Dirty Water

[L_Plates]

Good evening all, I am new here and would like to say what a great forum full of helpful people

I have a quick question, during water changes where do you syphon the water from ? Top, Middle or bottom of the tank ? Some people say the middle are of water is the dirtiest others say elsewhere. What do you think ?

Thanks
LP

 

[Twinklecaz]

Well, usually when you change water you syphon/hoover the sand or gravel at the same time so for me (and I guess most others) majority comes from the bottom.

 

[fishprotector]

Unless there are large peices of waste (poo) on the bogwood then I take it all through the gravel.

 

[L_Plates]

I to normally hover through the gravel, but i was wondering lets say for just a simple water change to remove ammonia if it spikes, would you do anything different/syphone from a specific are or just the sand going through the gravel ?

Cheers LP

 

[fishprotector]

See I have quite a flow in my tank (Fluval 405 on a 180l) so the water seems to get mixed around quite a lot. But on tanks with less filter power I would have thought that the second best place to remove the water from would be the bottom of the tank. Purely because freshwater is less likely to get circulated to this area and because suface agitation / airation does not reach it. Might be wrong though.