Water Changes? Vacuuming Gravel?

[Dori]

I've heard alot of different opinions about when to do water changes. Any where from once a week to once a month. Which is it?
Also should the gravel be vacuumed everytime when there is a waterchange? I have a 26 gallon freshwater aquarium. It has been up for about 5 weeks now. I have:
3 Blk. skirt tetras
2 Med. koi angelfish
1 bristlenose catfish
1 peacock spiney eel

One more question, if the amonia content starts to go up can it be controlled by doing water changes? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[RYO]

once a week i do the water changes.Same for the vacs ,i only lightly vac as i have lots of plants so dont like to mess them up.
With any ammonia showing,water changes are a must , ammonia needs to be at zero

 

[Cheese Specialist]

People do water changes at different times and different amounts because of a few factors including tank size, fish and feeding to name a few.

IMO bigger tanks need less water changes less often than smaller unless they have a lot of fish (or messy) in the tank.

I do 20% in each of my tanks and a mid-week change in my coldwater in addition.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

The vacuuming and water changes go together. Once a week is good if you don't have plants. If you don't overfeed, then once every other week is fine.

 

[nightlife20]

mines done every week also... i do the vacumin the same time also... its a must for me, espsh on the gravel tank because... u can see the poop.

iv hardly seen any poop in my sand one... must be the two filters suckin it all up???

 

[FanOFish]

The answer really depends on a couple things....

First is the size of your tank, the smaller the tank the faster it gets dirty and needs vacuming.

Second is the type of fish you have, some fish like Oscars are big and messy as opposed to say tetras. In addition you need to make sure you don't overstock your tank or overfeed your fish.

Third if you regularly check your water parameters you will get a good idea what's going on in your tank. Partial water changes should be ongoing and are just good preventative maintanence.

I would think as long as you are doing everything right you could get away with a light vacuming once a month on your size tank.

Good luck

 

[steven_yyz]

To add onto the theme of this question, when should the filter be changed? or washed?

steven_yyz

 

[nightlife20]

i wash mine in the bucket of tank water (that iv just syphoned out) every time i do a water change... but most ppl do it every 2-4 weeks...



DONT RUN IT UNDER TAP WATER THO!!!!

cause u will kill off the good bactiria

 

[thecichlidaddict]

You can go a week, a month, or 6 months without a water change and your fish will survive, but that does not mean you are doing the right thing. The fish can get used to water that gradually becomes more and more foul, but they will not be thriving, and the shock of a large and sudden water change in a fouled tank can kill them. Better to keep on top of things.

Water changes accomplish a number of things:

-Removes excess undesirable elements such as nitrates
-Replenishes the desirable elements that have been used up
-Stablizes the PH (the nitrogen cycle causes a slow but stead decline in ph)

It doesn't matter how lightly my tanks are stocked, I do water changes every week. As far as I am concerned there is nothing that is better for the health of the fish. I don't use any additives except water conditioner because there is no reason to - my tanks are clean and the fish are unstressed. Depending on which tank these will range from 20% to 50% of the water. I vacuum the substrate every time, since it is no further effort.

 

[Dori]

Thanks everyone, you've all been very helpful