How do you do a water change?

[PygmyMitch]

I have a 48 litre tank. So I fill up two buckets of water (12 litres each) and try my best to get it to the same temperature as my tank. I add the water conditioner into the buckets. I then leave the buckets to sit for a bit, whilst I clean the tank.
I start off by trimming off the plants, doing a general little tidy. I then siphon the substrate into two empty buckets (again 12 litres each) I let one bucket fill to the max and the second bucket to about 10 litres. (As the water level in the tank usually drops slightly between water changes) I then give the sponges from the filter a quick rinse in one of the bucket of siphoned tank water. Then i fill the the tank with the two new buckets of treated water. I usually leave about a litre in the bucket, so then when I turn my filter on I have a jug in front of the filter, so it catches any bits of muck or debris from the instant turning on of the filter. I quickly empty the jug a couple of times with water from the top of the tank, and then add the last litre of fresh water from the bucket!

 

[Uberhoust]

I use a python syphon and a garden hose. All my tanks are upstairs but my water source and drains are downstairs.

• Setup the siphon by putting the drain end outside through the downstairs dog door into the grass.
• Manually start the siphon on the bigger tank and drain approximately 60% of the water. I turn off the filter but leave the heater on, it is close to the bottom of the tank.
• Setup the filling hose from the utility sink downstairs to the now partially empty tank.
• Adjust the temp of the water to 2 to 4 degrees lower than the tank temp (The fish seem to like the temperature difference, typically if the Angels breed this seems to start them breeding)
• Add the dechlolorinator to the tank water in the tank and start filling, I use a garden hose sprayer to reduce the force of the water, and to allow me to stop filling easily.
• At the same time I start siphoning the smaller tank. Lately after I am done vacuuming the sand I will put a net over the intake of the siphon because a few of my smaller angels cannot pass up the opportunity to try and catch particles that they see in the siphon. I also turn off the filter and heater at this time (heater is vertical so it has to be off)
• Finish filling the big tank, start the filter and start filling the second tank. Make sure all filters and heaters are again running.

During the siphoning and filling times I rinse off the biomedia and clean the sponges on the filters, prune the plants, and generally check on the tank. My water source and the final state of my tank water is nearly identical so I don't worry too much about that. I live in a home with a septic field so I try not to put the waste waters down the drain. No testing is done unless something is unusual, ie presence of cyanobacteria.

 

[Nuttawet]

Take half water out of the tank and put in new one. Scoop out some poops. That's it and it's done.

 

[Glenn407]

Siphon out 3 gallons every day. With a 55 gallon tank holding maybe 45 gallons of water that's near 50% a week.