Water Changes

n10lan

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Can i do a water change with fish in the tank and whats the best way to do it if i can.
I have also put plant feeders in the water will this also increase the levels of nitrite and nitrate, since the plants are not absorbing it from the water levels, cheers Dale.
 
Can i do a water change with fish in the tank and whats the best way to do it if i can.

I use a gravel vacuum which also syphons out the water. It was pretty cheap, can't remember how much now coz i bought it some years back but less than a fiver i think. It means you dont have to take the fish out (which would be stressful for them) and you clean the gravel at the same time.

But at work we just used a plastic measuring jug to empty out the water which worked just fine as well. Cost about 20p.

Soz, dont know about the other question.
 
Assuming that you're talking about your partial weekly water change (or however often you do routine maintenance) rather than a complete makeover- yes, it's much better to do it with the fish in the tank; they don't tend to mind much, but most fish are stressed by netting and moving, so you want to avoid that.

What I do is:

get a 10 ltr bucket or two ready for clean water (depending on how much I'm going to replace); add 1 part boiling water to 9 parts cold tap water; add dechlorinator and swish around

switch off all tank electrics and place an empty bucket or two beside the tank

lift out any ornaments I intend to clean under (but leave plants in place)

get my gravel vac (piece of plastic pipe attached to syphon) and insert the broad end in the water, the other in the bucket; move the water end up and down to get water flowing through the pipe into bucket; once the suction is working gently hoover the gravel with broad end trying to avoid sucking up my fish

when the bucket fills up, I put my thumb over the end going into bucket and just move it to the next one. I tend to take out 25% once a week.

change or rinse out filter floss (not all tanks have it) in dirty water in bucket

once a month or so rinse out filter sponge (not all at the same time if you have several) in dirty bucket

put ornaments back, careful not to crush any fish

pour in clean water using plastic measuring jug (reserved for fishkeeping)

replace lid and switch electrics back on

You don't have to have separate buckets for clean and dirty; I just find it handy to have everything set out and being able to move in one flow; also, with multiple tanks, it means there is no risk of contamination

The whole procedure takes about an hour on my three tanks, but that includes boiling the kettle, which may not actually be that necessary.
 
Cheers for that really helpful, but does know what to do about my plant feeder?
 
I bought a python water changer and it is the best thing I ever did. I don't have to use buckets anymore. I thought I really wouldn't need one but now that I have it I can't live without the python water changer. You just connect it up to a sink and you can gravel vac your tank and then fill the tank back up without spilling water at all. I use the sink in the basement that way it gets great suction because the sink is a lot lower than the tank.

I have used fertilizers a little bit and have found if I use too much I end up with an algae problem. If you only have a small number of plants you might want to see how they grow without the fertilizer at first. The plants themselves will use up some of the nitrates.
 

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