Water change ?...yet another!

[GrullaQuarters]

Ok, so today was water changing, tank scrubbing day for all of them.....

My boys in the kitchen are in a 1.6 hex tank and a 2.5 glass tank. Both are getting GRUNGY....gross.....and I do w/c on them twice a week. I've been doing a partial change, vacumming gravel....kinda a mini cycle sort of thing....to get the good bacteria in there. I'm thinking now it's SO not worth it for these small tanks. So, by the time I got to my CT in the hex tank, I got him into a cup, and ripped EVERYTHING outta there..........I even took out the u/g filter thing that came with it, and the airstone and tube. I didn't put them back. So, I cleaned EVERYTHING, rinsed gravel well, and put everything back. The tank now looks great again. I figure I'll just start doing that regularly with both tanks. This is the 'norm' isn't it for small tanks?

Question is, how often do I need to do this with both of these....is my twice a week enough? Too much? There is now no water movement in either of them...but I've not had a problem with the 2.5 gallon, which has not had and airstone in it. Will I start having any unforseen problems?

I just saw my w/c's without cleaning the gravel (just a spotty vaccumming) wasn't doing any good.

I'm still pretty new with these guys...got my first one a couple months ago. If you do a full w/c with gravel rinsing and everything, do I need to toss out the idea of having a live plant in them?

Thank you!

 

[BettaMomma]

That's a perfect schedule.
Jack's tank has a live plant, and I just carefully take it out while I'm taking everything else out and then doing the full water change, including gravel rinsing and put it back in. It works out fine.

I've got it down to a science now, so my little tanks can go from coming off the shelf to back onto the shelf in less than 10 minutes. The hardest part is temp matching, but you get really good at that very fast. Not all that long ago, I had 8 little tanks to do 100% water changes on. You get really good at it pretty fast, doing tank changes 16 times a week.

I think that you'll find that once you get going with these full changes, you'll actually find that it's easier this way than doing partials.

 

[soritan]

It's also easier with the 2.5G tank, since it's so small. You just get a cup or something out and begin slowly putting it into a bucket. I use my tank water to water plants. My plants love it. Betta 'fertilizer'.

I've heard conflicting comments about how to take care of such a small tank, and in the end, it winds up being whatever is best for you and your fish. Just do it often and throughally. Find one method and stick to it, it just stresses them out when you get too erratic.

(disclaimer: I'm not the best voice to listen to, I've only had a betta since Februrary, and he's ill.)

 

[Kiarra]

Twice a week is GREAT for 100% water changes. If you had to, you could even do them once a week, but, if you're willing to do them twice a week, that's even better.

You can have plants in tanks that get 100% water changes. I keep two Java Ferns (I suppose three now, since one of them gave me another plant out of it) in with two of my male Bettas, and they get 100% water changes, with scrubbed gravel. The plants are doing just fine.

All of my Betta tanks (except the girly tank, because I don't want to risk the frogs wandering off, and my fry tanks, because...yikes...10 gallons) get 100% water changes. And I have over 40 Bettas, most of them male, so that's a lot of water changes. I still insist on doing 100% water changes because it just keeps everything cleaner. Plus there's the 9-week-old fry getting their water changes every single day....

 

[GrullaQuarters]

Thanks for that!

Momma, does PW sell live plants? I was thinking of going in there today...

Was at PS yesterday, LOTS of bettas there yesterday...I was sad to see they didn't do the cups filled with gravel you mentioned so they all get equal viewing.... or was this at the east side PS?

 

[BettaMomma]

PetSmart on the west side does it - but just the back row.
East side does the same thing, they're kind of slipping - they are selling plants with 1/2 bowls for bettas. AAAAGH!

PetWorld never has any live plants - I had gone in there several times before and they don't. I just don't go in there anymore because of the "balls" statement. hee hee!

I'm so irritated with the way all fish are kept in this whole town - HEY! you know Angela Bettis on the evening news, right? She's the one I'm contacting to see if they'll get on WM's case here in town.

Keep an eye on channel 9!

 

[GrullaQuarters]

Channel 9...would that be cable? Then must be channel 3....wisctv. I will do that!

No gravel cups at the west side PS yesterday.....they also do have a set up like you say the east side one does, with a betta in a small bowl with a plant. Hmmmm. So they have it there too.........off to Pet World I go.........just looking...not buying anything...

 

[BettaMomma]

They should have the gravel cups on the westside - i went there on Saturday to get guinea pig bedding and they had them all along the back row.

I HAD to get out of there ASAP as they were having a cat adoption that day and there was one beautiful cat there who had lost an eye due to an infection. He was shy and kept his head down, always looking at the floor - I'm sure it was because of his missing eye. I know that I'd have dragged a one-eyed cat home if I had stayed there much longer.

Nevermind that A ) I'm horribly allergic B ) I have tons of fish I'm sure a cat would love to snack on C ) ditto for my 2 guinea pigs and D ) we'd have to give an extra 50$ a month rent if we had a cat.

 

[Raechal]

I feel like a water changing freak! I change my betta's water every 2 days. And that is on like 6 tanks.