How Often Do You Change Your Water?

[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.

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.

i just leave the remaining water (70% in) like my filters filter in after moving all my substrate, and im currently using lime juice soaked paper towels to remove calcium from the top 2.5 inches of my tank so it gives that time to soak while not reaching the water because that wolud decrease the ph, then i usually tempter my water to luke warm because my hands are always colder and put that stress coat water in. i just like to put it in slower so my filters can filter the disturbed substrate

 

[dbanner]

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

I can't pet my flowerhorn at all. He goes for my fingers lol I have to put him into a 40 gal whilst I clean his 120gal. That's the joys of having plecos I suppose... They are not at all aggressive my flowerhorn is very funny, he swims around doing loops (like backflips) to get my attention. If I walk up to the tank he will come and greet me. He doesn't do any of that with anyone else in my house... He just goes mad and attacks the glass lol

My tank isn't far away from a window so iv just attached a longer pipe to my syphon/gravel cleaner so when I'm doing a sand vac I just put the pipe out the window so the water goes straight out. I fill back up with a hose from the garden and buckets of warm water so the tank temp stays the same. Then I treat the water with 5ml of seachem prime. 5ml treats 200 litres of fresh water added. So a 500ml bottle bought for £14 (around 20 US $) will treat 20,000 litres meaning that bottle will last me just over a year doing 2 weekly 50% water changes on my 450 litre (120 US gal)

 

[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

I can't pet my flowerhorn at all. He goes for my fingers lol I have to put him into a 40 gal whilst I clean his 120gal. That's the joys of having plecos I suppose... They are not at all aggressive my flowerhorn is very funny, he swims around doing loops (like backflips) to get my attention. If I walk up to the tank he will come and greet me. He doesn't do any of that with anyone else in my house... He just goes mad and attacks the glass lol

My tank isn't far away from a window so iv just attached a longer pipe to my syphon/gravel cleaner so when I'm doing a sand vac I just put the pipe out the window so the water goes straight out. I fill back up with a hose from the garden and buckets of warm water so the tank temp stays the same. Then I treat the water with 5ml of seachem prime. 5ml treats 200 litres of fresh water added. So a 500ml bottle bought for £14 (around 20 US $) will treat 20,000 litres meaning that bottle will last me just over a year doing 2 weekly 50% water changes on my 450 litre (120 US gal)

I was thinking of having my fish tank near a window but after reading somewhere it's "not a good idea" i threw that thoguht out the window..before of people's horror stories...of fish stew...but on another note I just changed my water today and oh goodness all that poopy goodness that my gravel vac picked up! delicious but for some odd reason my fish tank smells like fish...it smells awful. i think thats normal right?! and also... the first time i filled up at 55 gallon i had to use the hose too so i dragged it in from the yard and through my house

 

[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.

i just leave the remaining water (70% in) like my filters filter in after moving all my substrate, and im currently using lime juice soaked paper towels to remove calcium from the top 2.5 inches of my tank so it gives that time to soak while not reaching the water because that wolud decrease the ph, then i usually tempter my water to luke warm because my hands are always colder and put that stress coat water in. i just like to put it in slower so my filters can filter the disturbed substrate

i never thoguht of using lemon to remove the calcium build up on my filter...i will take that into account and :3 my previous post about changing the water with the gravel vac it is AMAZING except i forgot to empty out the hose and i got some nasty water on myself
but otherr than that it was lovely just amazing

 

[peachlids]

i checked my ammonia levels and there is barely any present in my tank now after the water change, gravel vac, and a slight change in diet! and thats great because we have the worst battle with ammonia. our ph, temps, and everything else usually is spot one esp with the crushed shell substrate and the biosubstrate mix we bought. that stuff is amazing.

i just had a friend bring over a whole box of turtle/tank equipment including a pump, natural odor and waste removers and water-fixers, as i like to call them.

the pump i received was like a christmas present, its tiny, internal, and pumps at a changeable rate of 30-55gph, perfect for a 10g reptile set up.

and my bullfrog tadpole is LOVING it, they also gave me another gravel vac hehe with a hand pump so it REALLY helps me since my tank is on the ground to get the syphoning started.


SAWEET.

i had to post him because hes growing into such a handsome fellow and my new clean tank makes him beautiful!

 

[fluttermoth]

for some odd reason my fish tank smells like fish...it smells awful. i think thats normal right?!

No; that's not normal. Tanks either shouldn't smell at all, or have a very slight 'earthy' smell, but it shouldn't smell of fish. I would guess (especially if you're getting a lot of gunk out of your gravel, that you're overfeeding, or not doing enough gravel cleaning.

and also... the first time i filled up at 55 gallon i had to use the hose too so i dragged it in from the yard and through my house

I use a hose for all my water changes

 

[Cookielici0us]

i checked my ammonia levels and there is barely any present in my tank now after the water change, gravel vac, and a slight change in diet! and thats great because we have the worst battle with ammonia. our ph, temps, and everything else usually is spot one esp with the crushed shell substrate and the biosubstrate mix we bought. that stuff is amazing.

i just had a friend bring over a whole box of turtle/tank equipment including a pump, natural odor and waste removers and water-fixers, as i like to call them.

the pump i received was like a christmas present, its tiny, internal, and pumps at a changeable rate of 30-55gph, perfect for a 10g reptile set up.

and my bullfrog tadpole is LOVING it, they also gave me another gravel vac hehe with a hand pump so it REALLY helps me since my tank is on the ground to get the syphoning started.


SAWEET.

i had to post him because hes growing into such a handsome fellow and my new clean tank makes him beautiful!

Bah~ so cute :3 he is very handsome :3 very very handsome

 

[Cookielici0us]

for some odd reason my fish tank smells like fish...it smells awful. i think thats normal right?!

No; that's not normal. Tanks either shouldn't smell at all, or have a very slight 'earthy' smell, but it shouldn't smell of fish. I would guess (especially if you're getting a lot of gunk out of your gravel, that you're overfeeding, or not doing enough gravel cleaning.

and also... the first time i filled up at 55 gallon i had to use the hose too so i dragged it in from the yard and through my house

I use a hose for all my water changes

bleh... my dad has this urge to keep on feeding them because when he comes by they make bubbles at the top of the water so...yeah thats possibly why ._.;; *sigh* time to hide the fish food

ISNT THE HOSE SO HANDY? I used to have my tank in the kitchen when i had a 10 gallon and i used the hose thing from the sink lol hoses!

 

[Livewire88]

50% once a week without fail on every tank I have.

 

[DreamertK]

I do one 15-20% on Sundays and one sand/gravel cleaning (usually takes out 50% of the water) on Wednesdays for my 20 gal. Not yet cycled, I'm still observing ammonia levels in the tank for more changes.

I've gotten used to sand siphoning, it's pretty easy! Though there's still a bunch of dust left over from the original sand cleaning. I think my last vac got rid of quite a bit of it though, since now when I move things around it doesn't get all cloudy. Pretty much though, the fish waste should be picked up and then you pinch the tube so the sand gets about halfway up the siphon and the rest is sucked up through the tube without the sand. I'm excited for another change today.

I've been putting my 15% water in milk jugs for my plants, but I don't nearly use up more than half a gallon per week. It looks like human urine from all the drift wood pigment. But I want to store some just for cleaning purposes so that I dont get all that chlorine from the tap going in the tank.

My gourami don't appreciate the cleaning though, they're always hiding under the driftwood until the dust settles again.

 

[dbanner]

It's not advised to have a tank next to a window but that's only if the sunlight hits the tank directly as this will cause algae problems whereas my tank isn't in direct sunlight, it's just to the side of the window and fluttermoth is right, tanks shouldn't have a fishy smell to them.

 

[Cookielici0us]

I do one 15-20% on Sundays and one sand/gravel cleaning (usually takes out 50% of the water) on Wednesdays for my 20 gal. Not yet cycled, I'm still observing ammonia levels in the tank for more changes.

I've gotten used to sand siphoning, it's pretty easy! Though there's still a bunch of dust left over from the original sand cleaning. I think my last vac got rid of quite a bit of it though, since now when I move things around it doesn't get all cloudy. Pretty much though, the fish waste should be picked up and then you pinch the tube so the sand gets about halfway up the siphon and the rest is sucked up through the tube without the sand. I'm excited for another change today.

I've been putting my 15% water in milk jugs for my plants, but I don't nearly use up more than half a gallon per week. It looks like human urine from all the drift wood pigment. But I want to store some just for cleaning purposes so that I dont get all that chlorine from the tap going in the tank.

My gourami don't appreciate the cleaning though, they're always hiding under the driftwood until the dust settles again.

Well I usually put my plants in sand and have gravel on the bottom but i also wonder if my loaches would enjoy it more if i just had the bottom all sandy but they like to hide under this ship thing i have and chill out there so when i vac i vac around it and then finally lift up the ship

and by pinching the tube? what do u mean by that?

 

[Cookielici0us]

It's not advised to have a tank next to a window but that's only if the sunlight hits the tank directly as this will cause algae problems whereas my tank isn't in direct sunlight, it's just to the side of the window and fluttermoth is right, tanks shouldn't have a fishy smell to them.

well i found where all the excess food was from i had fun just vac-ing it up it took 3 10 gallon bucks to suck it all up... o_o;; and also i found some old food in my filter that maybe i should have thought abuot it wasnt int the cartage but under it i suppose? Well anyaywas i dont think my fish had much fun with the water level getting lower but i sure did :3 it smells liek water now... less smelly...adn i threw in my ghost shrimp in there because... i thoguht it would be cool then again maybe my blind cave tetras would enjoy their meal as well...and sometimes i worry ythat my octos dont have enough to eat so... i feel that having it near the window would allow them to eat something.

I also went to the petstore not too long ago (petstore being pet smart) and i saw their pelcos and they were like 6 inches LONG i was WEIRDED OUT! so surprised i deffinately want to get a baby pelco and watch it grow :3 but then it would leave my octos... hungry or something... ahhhh why are fishes so addicting?

sometimes my octos eats flakes so... who knows?

and oh god when i was changing the water i wasn't paying attention and i had put the clip in back wards so the water was going on the floor rather than in the bucket... gosh i felt so lame ._.;;

50% once a week without fail on every tank I have.

what type of tank do you have?

 

[dbanner]

Glad you have sorted your tank out and it's not smelly anymore plecs are nice but be careful as some get very big. What size is your tank? (Gallons and/or tank dimensions)

ah yes fish keeping is very addictive. Iv had 10 tanks (soon to be 11 when I get my 8 foot tank sometime from now to jan/feb next year) in the 2 1/2 years iv been in the hobby. They have ranged from 10 gal to 120gal, the 8 foot tank will be 210gal.

My other half won't allow more than 3 tanks at any 1 time so ill have to settle for the 40gal, 120 and 210. If I had my way there would be tanks everywhere as there are just so many different species I want to keep at 1 time. So... As ill only have the 3 tanks, my stock is going to be a dovii in the 210 (possibly) Then my flowerhorn in the 120 and then a pair of channa bleheri (dwarf snakeheads) in the 40 (iv had them before and think they are stunning)

 

[Cookielici0us]

Glad you have sorted your tank out and it's not smelly anymore plecs are nice but be careful as some get very big. What size is your tank? (Gallons and/or tank dimensions)

ah yes fish keeping is very addictive. Iv had 10 tanks (soon to be 11 when I get my 8 foot tank sometime from now to jan/feb next year) in the 2 1/2 years iv been in the hobby. They have ranged from 10 gal to 120gal, the 8 foot tank will be 210gal.

My other half won't allow more than 3 tanks at any 1 time so ill have to settle for the 40gal, 120 and 210. If I had my way there would be tanks everywhere as there are just so many different species I want to keep at 1 time. So... As ill only have the 3 tanks, my stock is going to be a dovii in the 210 (possibly) Then my flowerhorn in the 120 and then a pair of channa bleheri (dwarf snakeheads) in the 40 (iv had them before and think they are stunning)

Yeah, I've read a lot about pelcos and i've only owned two...not including the octos.... one died from ich and the other from being stuck in a lego house... har.... but my tank is 55 gallons i think if i ever get a pelco it'd be a rubber-lip or something... and i have a 55 gallon...
on another note i had ich because of that re-cycling thing after you upgrade...but i thought it would be okay if i didnt rinse off the gravel and used the same filter...but didnt work out that way but anyways only lost 3 fishes and for some reason even though they were heavily infected none of my other fishes had ich on them...so it was only those three...i treated the main tank and quarantined the heavily infected ones...but i could NOT save my one black skirt tetra and my two lovely silver dollars...suppose I wasn't really attached to them anyways since i only had them for at least a month... slightly knew they were going to die the moment they laid on the bottom and started flipping over... sometimes i wonder if it's okay to give up and know they're going to die... no matter how hard you try to bring them to life... there's only so much you can do when all you have is medication, clean water, and a heater...guess at some point you have to leave it up to the fish to try its hardest to rub off all that ich or something... well at some point it got so bad it started to look like calcium on their skin... because the cysts were so big i was kinda grossed out...

and 3 tanks...is a lot D: i dont think i could manage more than two... which is my quarantine and my main tank .... in my quarantine tnake i have my two octos because they cant handle ich treatment... so i threw in a piece of an algae wafer and they dont touch it...so i leave it in there...hopefully to encourage algae growth for them... i dont think they eat it...it hasn't really shrunk in size...and along with my african dwarf frog... he likes to swim and come out...and play in the water... unlike my other frog.... who liked to hide...and i would never see him...

BUT now since i have not seen ich in my tank for the last 3 days i'm goign to say its safe and tomorrow put in my octos and my frog....after making the water clear and filtering it a bit more...

my mom wonders why i sit in front of my tank for so long and why i choose to hide behind the piano sometimes while i watch them... but... i guess i have my own reasons

its funny because sometimes my platies liek to sleep and the schooling fishes worry that they're dead so they poke them some what and swim away and turn back around but since they're sleeping they kinda just lay on their side... it always scares me...every time... if its any fish in the tank i am deeply attached to it is my three platies and my one male guppy... i've had them as my first successful batch of fishes... and they'ved lived for so long... i tried to get another batch of platies to join this one and they were "defective" and i had to return them after a week because they were very lethargic and had a very slow reaction... i just felt like they were sick... D: because they didn't really move...

I know this isn't quite related to awter changing anymore....but just something i observed throughout this post of water changing adn fishy smelling water.