Water change

[Lamie]

I can't do a weekly water change. How long can I leave a water change? What is the longest time I can leave between a water change? Otherwise I will have to do 2 litres at time
Tank is 70 litres and 8 black.phantom tetras. Up untill now I've been doing weekly to 10 days

 

[Colin_T]

Why can't you do them once a week?
How big is the tank?
How many fish are in the tank and what sort of fish?
What do you feed them and how often do you feed them?
Picture of the aquarium?

If you have lots of live aquatic plants in the tank and don't feed too much, and don't have too many fish in the tank, you can do a 50-75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once every 2 weeks.

 

[Lamie]

I've had an operation and can't lift for 4 weeks
It's a 70litres
8 black phantom tetras
I feed them bug bites little at a time for 5 mins nearly every day
The plants in there are not planted, they will grow at the top a bit and some roots on some of the plants.

 

[Colin_T]

If you can't lift for a month just reduce feeding. The floating plants should help keep the water cleaner.

When you can lift things again, start doing small 10% water changes every day for a week. Then do 20% each day for a week. Then 30% for a week, then 50% for a week. Then go back to 50-75% once a week.

They will be fine. Don't push yourself and just do them when you can.

 

[itiwhetu]

Eight Black Phantoms in 70 liters are going to be fine for ages, just make sure you don't over feed them.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

If it helps, New Zealand is known for having beautifully clean and usually soft water, in some areas at least! @itiwhetu can attest to that. So that will help!

As well as making sure to only feed very lightly (and if you don't already, add a fasting day or two every week to help keep the bioload down. Fish don't need as much food as we usually give them, so they'll be fine with rationing for a while!) If you're able to still use a gravel vac, just giving the substrate a bit of a clean if it's starting to look mucky, without removing much water could also help keep the water parameters in check. Definitely clean up any leftover food.

But if the op was on your back or arms, or doing that might compromise your health at all, then don't risk it! The fish will manage for a month if you're careful about feeding since you have all those live plants and lovely NZ water Hope you make a swift recovery! The tank is really nice, can tell it's been well cared for

 

[Wills]

Like people here have said don't worry too much about it 10 days is amazing if you can do that but in the circumstances you should not worry at all. Life gets in the way sometimes and you have to do it that way round.

Your tank looks really nice btw

Wills

 

[Essjay]

Is there anyone who could help you do water changes?
When I had cataract surgery I was told not to lift anything for 4 weeks, but the surgeon said that siphoning water into a bucket and getting someone else to carry it out was fine. For refilling, I had to have someone else carry the new water to the tank and I was allowed to ladle the new water into the tank with a 1 litre jug.
Of course that won't work if your operation prevents you from standing or if you'll be in hospital afterwards for a long time.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

I agree with most that had been said.
Don't worry about your tank.
You have plenty of plants and you only have 8 fish in the tank.

However, I suggest that you get a long hose to connect your tap directly to your tank. Turn on your tap and let the water flow be very slow so that the water can mix with the water conditioner properly. Pour the water conditioner directly into the tank near to the hose outflow before turning on the tap.

But if you prefer to premix the water conditioner and water in a bucket, then get a big bucket and put it in front of your tank.
Use the long hose to supply water directly to the bucket. Then you can scoop up slowly from the bucket to your tank.

You can also get another long hose to connect your siphon to your garden or drain.
By doing this, you can siphon your tank water directly to your garden or drain.
And you won't need to carry a bucket anymore.

 

[Byron]

I had a very similar problem last year, following surgery. I left the water changes for three weeks, one might have been four weeks, twice in a row. I have a "Python" so there is no buckets involved, but my lack of energy plus being unable to get downstairs some days caused the neglect. I only fed the fish once, maybe twice in a week, using bug bites exclusively, and minimal amounts even at that. I would not recommend this, but it cannot be helped. Interestingly, the floating plants went into incredible growth, I suspect because the additional CO2 and ammonia that they sucked up. Plants, especially fast growing surface plants, are indeed ammonia sinks. I lost no fish.