How do you peform your water changes?

[jay733]

Actually I've heard that fish actually do better with a little chlorine in their water because it wards off some disease.

 

[wesleydnunder]

That's incorrect Jay. You don't want any chlorine in your aquarium. Your new water should be dechlorinated and if your water supply has chloramines the chlorine and ammonia can be neutralized. My local supply has chlorine and chloramine so I use Seachem's Prime in my new water and it takes care of both nicely.

edit: If you are on a well or other non-chlorinated source you don't need to treat for chlorine

Mark

 

[jay733]

This is where I got my information from I finally found the link, scroll down to number 3 and read under how much water should be replaced http://****************/information/essentials_p2.htm#3

 

[justintoxicated]

Just curious how people do there water changes.

SOme of my questions are

Do you use a gravel vacum everytime?

Not every time but since I use a python it is an easy thing to do, I don't always do it because I raise Baby mystery snails and guppies and it is hard to keep them from getting sucked up.

Do you take the water from the top sometimes or always from the bottom?

All my filters create alot of surface agitation so I just suck up water from the bottom. but if you have stuff on top suck it off the top as well

HOw often you change your filter and how often you just clean it out?

It depends on the filter and tank, in my 20 gallon I have a fluval 404,I do weekly water changes and I have found it does not need to be cleaned every week, but it does not hurt to clean it every week either. On my 10 gallon I have an aquaclear 50, It clogs up much faster and needs to be cleaned weekly.

Do you turn anything off like filter or heater?

You should always unplug anything electrical but I don't always unplug my canister filters since it's not even in the water (but I guess it could technicaly still shock me) Better safe than sorry. Heaters should typicaly be unplug to keep them from damaging themselves by exposing them to air. However I tend to buy submergable heaters and lay them across the bottom so they won't be damaged if I forget.

DO you take out your decorations plants and things like that to scrub down?

Nope but it is because I have all live plants and my only other decoration is driftwood and a piece of Obsideon. Good idea to scrub them off if necessary in tank water if possible..

Thanks alot guys i think this is going to be helpfull to everyone

No Problem

P.S. Always dechlorinate your water, and don't use aquarium salt unless treating for something.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

the python goes out the window to the trees. once thats done i put the hose into the tank and the water goes on.

 

[Dunluce2]

lol fire chief. you de dude. thats the old fashioned way to get a gut ache.

Buy a gravel vac. its a hose with a larger cyclinder on the end. put your thumb on the end of the hose, fill the cylinder and lift out of water. release your thumb till the water reaches the end of hose.replace thumb on end. refill cylinder then hold underwater level while releasing thumb.

It WILL start syphoning. Theres no need to suck the hose anymore. eeeewww! mouth full of fish poop. no thanks.

 

[aardvark1]

I Python my tanks every Sunday.

Turn off filters, do a 50% water change, vacc-ing the gravel as I do all 4 tanks at one go. Remove filter intakes and rinse off the gunk. Pull entire filter out and de-gunk every two months. Rinse filer pads every so often.

Pour de-chlorination stuff in tanks and refill.

Takes about 30 minutes normally. 2 hours yesterday; cleaned the filters good and redid the electrical cables (labeled all the plugs and setup power strips dedicated to each function (heaters on one strip, filters on another, lights on another-all running off one master strip). Easy to turn off exactly what I want to instead of searching for theright plug and finding out it's for the OTHER filter!

 

[karna68]

So does everyone dechlorinate water before putting it in the tank? In other words, do you put the stuff in the tank then pour new water in or put it in the new water BEFORE putting it in the tank, or does it matter? Am I making sense? :laugh:

 

[BloodThirsty28]

So does everyone dechlorinate water before putting it in the tank? In other words, do you put the stuff in the tank then pour new water in or put it in the new water BEFORE putting it in the tank, or does it matter? Am I making sense? :laugh:

I dump it in the tank and then start filling.

 

[jay733]

P.S. Always dechlorinate your water.

It's not necessary if you change 20% of the water or less.