I Hold My Hands Up In Shame........

[J4G3D]

So i havent clean out my 4ft tank in almost 40 days! bought about 4 syphons, they just wouldnt work. Finally got a decent one now and promptly gave it a 50% change.

Luckily i had no deaths in those 40 days, but the fish are a hell of alot more lively now.

My work collegue has a small tank with alot of fish in. He said since hes had it he has never ever given it a water change. Approaching 3 year. He reckons hes had 1 death but the rest are alive and fine. I cant beleive it???

Anyway my question to you guys is... how long have you left it before a water change?

 

[england]

I generally do waterchanges once a week, depends alot on ammount of fish in tank and fileration used, alot of fish shops tell people not to change water, if tank has always been that way fish adapt, not saying its good but they do survive sometimes,

 

[Inchworm]

I generally do waterchanges once a week, depends alot on ammount of fish in tank and fileration used, alot of fish shops tell people not to change water, if tank has always been that way fish adapt, not saying its good but they do survive sometimes,

The end result of that kind of care is that eventually the owner will want to add new fish to the tank and will wonder why they all die. What will have happened is that a condition referred to as, "Old Tank Syndrome" has set in.

http/www.bestfish.com/oldtank.html

bought about 4 syphons, they just wouldnt work

How could that be?

 

[guppi]

Sorry but that's just not good enough either give the hobby up or clean it out at least 1 a month. Once a week would be better.

 

[J4G3D]

How could that be?

My pump action 1 sprang a leak that i couldnt fix. Bought an electric one off ebay took a few days to come, didnt work. Sent it back took a few days for them to receive then they sent me a replacement. Worked but not very good, would of taken an hour to remove 5% of water. Returned it got a refund. Bought one where you move it up and down for it to suck the water up, spent a good part of 30 mins eagily trying to get it to work without success. Finally found the pump one again i originally had and it works. Plus ontop of all that i have 2 business;s to run. 7 days a week 12 hours a day.

I have a 4ft tank with 7 small fish, 1 pleco and 1 shark. So not overstocked and i checked the water stats twice and all was well upto 30 days.

Used to clean it 30% every week but due to this recent experience i think its safe to leave it 2 week to 1 month. In my case with my setup. I have 2 excellent filters that cost £200 each so not sure if that helped.

 

[karawr]

The longest I left it... a week and a half.

 

[Inchworm]

How could that be?

My pump action 1 sprang a leak that i couldnt fix. Bought an electric one off ebay took a few days to come, didnt work. Sent it back took a few days for them to receive then they sent me a replacement. Worked but not very good, would of taken an hour to remove 5% of water. Returned it got a refund. Bought one where you move it up and down for it to suck the water up, spent a good part of 30 mins eagily trying to get it to work without success. Finally found the pump one again i originally had and it works. Plus ontop of all that i have 2 business;s to run. 7 days a week 12 hours a day...

My goodness, J4G3D, for that much trouble and expense, you might as well gone first class and bought a Python. It was one of the best investments I've ever made. Check this out:

http/www.pythonproducts.com/aqprod.html

 

[minnnt]

Glad the fish survived. Consider yourself lucky and up the maintenance a little and you will be fine!

 

[BigbruiserAl]

While a month may be just a tad long for a water change, every 2 weeks should be clockwork for a owner. Dont foget doing a water change does not only remove nitrates it tops up other natural nutrients found in the water column and removes the hormone the fish release as they grow

 

[smokeyjo]

Ill admit it too I've left my tank over a month before with work the baby and moving house I didn't get time I'm glad to say I'm back on top of it now. I was lucky too didn't lose any fish.

 

[micko]

Two weeks was the longest. That was because I was on holiday.

 

[soybean]

About 4 weeks. I was very ill. Fish were fine, the tank had been running a long time.

 

[smokeyjo]

Sorry but that's just not good enough either give the hobby up or clean it out at least 1 a month. Once a week would be better.

sorry mate but some people do have busy lives looking after kids and working etc so that means if we dont get time to do a water change for a few weeks that means we should give up the hobby?

i think thats a bit unfair if u asked me

 

[sarah40011]

2 weeks when i went to tenerife. they were fed 4 times while i was away and all were fine. i do enjoy doing my maintenance and weekly water changes tho, its all part of it for me...

 

[soybean]

I don't do weekly changes, more like 10-14 days.