Tank cleaning

[Hayden9261]

Hi all

is 20% water change weekly correct also best way and how often do clean filter thanks or a link to read this up thanks

 

[UnknownFishies]

20% weekly is good
I do mine with a gravel vacuum. Clean the gravel while emptying water.
Shouldn’t have to clean filter that often.

 

[Colin_T]

Each week you should do the following.
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 50-75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every week. However, if you get an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm then do a 75% water change every day until its 0ppm.
Use a basic model gravel cleaner like the one in the following link to drain and gravel clean the substrate.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Aquarium Cleaning Made Easy

Aquarium cleaning should take 30 minutes every two weeks. Learn how the professionals do it in 18 easy steps.

www.about-goldfish.com

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You should clean the filter at least once a month. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

It really depends on the amount of fish, ammonia and nitrite levels, amount of waste and other mess in the tank, but I'd say 20% is a good amount if your tank is "understocked" or doesn't have a poop machine like a pleco.

I personally do 25-40%, but the amount varies weekly.

 

[Hayden9261]

Each week you should do the following.
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 50-75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every week. However, if you get an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm then do a 75% water change every day until its 0ppm.
Use a basic model gravel cleaner like the one in the following link to drain and gravel clean the substrate.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Aquarium Cleaning Made Easy

Aquarium cleaning should take 30 minutes every two weeks. Learn how the professionals do it in 18 easy steps.

www.about-goldfish.com

-----------------
You should clean the filter at least once a month. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

50-75% water change surely this is to much weekly?

 

[Hayden9261]

50-75% water change surely this is to much weekly?

Iv been under water changing for weeks if correct ?

 

[Colin_T]

50-75% water change surely this is to much weekly?

You do water changes for 2 main reasons.
1) to reduce nutrients like ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
2) to dilute disease organisms in the water.

Fish live in a soup of microscopic organisms including bacteria, fungus, viruses, protozoans, worms, flukes and various other things that make your skin crawl. Doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate on a regular basis will dilute these organisms and reduce their numbers in the water, thus making it a safer and healthier environment for the fish.

If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

Imagine living in your house with no windows, doors, toilet, bathroom or anything. You eat and poop in the environment and have no clean air. Eventually you end up living in your own filth, which would probably be made worse by you throwing up due to the smell. You would get sick very quickly and probably die unless someone came to clean up regularly and open the place up to let in fresh air.

Fish live in their own waste. Their tank and filter is full of fish poop. The water they breath is filtered through fish poop. Cleaning filters, gravel and doing big regular water changes, removes a lot of this poop and harmful micro-organisms, and makes the environment cleaner and healthier for the fish.

 

[Hayden9261]

You do water changes for 2 main reasons.
1) to reduce nutrients like ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
2) to dilute disease organisms in the water.

Fish live in a soup of microscopic organisms including bacteria, fungus, viruses, protozoans, worms, flukes and various other things that make your skin crawl. Doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate on a regular basis will dilute these organisms and reduce their numbers in the water, thus making it a safer and healthier environment for the fish.

If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

Imagine living in your house with no windows, doors, toilet, bathroom or anything. You eat and poop in the environment and have no clean air. Eventually you end up living in your own filth, which would probably be made worse by you throwing up due to the smell. You would get sick very quickly and probably die unless someone came to clean up regularly and open the place up to let in fresh air.

Fish live in their own waste. Their tank and filter is full of fish poop. The water they breath is filtered through fish poop. Cleaning filters, gravel and doing big regular water changes, removes a lot of this poop and harmful micro-organisms, and makes the environment cleaner and healthier for the fish.

Thank you Iv been under water changing for weeks if that’s the case I was always told to keep a lot of the same water in the tank to not shock the fish on a water change

 

[fishtankwatcher]

Thank you Iv been under water changing for weeks if that’s the case I was always told to keep a lot of the same water in the tank to not shock the fish on a water change

What type of fish do you have? What type of filter? What size of tank/aquarium?

There is no one size fits all water change routine, but there are definite basics that everyone starts with and then adjusts to their aquarium needs

 

[Byron]

I posted an article on this subject of water changes earlier this week, at the head of this forum. https://www.fishforums.net/threads/regular-partial-water-changes.471488/

Given some of the posts already in this thread, a read of that seems needed by many.

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

I posted an article on this subject of water changes earlier this week, at the head of this forum. https://www.fishforums.net/threads/regular-partial-water-changes.471488/

Given some of the posts already in this thread, a read of that seems needed by many.

Not sure what all the shade is for, lol. ?

 

[itiwhetu]

I always do 25% water changes weekly. I consider 50-75% to be to much on a weekly basis. It is however fine in an emergency situation.

 

[FloridaChick]

You do water changes for 2 main reasons.
1) to reduce nutrients like ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
2) to dilute disease organisms in the water.

Fish live in a soup of microscopic organisms including bacteria, fungus, viruses, protozoans, worms, flukes and various other things that make your skin crawl. Doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate on a regular basis will dilute these organisms and reduce their numbers in the water, thus making it a safer and healthier environment for the fish.

If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

Imagine living in your house with no windows, doors, toilet, bathroom or anything. You eat and poop in the environment and have no clean air. Eventually you end up living in your own filth, which would probably be made worse by you throwing up due to the smell. You would get sick very quickly and probably die unless someone came to clean up regularly and open the place up to let in fresh air.

Fish live in their own waste. Their tank and filter is full of fish poop. The water they breath is filtered through fish poop. Cleaning filters, gravel and doing big regular water changes, removes a lot of this poop and harmful micro-organisms, and makes the environment cleaner and healthier for the fish.

Great analogy! ?

 

[hansgruber7]

25% is fine I think. The risk with large water changes is that it can be risky for your fish if you get a key parameter off.

 

[Colin_T]

Tap water doesn't change much during the year so as long as you do regular water changes, your tank water chemistry (pH, GH & KH) should be similar to the tap water chemistry.

Then you just need to make sure the new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.