How Often Do You Change Your Water?

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I have 2 x tetratec ex1200's AND a fluval 4 plus (just to help water movement) giving 2600LPH (3400LPH without media) on my 5ft RIO and still have debris in 2 certain parts of the tank, so Aquascaper you are spot on there... Once again

I have debated putting in a powerhead to help push the debris to 1 corner but I don't really see the point in it when all i'll end up with is 1 big pile instead of 2 smaller ones

 

[Sherry1966]

I do a 25% water change weekly on all my tanks. Even if they don't look like they need it. My water is always clean. Unless something is wrong with my tanks, I will do more. I have Pleco's so I need to vacuum all the time.

 

[Aquascaper]

Forgot to actually put our maintenance schedule....

64 litre frog tank - 10% water change weekly with a sand vac every two days to remove uneaten food

260 litre frog/platy tank - 10% water change weekly with mid-week sand vac to remove debris

We also do a 50% water change and allow time to stabilise before adding any new fish to a tank and emergency water changes if and when required.

 

[Mr.Tan]

i do them when I feel necessary.. I usually just top off any evaporation, change filter media when the filter pads get gunked up, and let nature do the rest. I have fish that control the substrate (sand bed)and keep it clean, so rarely does it need cleaned up.


If nothing is wrong with the tank, I let it go... no reason to mess up something that is able to sustain itself when properly cared for.

 

[fluttermoth]

The trouble with leaving it, even if everything looks alright is twofold.

First of all, as snazy rightly pointed out, is that the water chemistry in the tank changes over time. Plants, and to a certain extent fish, use up trace minerals which become depleted and the biological filtration process gradually softens and acidifies the water over time. Without regular water changes, these things build up and can lead to the system crashing.

There's also a risk of developing something called 'old tank syndrome', where the fish get used to living in that very mineral depleted, acidic water but when you do change water, you cause shock to the fish because the new water is so different to what they've become used to.

Personally, I think all tanks should have weekly water changes; the percentage can vary according to stocking.

 

[Mrsdubs]

I do a 20-30% water change each week without fail, I'm another one who actually enjoys doing it lol

I do bi-weekly cleaning of the plastic plants and I clean one filter each month (I have an internal aps 1200 & an external tetratec 1200)

my tank is a trigon 190

 

[magical trevor]

I change at the very least 25% a week. Although i fortnightly gravel vac. Clean my external monthly and ill gut the tank every 2 -3 months.

I change at the very least 25% a week. Although i fortnightly gravel vac. Clean my external monthly and ill gut the tank every 2 -3 months.

 

[Redemerosha]

Well i got given 2 25l water containers when our water went off by the council so i basically use one to empty and 1 to fill every Monday. Think that's what 20% change?

 

[spongy]

I try to do one once a week, on a regular schedule, I try to treat it like cleaning the lines at the local pub, my day is normally Sunday morning when she's still asleep, but that is also very dependent on the previous Saturday night, if I've had a heavy one on the beer it gets missed, but I do a test twice a week, if its abnormal ill do a 20% change and make sure I do my normal vac and plant trim the next weekend.

 

[Cookielici0us]

The trouble with leaving it, even if everything looks alright is twofold.

First of all, as snazy rightly pointed out, is that the water chemistry in the tank changes over time. Plants, and to a certain extent fish, use up trace minerals which become depleted and the biological filtration process gradually softens and acidifies the water over time. Without regular water changes, these things build up and can lead to the system crashing.

There's also a risk of developing something called 'old tank syndrome', where the fish get used to living in that very mineral depleted, acidic water but when you do change water, you cause shock to the fish because the new water is so different to what they've become used to.

Personally, I think all tanks should have weekly water changes; the percentage can vary according to stocking.

:3 i like your response its so well...explained :3

 

[peachlids]

i do 25-30% in my 75g and i finally got to use a sand/gravel syphon and i literally watched it the entire time; pure physics at work filtering poop, love it.

i try to do this bi-weekly

 

[Cookielici0us]

i do 25-30% in my 75g and i finally got to use a sand/gravel syphon and i literally watched it the entire time; pure physics at work filtering poop, love it.

i try to do this bi-weekly

Man, i know right? I got a gravel vac not too long ago maybe like last week and i used to twice...and it was aMAZING! i love it too makes the job a LOT easier.

I try to do one once a week, on a regular schedule, I try to treat it like cleaning the lines at the local pub, my day is normally Sunday morning when she's still asleep, but that is also very dependent on the previous Saturday night, if I've had a heavy one on the beer it gets missed, but I do a test twice a week, if its abnormal ill do a 20% change and make sure I do my normal vac and plant trim the next weekend.

I did not even get any of your metaphors but ALRIGHT!

 

[Cookielici0us]

Ok, my tank is 5foot, 450 litres (120US gal)... To be precise its a Jewel Rio 400 with sand substrate, bogwood and 6-7 live plants... It's cycled and has been for as long as I can remember. Ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 20 PH 8.2

It's home to 1 fish and always will be until I either rehome him (if I ever do but not planning to anytime soon) or if he dies... Lets hope that doesn't happen.. Anyway, the fish is a Blue Thai Silk Flowerhorn that's currently a little of 5 inches total length...

The filtration in the tank is 2 x tetratec ex1200 external filters and 1 x fluval 4 plus internal giving me a combined turnover of 3400LPH (2600LPH with filter media). So around 6x my water volume.

Even with the filtration and only the 1 fish I still do 2 weekly 50% water changes and gravel/sand vacs. Each time I add water I use seachem prime dechlorinater. Even if your water stats are fine you might as well change some water whilst your doing tank maintenance like a sand/gravel vac.. Your fish will always appreciate fresh water even if its only a 20-30% change

o_o;; I hear flower horns are very expensive and I am very... shocked or amazed I'm not sure because I'm very afraid of flowerhorns because of that odd bulge they have on their head but at the same time i get very excited because there's just something weird about it that attracts me to it i guess its amusingly weird and thats an odd way to think of it they enjoy fresh water im sure and on another note... what do u do with all that water?

Yes your right in thinking flowerhorns can be expensive.. I paid £20 for mine but he was only 1 inch in length. Mine is a Blue Thai Silk and Iv had him 3 months and he is now 5 inches in length (well a little over 5) so growing quickly. Earlier this week I was offered £75 for him by my LFS and £85 privately but he's not going anywhere. iv seen 6-8 inch thai silks selling between £120-150. He is under half of his potential length, they can get to 10-12 inches no problem.

The hump on the head is known as the nuchal hump (or KOK) and gents much larger on males. Flowerhorns get very aggressive when they get to around 6inches or more so its not advised to keep them with any other fish... As I found out the hard way. Mine killed a 6 inch jack Dempsey and a 7-8 inch buttikoferi. Both with 6 hours of being in his tank. Even in a 5ft tank, the size he is at the moment and I had lots of hiding places at the time and I rearranged his tank before trying, and placed him back in the tank AFTER the JD and butti.

Iv seriously never come across anything more aggressive and iv kept dovii's, jaguars, red devil, red terror, red belly piranhas amongst others. Even so, I wouldn't dream about parting with him. He has so much personality

What do you mean "what would you do with all that water"??

oh man the connections with a fish... like sometimes i see people and their pelcos so deeply attached and some pelcos let you pet them but i didnt know they were aggressive... and what do you do with all the water like do u just dump it or do u water your invisible plant

 

[peachlids]

i do 25-30% in my 75g and i finally got to use a sand/gravel syphon and i literally watched it the entire time; pure physics at work filtering poop, love it.

i try to do this bi-weekly

Man, i know right? I got a gravel vac not too long ago maybe like last week and i used to twice...and it was aMAZING! i love it too makes the job a LOT easier.

i snagged this one from my dad and had 30% of the water out and the sand filtered and cleaned in under 45 minutes, its kind of tricky to get the syphoning to start since my tank is on the floor right now, but i try and get as much substrate in the tube and watch it bubble, its so natural and i love the hassle free ness of it

i have nothing inorganic in my tank so i like to keep my water level down for a few hours, let it cycle like that and aerate as much as possible, the fish seem to really like it and then i add my water back with stress coat + about 15g at a time.

 

[Cookielici0us]

i do 25-30% in my 75g and i finally got to use a sand/gravel syphon and i literally watched it the entire time; pure physics at work filtering poop, love it.

i try to do this bi-weekly

Man, i know right? I got a gravel vac not too long ago maybe like last week and i used to twice...and it was aMAZING! i love it too makes the job a LOT easier.

i snagged this one from my dad and had 30% of the water out and the sand filtered and cleaned in under 45 minutes, its kind of tricky to get the syphoning to start since my tank is on the floor right now, but i try and get as much substrate in the tube and watch it bubble, its so natural and i love the hassle free ness of it

i have nothing inorganic in my tank so i like to keep my water level down for a few hours, let it cycle like that and aerate as much as possible, the fish seem to really like it and then i add my water back with stress coat + about 15g at a time.

I used to use a turkey baster and take out the poop and it used to take me a very long time because it was very slow and a lot of work...
and what do u mean by keeping your water level down and cycle how? D:

and sometimes i dont usually wait for my water with the stresscoat and stuff to get to room temperature so my fishes like to swim though it like they're playing limbo or something but i think its fine because the water in my tank is such a large quantity that... it doesnt affect the temperature other than 1 or 2 degrees.