Water Change - Container Suggestions?

I'm trying to make my water changes as quick and easy as possible, iv'e come to the conclusion, i need to gravel clean suction 60L out into one big container, then pump back treated water from another maybe 80 L container, tank lid on job done, then pump dirty water out of window. Can anyone suggest a container suitable for holding large ammount of water, i guess the "pump in" can be black dustbin but i would prefer green or lighter and square containers acceptable too, and pump out has to be lighter so i can see any suction casualties lol before i flush em away.

Seasons Greetings NM  i do actually have two clean 32 L plasterers buckets from Wickes, but it means stopping mid gravel hoover and swapping over then again swapping pump over when emptying out of window, so one big container would be quicker lol Just need to find something suitable, i have one of those see through plastic storage containers but it seems a bit flimsy so daren't try it lol.

That's a lovely thought Richard, i was planning 30% water changes but i am having Congo Tetras and Rainbow fish and the one thing that keeps coming up is, they need pristine water conditions, so i'm erring on the side of caution?

Ive been testing my recently cycled  (three month i think)90 L tank regularly, i do 30% on that and water is always 0-0 and all seems well, mind you that's robust platys and minnows. Well even 20% of 230 L would be easier. Thanks  Richard : )

Ah NITATE!  i never check my nitrate, should i be doing that regularly too then?

Oh i have done nitrate test at beginning of cycling, for comparison sake it was 5.0ppm on day 1 and 5.0 again on day 21 but to be honest i'm not sure what nitrate signifies, or how high is unwelcome

There's a few things here that I'll think about for later................

However, isn't it odd that AM's nitrate is still the same on day 21 of cycling as on day 1? Shouldn't it have gone up after all that ammonia has been added?

Also, there does seem to be good evidence that fish can adapt to higher nitrates over time, but sudden exposure to levels higher than they are accustomed to is very bad for them, sometimes fatal. That's why the only time I do large water changes is before adding new fish, to get levels as low as possible, which in my tap water is about 10 mg/litre.

I do think floating plants are the best nitrate reducers, but I still find that they flourish in some of my tanks but die out in others, not sure why.

You won't remember Sue, but i had a Nitrate duel with the staff of the local Maidenhead Aquatics with last tank, i had been advised on line to shake the bottle till my arm nearly dropped off, i was getting totally different readings to them, so we all tested my tank water and i won, they phoned there head office who confirmed that shaking the bottle made the test more accurate lol. im cycled with this new tank i think, so im doing big water change tomorrow, i will do nitrate tap and tank test beforehand though.

My tap water is high in nitrates and I have been reading about floating plants to reduce it, what would be some low maintenance plant to try out ?

Oh i have done nitrate test at beginning of cycling, for comparison sake it was 5.0ppm on day 1 and 5.0 again on day 21 but to be honest i'm not sure what nitrate signifies, or how high is unwelcome

Once our tanks have cycled and the filter has matured and settled down, there are two main reasons for performing water changes.

Firstly, if you have soft water like Sue, you need to replenish the trace elements that cause hardness in water. These are called "buffers" and they prevent large and sudden changes in acidity / alakalinity. These are called pH crashes and the sudden changes are very harmful to fish.

Secondly, water changes control the level of nitrates in the water. Nitrates are the end-product of the filtration systems in your tank. Ammonia is converted to nitrites, nitrites are converted to nitrates. Left alone, the level of nitrates would continue to rise over time. At "high" levels, these are harmful to our fish.

Now one of the problems we face here is that no-one seems to agree on what "high" levels mean. The guy Sue mentions who reckons that "High" means more than 10 is living in a fantasy world; My nitrates, from the tap, measure 35-45! So I am poisoning my fish every time I do a water change apparently! Others say "50" is high, some, like Sue, reckon your tap levels +20 or so. In theory, this is a metric that anyone can reach.

Sue is generally pretty pragmatic about these sorts of things; however, and I'm going out on a limb here by disagreeing with Sue (Please no hate mail), It would be nice if Sue could explain how I can measure the nitrate in my tank and be able to tell the difference between 65, which is a "safe" level, and 100 which is an "unsafe" level.  The tests we use are pretty unreliable and, not having a spectrometer to hand, almost impossible to grade with any degree of accuracy.