dumb question from a newby

Question
Hi! I'm still cycling my 30 gal. tank. Have a dumb question. When done cycling, I need to do a 90% water change. I know I have to dechlorinate the water. Can I go ahead and put tap water into tank and then add dechlorinator?? It won't be at the right temp. I can wait to put fish in until temp rises. Will this be o.k.? I bought a python syphon to do the water change so I can go from tank to sink or outside w/ no buckets. 30 gallons is a LOT of water!! Also-visited some lfs's last wk. Found one I really like. They will test my water for me when I go in to buy, and they have good prices and seem knowledgeable. Thanks for your help!

Answer
Hi Kari
There's no dumb questions, especially with fish keeping :)  Always something new to learn.

I think you can get away with doing a 75% water change, I think it's recommended usually 75-90%.
 
Pythons are GREAT!!  I had one at my old house, was able to do all but 2 tanks.  I need to buy a really big one to do water changes here at my new house.  They're so convenient, but they ended up getting leaks/not sucking, so be careful with it.  What I did, and I know a lot of people on fish forums did as well, just added the dechlorinator at the same time the water was going into the tank.  Never had any problems, nor have I heard of anyone else having problems doing that.

Why won't the added water be the right temp?  If you turn the faucet on hot/warm it'll be close.  Unless you're using an outside spicket/hose?  If so, then you could always add a couple buckets of warm water.  But yes that's fine I'd wait till the temp is about the same as what they're in now.  Also be sure to adjust them to the new tank water, probably easiest using a bucket.  Same way as you do when you float the bag in the tank when you buy new fish, and slowly add the new water.  They'll need to adjust to the new temp and if there's a slight ph change as well.

Only thing with using the lfs for testing the water, make sure they tell you what the levels are.  Don't just take their word for it.  I think I already said it, but ammonia and nitrite should always be 0.  Even a small amount of either is toxic to fish.  Hopefully they are knowledgeable, test them.

Read up on something, then ask them about it.  Like, say to them, I have a 30 gallon tank, can I put an oscar in it?  Answer should be-no oscar should be in anything less then a 55 gallon, because of how big they get and they're messy fish.  Then ask, can I put some of those cool looking goldfish in with my mollies/community fish?  Answer should be- goldfish shouldn't be mixed with community/tropical fish.  They require cool water, and they're also messy fish that put out a lot of ammonia.  If they say yes to either of those, then they're not that great lol.  That's usually the tests I use to see if the lfs's I go to have a clue.  

Just read up on a lot of the fish forums out there, don't have to necessarily ask them anything, they can be kinda rude lol, but just read through the questions and answers.  That's how I've learned a lot of the stuff I know, just reading online.  I'm not sure if I posted any of the links for the forums I go to, let me know if not and I'll post them for you.  

Take care!!

Christy