at the DWI documents again and I now think that Bristol comes under Central & Eastern. There is a tiny wiggle in the boundary line which suggests the line is south of Bristol. So I checked that region and there is no mention of chloramine in Bristol there either.

Asking a shop for mature media is a good idea unless you know they have a disease in there at the moment. Put the old media inside your new one first in the direction of water flow. Leave out some of the new media to make room.







While looking in the Southern & Eastern region document I found this, which people living there might find useful.

Chloramine is used as the residual disinfectant by Anglian Water in Northamptonshire and surrounding areas (Bedford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Peterborough) and also in parts of Norwich.
Essex and Suffolk Water use chloramine in the Essex area and parts of Suffolk and Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Southwold.
Severn Trent Water supplies with chloramine residual in nine zones in Staffordshire and one in Rutland.

It's easier in a waterless tank because there's no parallax caused by the light refracted through the water.  There's also the possibility of disturbing the hardscape.  Are you sticking plants to rocks or wood?  You probably want to do that out of water.  So there are some challenges at the planning stage. 

Otherwise it's just a case of sticking a finger in the soil and putting the roots in.  Make sure you follow advice for specific plants though i.e. don't plant the rhizome of an Anubias plant.  Most aquatic plants don't like it if you put some of the stem in the soil so just make sure it's roots only.  Vallisneria is a good example of this.