20% Of Water

[timmystood]

Can somebody check this is right for me.

I have a 54 litre tank and a bottle to remove some water that has a 3 litre capacity,
I've been told to remove 20% of the water everyday for a little while.
20% - (54/100) * 20 = 12.96litres
So roughly 4 of my bottles should be removed and replaced everyday for a while?

 

[ncjharris]

By my calcs, 20% of 54 is 10.8 litres.
3 or four bottles will suffice.

Why are you changing the water?

Dont forget to treat the water thats going back in!

 

[timmystood]

I'm changing the water so soon after putting the fish in because it has turned cloudy and I was told in another post that this is because of a bacteria explosion, so I have changed the water - I did remember the treat the new water for chloring then put it straight back in!
Being a very new newbie! everything that is happening makes me wonder, should that have happened or am I doing that right!

 

[ncjharris]

Fair enough, water changes should help a bacterial bloom.

If in doubt, research or ask away!

 

[SkiFletch]

yeah, 20% of 54 Litres is 10.8. You multiply 54*0.20=10.8 for future reference when you get a bigger tank

 

[dwarfgourami]

It's not the end of the world if you do a few litres more or less, it's all approximate. As long as you remember to treat the right amount of water with dechlorinator.

 

[rdd1952]

Actually, water changes provide only temporary relief from bacteria blooms (green/cloudy water). It gets clearer simply because you have replaced part of it with clear water. It will pretty much just have to run it's course. It isn't bad for the fish though so don't worry about them.

Since some of the volume of a tank is displaced by substrate, plants, filters, etc. you don't actually have but probably 45L of water in the tank. A good way to measure how much water you need to change is to measure the height of your tank from the top of the substrate to the top of the water. Then multiply that by .25 (or whatever percentage you want to change) and then take that much out. For instance, if there is 12" of water from gravel to top, changing 3 inches of water is roughly a 25% water change.