Water changes.........

[phishfood]

Just out of interest, how often do you guys do a water change? I've heard varying stories, sometimes depending if people have bogwood in their tank and dont like the look of the yellow water that sometimes occurs.

How about you guys?

 

[Jamnog]

once a year but i have a filter thats almost twice as powerfull as the tank and the fish need and i also hoover and am carfull feeding. im a grate beliver in slow cycling without chemicals. using natural sourses for water can introduce disease but i think it depends on the sorse many of the fish keepers here live in arias where the water they use is by necessaty full of clorine and floride and the ph is wrong stuff like that they spend allot of time on the water chemisry. i have to admire this it shows a real commitment to there fish but i for one think its sometimes a bit overkill stress is the number one killer of fish if yo ask me and all the water changeing and chemical treatments should be used as a last resort and in a seperate tank i think. the average fish is probably fresh out of a box from the airport when you get it having been narked up on arsnic thus its no wonder they are so fragile. personally i think that once a fish is settled in its much tuffer than people think. some people here breed some very fragile fish dont get me wrong and i can understand they have to use rather extreem fish keeping methods to keep their fish happy and helthy. i have kept fish before for around 6 yearsor so i read magazines and books and alltho i might be wrong allot i stand by what ive done with my fish as mine tended to survive while my friends who kept water changeing and adding cureall chemicals where left with dead fish. im shure a fair few people dissagree with what ive said here but im speaking from my own personal experience. hmm i think im gonna get it in the neck for this

 

[Pufferpack]

We clean the tanks once a week and at the same time do a 10% to 25% water change (mostly because that's how much water we siphon out when cleaning the gravel).
As far as the color leaching out of the bogwood I have read that it isn't necessary to change the water (the stuff leaching out of the bogwood is actually good for the fish) but most people do because of the "look" of the yellow water.

 

[Fishsmurf]

12g Community tank - 50% weekly, gravel vac, rinse filter etc.
30g Angel / Gourami tank - 50% weekly, gravel vac, rinse filter etc.
55g Discus tank - 50% twice weekly, gravel vac, rinse filter etc.

Only use chemicals as the absolute last resort, prefer to try and eliminate problems with pro-active treatments, good water quality / clean substrate / Q tank etc... meaning disease / infection has little chance to get in......

 

[phishfood]

How good are the gravel vacs?

 

[Fishsmurf]

How good are the gravel vacs?

I think they should be sold as part of the standard equipment when you purchase a tank. The substrate should be regularly cleaned as part of any maintenance regime. You would be suprised how much "gunk" collects in the substrate, which will eventually lead to health problems in the tank.

Even my Discus tank which gets cleaned twice a week can still have some discolouration in the water when I vac the gravel.

And the great thing is they are cheap, easy to use and siphon the water out your tank at the same time as cleaning the substrate.

A must have in my book.....

 

[steve-0]

gravel vacs ar edefinately worht the money all the way.
i clean my 20 gallon 25% water change and gravel vac every 1.5- 2 weeks.

 

[Pufferpack]

We have 2 types of gravel vac that we use for maintanence, a gravity fed one which uses the force of water being siphoned out of the tank to suck up the waste, which we use to do water changes while cleaning , and a battery operated vac that has a small bag attachment to collect the waste and the water just filters back into the tank, which we use to do extra cleaning without changing any of the water. Both work well and if you just want to go with the battery operated one there is an attachment for a hose to change the water as well, but ours didn't come with a hose (it was a cheapie $12.95)
so you might have to buy that seperately.

 

[Jamnog]

gravel vacs are grat for picking up the uneaten food that leads to bad water conditions i do recomend using a gravel vac of some kind sometimes after over feeding i give them ten mins to get as much as they can and then i go in with the vac tho i leave some in at night for the crab and the bottom feeders. i would agree with the others that a gravel vac is a good idea.if you cant afford to buy one they are pretty easy to make from an old uplift tube, a fish net air pump and some patients
ps. i wonder what guilded mode does

 

[elgecko]

I clean my tanks every other week. I do a 30% water change and gravel vac. Once a month I clean the filter.

 

[Fish_Dude]

When u guys use the vac do u take all of ur plants and stuff out off the tank?

 

[mrV]

Weekly about 50%, from small tank (55 liters) I change water couple times in a week.

When u guys use the vac do u take all of ur plants and stuff out off the tank?

Hehe, no... Oh god, no... Here is a pic of my one tank: http/kotisivu.mtv3.fi/water_world/akvaario500150.jpg And because I keep sand in a tank, I don't need to vacuum it ever.

Edit. Ups! Changed img-link to normal...

 

[Jamnog]

nope infact i try and use the vac on the plants also providing they are fairly sturdy plants.

 

[Tanked]

5g betta tank - 25% weekly, gravel vac, rinse filter etc.
10g platy/swordtail tank - 25% weekly, gravel vac, rinse filter etc.
55g semi-agressive tank-brand new but will be 25% weekly, gravel vac, rinse filter etc.

 

[elgecko]

Leave your plant and such in the tank. It would be a real pain to pull them out and replant them everytime, and I doubt the plants would like that all the time either.