100% Water Change (urgent!)

[Madhousedavy]

hi, its not like right now urgent but a day or so urgent but now your here....
the tanks been running for a few months now and i do the 30% water change every week or so and every 2 months i do a 50% water change.

but what i was wondering is if i bagged all the fish up (seperately obviously) and removed the filter media into a bucket of removed tank water, could i do a 100% water change as i have been using the sera blackwater solution stuff and it discolours your tank.

i was told to use it once a week for a few weeks but i misheard him and started putting it in everyday (yes i know) and obviously it made the tank near impossible to see the fish so when the guy re-itterated what i should have done i realised i was wrong, but was also relieved thati wasnt harming the fish but only just wasted nearly half a bottle.

its been a month or so since i switched to putting it in with water changes and once a fortnight and the water is still a little dicoloured. i have cleaned filter media out and everything every water change so its not that its clogged or anything its just that the water is "stained" so to speak.

so i thought doing 100% water change cant be bad for the fish as long as i do it properly i.e. removing filter media to removed tank water and so on. this also gives me a chance to remove the gravel and give that a good clean as well as the inside glass.

the thing im worrying about is that some of the good bacteria i need is in the gravel is this right?

and was wondering if i need to re-acclimatise the fish to the tank?

if this is ok i would make sure i did this as quickly as possible as i dont want the fish in the bags for too long because they will get stressed.

i am planning to do this today(monday) or early this week so the responses need to come quite quickly otherwise im gonna do it anyway because it seems ok to me meaning that if this is not ok then im going to learn a VERY BIG lesson (if i wanted to seem heartless then i could see this is a way of restarting)

but any help would be much appreciated

 

[helterskelter]

NO!

Never ever change 100% of the water. Infact dont do 50% changes

If u dont like the blackwater extract then dont add any more.
With water changes you should not do more that a 20% at a time. Never do a 50% unless you have a problem with the water quality.

Just do 3-4 20% water changes a week this will remove the extract and will not shock the fish with the sudden change.

The good bacteria is in the gravel and filter and everthing else in that tank and a large chage will also kill that off.

Do u have bog wood as well at this tint's the water also, mine to at least 6 months inthat take befor it stoped leaching tannins.

So stick with it if you do.

 

[Madhousedavy]

no no bog wood in there and i use the black water for i think it was kH or gH but not sure

 

[Tolak]

NO!

Never ever change 100% of the water. Infact dont do 50% changes

If u dont like the blackwater extract then dont add any more.
With water changes you should not do more that a 20% at a time. Never do a 50% unless you have a problem with the water quality.

Just do 3-4 20% water changes a week this will remove the extract and will not shock the fish with the sudden change.

The good bacteria is in the gravel and filter and everthing else in that tank and a large chage will also kill that off.

Do u have bog wood as well at this tint's the water also, mine to at least 6 months inthat take befor it stoped leaching tannins.

So stick with it if you do.

Woah.

I do 50%+ water changes at least weekly on most tanks, and in the last couple of weeks have done 100% water changes on many tanks, due to a fishroom upgrade. This is not the first time I have done this, and probably not the last. Everything from fry to breeders. No problem, as long as you keep the filter media wet, and the water parameters are reasonably the same.

Unless you are running ugf the gravel holds very little nitrifying bacteria. This is due to the fact that the nitrifying bacteria in an aquarium is aerobic, with no water flow to the substrate you have a very low O2 level.

I am wondering about your reasoning that a large water change will kill off any beneficial bacteria. I have found quite the opposite, that in a well maintained tank it is impossible to change too much water.

 

[susankat]

I do 50% water change each week in most of my tanks. It won't hurt a thing. As long as you keep everything wet and make sure you use dechlorinator it won't hurt.

 

[Mikaila31]

I do 50% water changes every week too. I see nothing wrong with a 100% water change. Except that it isn't really necessary in this situation. Just stop adding the stuff to the water and do 50% water changes every week if you want it to clear.

 

[andywg]

NO!

Never ever change 100% of the water. Infact dont do 50% changes

If u dont like the blackwater extract then dont add any more.
With water changes you should not do more that a 20% at a time. Never do a 50% unless you have a problem with the water quality.

Just do 3-4 20% water changes a week this will remove the extract and will not shock the fish with the sudden change.

The good bacteria is in the gravel and filter and everthing else in that tank and a large chage will also kill that off.

Do u have bog wood as well at this tint's the water also, mine to at least 6 months inthat take befor it stoped leaching tannins.

So stick with it if you do.

Woah.

I do 50%+ water changes at least weekly on most tanks, and in the last couple of weeks have done 100% water changes on many tanks, due to a fishroom upgrade. This is not the first time I have done this, and probably not the last. Everything from fry to breeders. No problem, as long as you keep the filter media wet, and the water parameters are reasonably the same.

Unless you are running ugf the gravel holds very little nitrifying bacteria. This is due to the fact that the nitrifying bacteria in an aquarium is aerobic, with no water flow to the substrate you have a very low O2 level.

I am wondering about your reasoning that a large water change will kill off any beneficial bacteria. I have found quite the opposite, that in a well maintained tank it is impossible to change too much water.

I agree with Tolak, Helter Skelter is just plain wrong in their post.

 

[Schmill]

The ONLY time I would agree with Helterskelter is if you had water problems, ie. were suffering from "Old Tank Syndrome" where the water hasn't been changed correctly in a very long time, and as such the water parameters are all way off and vastly different to your tap water. The fish in the tank will have coped with the gradual change in parameters, and although they may not be great parameters the fish are 'coping'. In THAT circumstance if you do a 100% water change you will likely shock all your current stock of fish. In THAT case you do have to do several smaller changes over the course of a week or so.
Of course if you have been doing regular water changes anyway along with good maintenance, then changing 100% water shouldn't cause a problem

 

[Corleone]

Turn the filter off, make sure it's full of water (some hanging filters will drain back into the tank through the intake pipe like a siphon when they turn off), and the only problem is what to do with the fish.

I'd recommend a series of 50+% water changes to get the same effect as a 100% change. Additional water changes can be less work than trying to net out a shoal of active fish - it took me an hour to move fish from my 30 gallon into their new tank. Just remember that with a series of water changes, you're changing some of the new water as well - 2x50%=75%, 3x50%=87.5%, etc - three of them will dilute all but the highest ammonia readings, and the only reason to keep going after that is if you're worried about something more toxic like test fluid or mercury.

 

[Madhousedavy]

thank you for your help im gonna weigh up the responses as i too feel it cant harm them too much(sorry helterskelter). i have had 2 people say dont do this and one or so say dont do the full hundred but most say it cant hurt...too much. as i say you wont know until you try.

when i do this im going to make sure that i do EVERYTHING correctly ie keep the filter media submerged, fish bagged properly, etc.

i will let you know tommorow afternoon/evening after its done and if any fish died.

at least anyone else planning to do this should be able to learn from it and i will also. besides everybody makes a mistake now and then and we're all still learning.

thanks for the help

 

[aaronnorth]

Discus breeders do 100% water changes daily on their fry tanks,

 

[helterskelter]

With experience and knowledge of your fish yes you can, preparation is the key. I used to do 50% water changes on my rare livebeares all the time.

But for Job public, i believe less water but more regular is the key. As many fish in the shops do not like large changes.

Hope you under stand where I'm comeing from.

 

[petertr]

I would go with a series of 50% changes.

1 every 1 or 2 days until you're happy.


It will be easier for you, and less stressfull for the fish.

 

[Keithbaxter]

i personally do 40% changes whenever i do a water change about once a week unless nitrates get high then twice with no problems. My tanks got lots of inhabitants now including 17 guppy fry and all are getting huge and healthy. Guppies, cory dorys, shrimp, plecs, loaches. All seem fine. Gravel gets a good hoover too.

I wouldnt ever do a 100%water change as the 50% 2/3 times a week has always done the job.

I had some general tonic that turned my tank dark green a while back and after 3 changes the tank was back to normal. Now i use a blue one less noticable!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i have on a number of occasions done 100% water changes with no ill effects, if you are going to do it you just need to be well prepared.

people sometimes see mini cycles after major clean out's and 90/100% water changes, i personally feel this is because they didn't do the prep work right not that the change itself causes the mini cycle.

most of these mini cycles seem to be caused not by bacteria die off, but by too much muck being stirred up into the water column creating more ammonia than the filter usually deals with, so it has a mini cycle to catch up.

what i'd suggest you do is a series of large water changes over the course of a week, do a very thorough gravel vac each time so you've removed as much muck from the gravel as possible.

then come the end of the week if you're still not happy with the clarity of the water then you basically follow these steps

1 - switch off equipment and drain the tank to one third full, remove all decor, if you have an external filter just close the taps off, if you have an internal then place it in some tank water
2 - get a large garden tidy tub or something similar and fill it with water drained from the tank, throw in a few plants or bits of decor to provide cover, if possible hook up heater and air stone on the tub
3 - catch the fish, use two nets hold a large net at one end of the tank, use a small net to chase fish into the larger one then scoop them out and pop them in the tub
4 -when all the fish are in the tub cover it over
5 - drain the rest of the tank, clean it out, wash gravel and anything else you need to do. make sure that there is not a load of muck left on the bottom of the tank before you fill it back up
6 - add dechlor straight to the tank, fill it up from the hose, add a few buckets of warm water to get somewhere near the right temp, fill the tank to around three quarters full
7 - move heater back onto tank, switch equipment back on, arrange decor etc, monitor the temp of the water
8 - when water is back up to temp then catch the fish and pop them back into the tank
9 - fill the tank back up to the top.

easy peasy. it's just making sure the gravel is clean beforehand so that muck doesn't get stirred up, keep the filter media reasonably warm and wet, and keep the fish in warm enough water that is oxygenated, plan it properly so you're not rushing around but it's done fairly quickly and easily.