confused

D

dnctla89

AC Members
Mar 9, 2007
18
0
0
Montana
Hello all,
Between all the online research and my two hometown pet stores I have some conflicting info. I have a 29 gallon tank with 2 corys, 2 guppies, 2 platies, 4 tetra, and 1 snail (apple?). Anyway, my question is about water changes and cleanings. The two stores here say to clean the gravel and water once a month. Online peeps say at least once a week. Should I just go by what my tests say? And if I do end up changing water once a week......do I need to do a complete gravel clean each week also? Or the gravel once a month? Will I be taking out good bacteria cleaning the gravel so often.....heard some stuff about over cleaning. Also, does it sound like I have too many fish? Sorry for long post! Thanks all.
 
Welcome to AC! :)

Your tank looks well stokced; cycled?

If not cycled, the water tests will demand a certainlevel of partial water changes (PWC). If it is cycled, everyone will offer their own personal preference, and also certain fish require different levels of water quality (i.e. say Koi vs. Discus).

Anyways, I personally do 2x 30% PWC a week in my 75G tank and 1x 50% a week in my 30G tank. On a side note, over feeding will also strongly dictate ur need for cleanings...

Lastly, I would highly encourage you to always perform a gravel cleaning each week! I'm not saying you need ot move all of your nicely placed plants and decos, but I would get into the habit of moving your "furniture" to do so once every 4-5 weeks.

Also, to answer your question about bacteria; I don't know the exact percentages here, but the beneficial bacteria resides in your filter and on the surfaces of objects and a very small amount is found floating around the water. A word of Caution: If the areas are left to dry out during a PWC, the colonies can be killed, so try to get a water change done in under 30-20 minutes at the most. Some people even float their Boi-Wheel/filters in the water b/c the filter is off...

A long story short, a lot of it is personal prefernce and your level of what constitutes as "clean", but I can only suggest weekly water changes AND gravel cleanings with a minimum of 25-30% (minimum)
 
How long has your tank been set up? Do you have a Python or other kind of gravel siphon?

That is the best way to do gravel vacs and water changes. It sucks up the muck and poop outa the gravel, and siphons out water at the same time. We do our 29g twice a month.

Good luck!
 
On a well established tank and depending on your stocking, you would not necessarily need to do weekly changes, and you could test and dictate it that way.

I just do the weeklies.
 
Going to do my first gravel vac / PWC this weekend. Tank has been cycling 1 week with fish and using Tetra "safestart". LFS recommended I rinse the sponges in the old aquarium water when doing PWC. Should I defer doing any maintenance with the filters until the tank is more established ? Manufacturer recommendation (Juwel filter) is to replace cotton layer weekly, replace carbon layer every 4-6 weeks, wash alternate sponges 6-12 weeks, replace nitrate removal sponge every 6 weeks.
 
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