Water Change questions (should be easy)

S

Spclk1981

Freshwater n00b
Oct 4, 2004
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Shelby Township, MI
www.wishuwerehere.us
When you do a water change, I'd assume you'd remove ALL of the water you are ditching (25%, 50%, whatever), and then refill, correct?

I read the thread about temperature, and noticed that many people said they "hand" adjust the tap water to the tank temp. My question is, what do we do about chlorine? Do you put a dechlorinator in there? Do you just fill with temp-appropriate tap water?

Lastly, I have a 15 gallon tank I had set up. What should I start with? 3-4 gallon water changes weekly, then adjust according to the test results I am seeing?

If it matters, I plan on putting some Neon Tetras (8-10), African Dwarf Frogs, and Ghost shrimp in there. Once the tank is established and some algae is present, I'll pick up a couple ottos.
 
Different people do it different ways... Whatever's a less-stressful way that gets the job done is perfectly fine.

I prepare the water in advance with Aquasafe, and refill the tank as I vacuum the gravel or siphon off the old water. I do biweekly changes of 20-30%.

Once your tank is properly cycled, the neons should do just fine. In my experience, to keep your tank in good health, changing 20% a week is a good starting point. Monitor your water quality, and adjust as needed. It's always better to err on the side of caution and change more water than necessary. The better the water parameters, the better the health, appearance, and happiness in your tank.
 
If your tank and tap water have similar pH change 40-50% at a time. I would recommend 50% weekly, even if not all at the same time. If you do change frequently and don't modify your water, it should be very similar to the tap/source. As a rule, the more water changes the better.

You can add the dechlorinator either to the water you're adding in the bucket or directly to the tank before you add the new water (like if you're using something like the Python system).
 
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