water changes

[schizo_fish]

how do i go about doing a water change?
what method would i use?

 

[bittersweet]

thats too wide range of a question, you would have to let us know how big your tank is and what your keeping there and how long its been established to give you an answer to that. once you post that im sure people will be able to help.

 

[schizo_fish]

well, my tanks 40 gallons 100 x 40 x 45cm.
i have no fish at the moment and have had the tank running for three weeks (fishless cycling) but somethings wrong so i want to lower my ammonia levels by doing a water change, and want to know how to do this.
i.e. how long should the water doing into my tank be stood for before i put it in? and stuff like that.
help needed, thank you

 

[Teelie]

The best method is use a siphon. A long tube with a widened end to remove the water. Take out 20% (roughly 15 gallons) and refill it with either reverse osmosis water, distilled or otherwise purified, unchlorinated water. If all you have is tap water, then decholorinate it before adding it and if you have no dechlorinator, let it sit for upwards of a week. Chlorine can be gased overnight but the increasingly more common Chloramine can be in water for over a week.

3 weeks? What's wrong? Ammonia should be high at that point and will taper off with the nitrites coming in and by the 4th or 5th week you should be ready.

 

[schizo_fish]

my ammonia has been high since about 4 days after i started cycling, but ive been testing the nitrites and i get a colour that doesn't appear on the chart (for about 12days or so) and ive been informed that this could mean the nitrites are off the scale. Ive also tested my nitrates but its still at about 0 - 5 (cant make out the difference in colour)
so i want to bring all the levels down by doing a water change and testing again, to make sure i wasn't adding too much ammonia, and that i havn't overloaded the bacateria.
im got about 8 gallons in a spare tank (completely empty) that ive added declorinator to, how long should i leave this before putting it in the other tank???

 

[cation]

has the ammonia level come down at all in the last three weeks? Even a little bit?

 

[schizo_fish]

not that i can tell, for all i know it could be way off the scale, but i did get a nitrite spike after about 1 week.

 

[cation]

Do you have any nitrAtes registering yet?

 

[schizo_fish]

not really, it looks like i have between 0 and 5 on the colour chart.

 

[schizo_fish]

ive got about 8 gallons in a spare tank (completely empty) that ive added declorinator to, how long should i leave this before putting it in the other tank???

can anyone advise me on this???

 

[Bol]

No waiting is necessary with the proper use of most (all?) commercial dechlorinating products.

In fact, I add my dechlor right to my tank just before refilling with tap water. But, I use a Python No-Spill siphon system, so there's no intermediate "bucket".

 

[cation]

It sounds like the cycle is progressing - I would leave it and not do a water change. Have you tested your tapwater to be sure it is free of ammonia and nitrites, and to find out what the nitrate levels are (if any)?

 

[schizo_fish]

my tap water is fine, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates, and a ph of 7.4
my tank water now has a ph of about 6.6 anyone know what might have caused this.
im going to get a hardness test today and check my water.

 

[Phantom Thief]

Do you have any bogwood inside? Bogwood lowers the pH of water.

P.T.

 

[schizo_fish]

no bogwood or anything like that.