How Often Should I Do A Water Change?

[arj]

Hey..

I've had my tank for about 14 months now. We've had a fair share of deaths in the tank most of the fish are only fairly short lived fish anyway.

I'm trying to get the tank in as good a shape as possible to restock around christmas. I was wondering how often people do a water change, for a 14 month old tank?

Thanks.
Arj

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons is it, you should do a water change and gravel vac once a week, but i do it twice a week.

 

[arj]

It's 31 gallons.. it does say in the signature!!

 

[WILDER]

Sorry missed that, yes once a week, and you have algae eater big waste producers.

 

[Lynden]

I dont do water changes very often, it helps to soften your water. I dont do them mostly because i am lazy though. You can get away with it if the fish are relatively hardy or with regular top-ups and a good filter.

 

[IMCL85]

once a weeks is perfect for ur tank.

 

[lljdma06]

I have had a tank running for 3 years and I still do weekly 25% water changes and vacumn the gravel when there is no danger of sucking up bridget rasboras. I have a good power filter as well, but I don't think I'd skip water changes and let the filter do all the work. I only grudgingly skip WCs during Winter break (because I'm out of town for 6 weeks, and can't trust my friends to do anything other than feed the fish once a week and make sure nothing has exploded).

It is not that labor intensive, and can take as little as 30 minutes if you're not too picky with your plants, and I have two tanks to change. I have to prune mine almost every week, so mine take a little longer, but no more than an hour.

The little time spent is worth it, since you won't have to do a major cleaning if you skip water changes. It's also much better for the fish IMO.

Though it's true that some fish are short-lived, many tropical fish species live longer than 14 months. My bridget rasboras are uber tiny and have been with me for nearly 3 years. Some tetras and cichlids can live as long as 5-10yrs or more. And don't get me started on goldfish, they can live quite a long time.

What was your maintenance schedule during the 14 months you've had the tank? I'm curious.