Water changes.

[mimifish]

Hello All,

I was wondering what is the best way to do the weekly water changes, I have a 75 gallon tank with an Eheim 2215 filter. I do plan on adding fish and plants this weekend. How much water do you change (10%, 15%, 20%, 25%)? Do you get the tap water to the same temperature and add the chlorinated water directly to the tank and then immediately add chlorine remover? Do you first fill a bucket with the water add chlorine remover and then add it to the tank? Or do you shut off the filter add the chlorine remover to the tank and then add the new water to the tank? Is it necessary to shut off the filter?

BTW, since joining this board, I have gotten some good advice . The thing that I like about it is that everybody who responds gives a reason for why they do certain things. I think that helps me understand their logic and I learn as well.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Eelzor]

For me about a 20% can be sufficient enough, but if possible, by all means change as much as you can.

 

[suemack]

hi mimifish

- not sure of the best way to do w/changes - I don't have a python or hose attached to tap so what works for me is adding the chlorine remover to the bucket of water, I also match the temperature of the H2O that I'm putting in with the water in the tank. I don't shut off my filters when I'm doing w/changes and always clean any poop and stuff out of the stones each time. My tanks are small so have to do frequent w/changes. How long has your tank been set up? There's some excellent articles in this forum on fishless cycling and avoiding new tank syndrome that will help you avoid the problems I had when I first got my tanks. Good luck and have fun

 

[Nik]

Mimifish

For me in tanks where I have larger - "dirtier fish" - I run water changes every 7 - 10 days.

These water changes consist of a 20% change. Alternate changes I use the hoover to extract the water and give the substrate a good clean up. But make sure never to combine a substrate clean, water change and filter clean all at once as this may adversely effect your water parameters.

I decant fresh water from my tap into 25 gallon barrells which are treated with small amounts of "tap safe" style treatments. The barrels are left to sit for 25 minutes and then the water replaced in stages so as not to surge temperature changes within the tank. The filter is left running at all times and usually cleaned once a month. I have fluval external canisters and fluval internals depending on the size of tank.

Hope that helps?

 

[AquaNut]

Hi Mimifish

As you can see, there is no hard and sound way of doing water changes. How frequently and how much water you change will have something to do with the kinds of fish you keep in your tank and in what numbers. I hear people talking about python hoses that attach to their taps and things of that nature, but I don't have anything so sophisticated. I have six tanks running right now though, of varying sizes, with a variety of fishes. This is what I do....

It's always a good idea to turn off electrical appliances if you've got your hands in the water (ie the heater, filter etc). I have one of those el cheapo gravel siphons and I use it to siphon water from my tanks. I usually vacuum some of the mulm (sludge) out of the gravel, but not a lot, as my tanks are all fairly heavily planted and I rely on the fish waste and excess food to fertilize my plants. I'm probably the least scientific fish keeper on earth, so I don't really measure exactly how much water I change, nor is it exactly the same every time. The larger the tank, the smaller percentage of water that I change. For example, in a ten gallon, heavily stocked guppy tank, I change about 15 - 20% of the water, twice weekly. In a 45 gallon community tank, I change 10 - 15% of the water once weekly. I use the water for my houseplants and garden (they LOVE it). I personally use a fairly small bucket (~2.5 gallons) and make many trips, but this is only because I'm too weak to carry a bigger bucket and comfortably lift it high enough to pour it into my tanks. I pour a few drops of water conditioner/dechlorinator/whatever your brand is called into the bucket and toss in a tiny bit of aquarium salt (controversial, but the way I do things), then fill the bucket with tap water which is as close to the tank temp as I can get it by feel (I used to check with the thermometer, but you can probably tell within a degree or two if the water is the same temp just by dipping your finger). Then, I slowly pour the water back into the tank, usually moving back and forth across the surface of the water so that the new water mixes with the old water as much as possible. I do this over and over again until my tanks are done or I'm too tired to do anymore!

As far as cleaning the filter goes (Ramble Part Deux), I (in my oh-so-scientific way) tend to go by the clarity of my water as much as anything else. As soon as it's less than sparkling or I'm starting to see debris hanging around my plants, I know it's time to rinse my filter media. This is probably somewhere in the neighbourhood of once every ten days or so. Very rarely would I go more than two weeks without a rinse. When doing a water change, I take the media out of my filter (my filters are all mostly stuffed full of filter floss - I don't buy any of the over priced filter inserts and whatnot), and give it a decent rinse in dirty tank water. It still looks kind of gross when I put it back into the filter, but this is good, as it means I've still got lots of nitrifying bacteria in it. Once in a blue moon (again with the scientific accuracy) I throw a clump of filter floss away and put some fresh stuff (dipped into the dirty tank water) in to replace it, but I never ever replace it all at once.

Hope this helps!

 

[smb]

Welcome to the forum Mimifish.

As you see there are a million ways we all clean our tanks. It all depends on your allotted time and what fish you have. (And how obsessed you are)

In my 75g cichlid tank where I have 4 of them in there (3 Mbuna and a Flowerhorn), I sometimes do up to 4 water changes a week. When I do that many, I only change about 5% of the water and just skim the surface of the gravel to pick up food and fish wastes as I don't like to keep it sitting in there and at the end of the week I do a 35-50% water change. (This large of a water change isn't recommended for all fish tho but my Mbunas love that big water change.

Other weeks I only do 2 water changes in that week. One a 35% and at the end of the week a 50% getting down in the gravel really good. It depends on how much I feed them, what I feed them and how much waste I see on the bottom. I sometimes like to go a day or 2 w/o feeding them as imo, it gives them time to clean out, s to speak. Not sure if it's true but jmo and the way I do things. I have an Emperor 400 and an Aquaclear 500 as filtration and the Emperor has 4 media baskets. I rinse one out under the faucet every time I do a water change if I go the 2 times a week route. This will kill off beneficial bacteria but I have 3 others in the filter with live bacteria so it's not that important. If you only have 1 media basket, I would always rinse it in the tankwater instead to keep the beneficial bacteria alive.

I just set up a 29g community tank with a red tail black shark, 4 guppies and 6 zebra danios. Soon I'll be adding 7 or so Tiger barbs. I do two water changes in that a week. One, like in my cichlid tanks, I skim the surface and change about 10% of the water and at the end of the week I do a 35% water change and get down in the gravel. This is pretty much a constant on this tank.

I add the dechlor as I'm filling the tanks but I also add a bit before I put any water in. I also rinse my filter media in tank water each time.