Aquarium

[DB2593]

Hi in my tank i have mollies, guppies, gouramis, platties, swordtails and neons, and for the cleaning i have 2 plecs, 3 albino corys and 2 african clawed frogs.
My tank never seems to look dirty so 4 times a week i treat my bottom feeders with a algae wafer.
Because i have a sanded bottom to my tank you can see the fish poop settle onto it and it stands out, so i syphon the bottom of my water every 3 days (20% of the water) to keep the sand looking clean, but i have been told its best to do a 10% water change every day, 20% every 3 days or 40% weekly and i am being told so many different things, so i would like to know how often and how much of my water i should change? and also how often to clean my filters? at the moment i give my filter sponges a rinse in the water i have took out of my tank every 2 weeks and alternatively change each pad every month. Am i doing this right? all of my fish seem healthy and happy and my tank looks clean
Im sure many people have their own opinions on cleaning their tanks but which one in most convenient?

 

[Fishy friend2]

how big is the tank
how many fish do you have and what species
is it planted

 

[DB2593]

I have 2 male 5 female silver mollies (the 2 males are lyertail mollies)
5 neon tetras
3 male 6 female guppies
1 male 1 female platty (but the male doesn't bother the female)
1 male 1 female swordtail (male doesn't bother the female)
1 male 1 female flaming dwarf gourami
2 plec catfish
3 albino corys
2 african clawed frogs
and the tank is roughly 145 litres (155 litres without ornements and rocks)
I worked it out as to thats the maximmum number of fish i can have in there, the big air pump supplies more then enough oxygen to the water and i obviously have the filters causing a bit of water movement on the top.
Many people will think that is too many fish in the tank but they are only small sized at the moment and by the time they get bigger i will have my second tank up and running .
the tank is not planted but i do have 4 moss balls in there but as i say the air pump and water movement supply more then enough oxygen to the tank

 

[Fishy friend2]

40-50% a week should be sufficient

 

[Cazgar]

By changing the pad, do you mean the sponge?
You really don't need to change those until they're starting to fall apart, they hold a lot of your good bacteria

 

[DB2593]

i have a filter with two pads and a sponge, i dont really ever change the sponge but as i say i change the filter pads alternitavley every month and wash them every 2 weeks