water changes?

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ello all!

I got a small 4 gallon tank and im getting some fishies soon, but i wonna know....how do you do a water changE? and why do you do them?

Do you take some water out, usiung like a gravel cleaner and then add clean tap water that has been de-cloranised (using the chemical stuff) to top it back up again?

and how does this "help" the fish?? i thoguht it would be bad due to your taking good bacteria out of a tank and adding fresh water(most propably colder than tank water) that might turn the rest of the tank cold and stressing the ikel fishies...


please help, im confused

 

[fraservet]

Do you take some water out, usiung like a gravel cleaner and then add clean tap water that has been de-cloranised (using the chemical stuff) to top it back up again?

- yes, it is best to have had the replacement water sitting for 24h after dechlorinating.

and how does this "help" the fish?? i thoguht it would be bad due to your taking good bacteria out of a tank and adding fresh water(most propably colder than tank water) that might turn the rest of the tank cold and stressing the ikel fishies...

- only a very small percentage of the bacteria live in the water, the rest are in the substrate and filter

- what you are removing when doing a water change is the waste products of the fish, which will otherwise keep building up until they reach toxic levels. You are also adding in essential trace elements etc. which become depleted over time

- ideally you want to add water the same temperature (just leave the replacement water somewhere warm for 24h after adding dechlorinator)

- alternatively you can add cold water, as long as it is dripped in slowly to give the heater a chance to keep the temperature stable

- obviously the more water you change, the bigger an impact the temperature of the new water will have

 

[toggle]

thats really a great help,


and was very clear... thANKS!

 

[Cheese Specialist]

There's no need to have your water sit for 24 hours IMO.

Water changes are an important part of fishkeeping especially with a small tank like that. It is to keep the water fresh and also to remove nitrate which cannot be removed in any other way.

 

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But you said that it removes nitrate.... is this bacteria found in the water near the gravel or in the filters?

 

[dead_slade]

nitrate is not a bacteria, its what the bacteria breaks ammonia into eventually, the nitrogen cycle in your tank goes: fish and excess food become ammonia -> bactieria breaks the ammonia into nitrites -> the nitrite is further broken down into nitrates. that is as far as the cycle can go in the tank because for nitrate to be broken down you need a low oxygen environment to beak the nitrate into oxygen and nitrogen. doing a water change removes the nitrates before they reach levels that are toxic to the fish.

 

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how does water changes remove it? is nitrate flating aorund in the water? and how much do you remove? around 30% of the tank weekly?

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Nitrate is in the water. How much you change depends on the size of the tank and stocking. I change 20% of my tanks weekly. If my tank were the size of your I would probably change 20% twice.

What are you looking to keep in it?

 

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im not sure im new to all of this

the fish shop man said to put guppies or mollies in first for the first month or so as they are a hard fish..

I wonna get maybe some neon fishie things and i want one of those fish that are aobout 2 inch long and suck the gravel and glass and stuff

 

[Montyfish]

Umm, those fish that are about 2 in long and suck the gravel and glass will end up being 20" monster who will leave your small tank looking like a fish litter tray.

What are the dimensions of your tank? The guppies would be nice, not sure about neons though as they need quite a few of their own kind.

 

[clutterydrawer]

too small for neons im afraid

 

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so what can i get? hang on ill go get the box (btw i know it aint a massive tank but im poor and this one was second hand and fits on my desk nicely )

right its 42X32X33cm (think it was cm) and is 5.5 USA gallons

 

[clutterydrawer]

the only fish that would really thrive in there is a betta sorry. not many fish do well in under 10 gallons.

 

[The-Wolf]

so what can i get? hang on ill go get the box (btw i know it aint a massive tank but im poor and this one was second hand and fits on my desk nicely )

right its 42X32X33cm (think it was cm) and is 5.5 USA gallons

You can have a betta splendens in that tank. It's too small for anything else.

 

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thats really lame,

might aswell chuck the stupid tank in the bin what a waste of £20

and the frigging man in shop i could fit around 5 guppies/mollies/neons in there with a catfish thing

stupid fish!!!!!!!!!!