water changes

Hi all, I am relatively new to aquariums (about 3 months in), after doing a partial water change I seem to have developed a load of what looks like a white flaky substance which seems to be gathering mostly on my 2 pieces of driftwood in the tank. I have a 123 litre tank, did a 25 litre...

Pythons, are they actually worth it? I have a 200L tank and I want to start doing 50% water changes each week. It takes about an hour with a jug and a large bucket, how much faster would it be if I was using a python? I read some of the reviews online and most of them are good, but they all say...

Lack of water changes. As a kid my parents did tell me to do water changes on my tank, but I never kept up with them. Even though I didn't test the water, I'm assuming my early fish deaths were from bad water quality, because when the weak fish were moved to new water to monitor them in, they...

I thought I was getting the hang of water changes, and then this happens. Let me tell you how I do my water changes. First, I unplugged both heater and filter. Then stick the siphon in and siphoned out all the gunk within the substrate until the water looks 25% drained. I take the bucket into...

Idk why it looks like this. The only thing I could think of is maybe if I used too much Prime. The tank is about two months old. It didn't look like this before. I haven't done anything recently besides water changes.

I've decided that I wanted to help out with my parent's turtle tank. However, I'm afraid that with me doing newly frequent water changes it could harm them. For context, the tank has turtles and goldfish. Which will go into a pond eventually, but it's a big project. I don't want to harm them by...

I know that siphoning removes water and cleans out waste from under the gravel. But in water change, you have to replace the water. However, I haven't gotten it to flow the opposite way. With a bucket of clean water, I placed the siphon in headfirst and the plastic pipe end into the tank. I...

As a clumsy person, I've had my fair share of struggles. I always end up spilling some water on the floor during water changes. I accidentally tipped over the bucket I was using for a substrate swap, so I had to start over. I spilled a water test on the floor when I meant to dump the liquid in...

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I swear every time I try to help my fish, I end up hurting them. I just learned that you shouldn't change the water the same day you clean the filter. Because it's too much change for them to take. If this is true, I'm going to lose every fish in the tank. I learned that you're not supposed to...

This is extremely stressful. Now out of my three survivors, one is on the ground not moving again. I went on vacation so I couldn't monitor the water everyday. During the vacation, there was no food given, and lights off. Water parameters turned out fine according to the card that came with it...

So, 2 weeks ago I tried to get 3 ottos to keep company to the lonely one I keep (had 2, but one died about a month in and this one has been lonely ever since). All 3 died in days in the quarantine tank. I went back to the shop with water and pH test showed off the chart blue (api kit, same one...

Hi there, When doing my water changes in my bigger tank which is 200L I vacuum out my 30% or so water and then when I am topping it up again I use a small bucket approx 7ish litres at a time to fill the tank back up as that's only how I can make it happen with my houses set up. Currently with...

I received 12 chili raspbora Fry yesterday - I had ordered 4 but they sent 12, but they are all just barely coming out of Fry age. There had been quite a delay because their other Chili Rasboras were showing signs of fin rot so they weren't going to send those, so I really didn't know when to...

Hello.... So..our neighbours often paint and spraying their stuff and air is fills with the chemicals smell and now I have to wear carbon mask. Talked to the neighbor and it doesn’t go well.... My fish tank is near the front door that we opens during the daytime, will the chemical in the air...

The other day I went to the department store and saw the Ozone vegetable purifier and after I take a look at the back of the box, one sentence catch my eyes, It says that the ozone purifier can also be used in aquarium. I seach for the answer if Ozone can purified the water is just a myth on a...

Hi Friends I'm new to the forum, and excuse me please for skipping out on the introduction, but I've got a bit of an urgent problem I really need some help with. If you could read through and give me some advice, I'd truly appreciate it. First, I'll cut to the facts of my set-up: Tank - 21...

I have so many water problems - I was so scientific about how I cycled my tanks and now two have completely lost their cycle (the two others did too but I managed to get them back under control - knock on wood). But I get the feeling everybody is sick of hearing about my outrageous ammonia...

I would like some advice since I am fairly new to the fish world. I have a 36 gal bow front freshwater tank that has been cycled since May. I am in a Chicago suburb & we have hard water here (Lake Michigan). My PH is 8.0, Ammonia is 0, Nitrite 0 & Nitrate 5.0. I have 4 live plants, driftwood & 2...

Hey guys: Been reading for years, this is my first post. I've been in and out of the hobby for 30+ years, so I'm not a newbie. But there's always something around the corner that makes me feel like one! I have a 29 gallon heavily stocked freshwater tank with no live plants. Filter is a DIY...

Not so long ago I had PERFECT water in all my tanks, zero's on everything and PH was right at 7 -it was all wonderful. Then I got very sick for two weeks and was unable to do weekly water changes. As I recovered I tested the waters and found that EVERY tank had a huge ammonia increase. Started...

Hi guys, I was wondering how many times a week I should do a water change for my betta, Pence. He is in a 5.5 gallon with a Topfin Silenstream Power Filter 10. I was thinking since his tank is pretty small probably twice weekly or once weekly? Please share your opinions Ash

Hello everyone, i need some advice on fishless cycling.I'll give information about my tank before stating the problem. 46 gallon running a penguin 150 biowheel and a fluval c4 hob filter planted tap water readings 0/0/0 ammonia-old country (5 percent) Lots of seeding material So i'm in the...

Now that I am (or will be) regularly maintaining two instead of one tank, I'm becoming conscious of the small bottle-sizes of dechlorinator and general water-tonic solutions on the market.  For years I've used Tapsafe for the dechlorinator and also an Interpet General Tonic for background...

I have 2 large oranda goldfish in a 40 gallon tank and have had just the two of them for several years now. I recently got behind in my otherwise routine water changes and noticed one of the fish gasping at the surface, floating on his right side with frayed fins, a cloudy eye (the one at the...

My daughter has a 2.5 gallon tank for her Betta.  I was reading the care guide ( http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/423362-betta-splendens-caresheet/) and it says to do a 100% water change every 4-5 days in an uncycled tank.  uh oh!  The tank is just over two weeks old and I havent...

Hi everyone! It has been such a long time since I have posted! Anyway, I have a question for anyone that can help!    I have been blessed to live in an area that only uses well water. And because of this, I have never had to buy the water treatments. I just put the water in the tank and let it...

Hello all this is my first post so bare with me here. I'm new to the aquarium world so I have a few questions I started cycling my 10gal betta tank over 2 months and 2 weeks ago. I am doing a fishless cycle with pure ammonia and my ammonia was dropping from 4ppm to 0ppm in about 12hours so I...

I've had my tank for about 8 months now and carry out 10%  water changes twice weekly. A few older guys I know who have had tanks for years have said I should let the water sit in buckets for 2 days to let the chlorine etc evaporate. Is this correct or am I better to add some form of "tap safe"...

Hey everyone, I was just browsing through home depot when i found a product that actually makes my life easier. It was strenuous on my back to constantly be loading buckets of treated water into my 125 gallon tank. This electric syphon is only about $15 and just wanted to share this with anyone...

So as some of you may already know, I have a 30L tank containing 1 Betta and 2 Mystery Snails.   I got the Betta as a surprise for my Birthday (thanks Mum) and I had nothing proper to house him in, hence we are now doing a fish-in cycle. Went into my LFS yesterday to complain about the lousy...

Should you remove the fish from the tank when you do water changes, in particular large water changes like 75%?

I was talking to the friend who got me interested in fish again. I told her that I started doing water changes on my tanks twice a week (Monday's and Thrusday's). She said that seems like it's a bit much.   This is the same person who seems to continue to tell me about fish dying or her oscar...

Hello! (Main question in bold if you don't want to read the whole back story!)     A quick back story, I purchased a Gold Dust Molly from Petco after my Betta passed away because they said it would be okay in a 2.5 gal filtered tank. (THANKS A LOT, PETCO!) Anyways, one day later she had 14 fry...

Hey Interested to hear people's experience of using rain water. I am conscious of being as Eco friendly as possible and have heard good things about using rain water for water changes particularly if your tank ph tends to be on higher side. (My 50 litre/12 US gallon tank tends to sit at around...

I have 7 guppy fry, born sunday i noticed my guppy having 2 in my main tank so i immediatley took her outand placed her in my 5 gal tank she had the babies and then i moved her back in the many tank later that night. BUT i put my pregnant ghost shrimpin there 3 days prior and i noticed after my...