How often to do water changes?

[Mariah]

How often should water changes be done on a 10, 20 and 50 gallon tanks?
Thanks

 

[freddyk]

It's an impossible question to answer - it depends on your filtration, stocking levels and fish types, and personal schedule.

Once every two weeks is a reasonable schedule to keep a tank healthy without becoming too much of a chore. Once per week is great, once per month will do.

But no matter what answers you get here, experience is the only thing that can answer this question for you.

 

[The-Wolf]

personally on the 10 and 20 I would do 20% every week and on the 50 every two weeks. Like freddyk has said though it depends on a lot of factors.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

If you test your water for ammonia, nitrates and nitrites weekly they will give you the right indication on how much water you should take out and how often, i do a 40% water change for all my tanks per week with sand cleaning session and i clean my filters out with water from water changes about once a fortnight too.

 

[Bloo]

My 50Gallon is quite heavily stocked, so I do about 30-40% every week with a good gravel vac. My 20Gal sand is overfiltrated but I also do about 30% a week and sand vac.

 

[yvez9]

I have 5,10,20 and 50 gallon tanks

the 10 gets it the most, almost everyday 40-50% because it is a fry tank
the 20 is second because my bristlenose pleco and ottos poo so much the bottom is filled with crap after 3 days. I chnage about 25%

the 50 gallon and the 5 gallon mostle have clean fish guppies for the 50 and a betta for the 5) so I just change it once a week 20-30%

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I agree with fry tanks they do need more regular water changes but i don't do mine everyday because i'd be concerned on the maount of stress it would cause them- fry are realy sensitive to these things although i suppose its what you have in the tank and the type of fry; if your tank has adequete filtration and isn't overstocked i would think that everyday water changes are unesarsary.

 

[lighter]

I do it at least once every week at least.

 

[Ethos]

It depend. I have a 2 story stand, one of my 10Gs sits on top, while the other sits on bottom. I clean my top one more often because its so much easier. I cant do the bottem one as well as fast as the top one because my vaccume doesn't have as much pull because the tank is closer to the ground. I'm to lazy to spen another 10 min.s waiting for about 20% to 30% to drain out.....So The top one is my 'show' tank and that one is the cleanest.

The 5G is also hard to clean because its on my desk next to my computer. No matter how hard I try I cant keep water from splashin onto my computer. So I clean that one about once a month.....

 

[Jen]

I try to do it every 2 weeks -on average. If the water looks good, and im not having any problems with the fish, I might go 3 weeks. If things are looking icky - water a bit cloudy, lots of waste on the bottom, I'll do it more frequently until the cloudiness is gone. Like people have said, it depends on your tank. If you have messy fish, like plecos, you'll want to do it more often. If you have smaller 'tidier' fish like platties you can get away with going a few weeks without one.