Buy a siphon that allows you to control the flow of water coming out of the hose. Those help a bit.
Poop Eaters?
- Thread starter rusty-nail-z
- Start date
yeah i hear ya, i just dont want to be doin 100 percent water changes every one or two weeks, it seems like that is not good for the tank...
just do 1/2 or 1/3 of the gravel every time you do a water change.
if you do water changes frequently, it's okay to change out a lot of water. the problems stem from people leaving their tank alone for 3 months and then doing 50% changes or more, or doing them improperly (not getting the temperature right, not adding enough dechlorinator, etc...)
if you do water changes frequently, it's okay to change out a lot of water. the problems stem from people leaving their tank alone for 3 months and then doing 50% changes or more, or doing them improperly (not getting the temperature right, not adding enough dechlorinator, etc...)
So u can do as many water changes as u like as long as its not 100 percent, given that you are controlling for temperature and conditioning the water correctly??? My only newb worry was that somehow the biological filtration would be affected??
An earlier thread might explain my concern
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108109
An earlier thread might explain my concern
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108109
Lol, i know this has gone far from the originall intent of my poop eaters title, but in the process I think I've become a better poop "eater" through water maintenance, thanx for all the help!
as long as no chlorinated water is in prolonged contact with your bacteria (add dechlorinator to the tank before refilling, keep filters turned off until you are finished adding new water, use old tank water to clean filter media/pads instead of rinsing in tap water), you can change as much water as you want, as often as you need to. of course, if your fish are easily spooked or scared of water changes, you don't want to overly stress them. some fish are nervous, others, like my angels, like attacking the tube because they think the debris inside of it is food. . . .
WCs do not adversely affect your tank (unless you allow it to dry out of course!
)
Try the smaller siphon Vac (the 1/2" vs. the 1.5" model). This will probably resolve your issue (or a python to control water flow).
Personally, I do a full 75G tank with 1.5-2" deep gravel vacs and am able to clean all of it weekly with 50-60% water removal, which is perfect IMO.
As to the cleanup issue - There are only 3 methods to remove waste harmful to fish: 1) WCs, 2) Plants (but I doubt you could add enough plants to keep up) and 3) chemicals (BUT this does not address the other toxins, etc. in your tank, nor does it address the total disolved solids TDS, and of course it introduces chemicals into a tank, which I HATE to do...)
)Try the smaller siphon Vac (the 1/2" vs. the 1.5" model). This will probably resolve your issue (or a python to control water flow).
Personally, I do a full 75G tank with 1.5-2" deep gravel vacs and am able to clean all of it weekly with 50-60% water removal, which is perfect IMO.
As to the cleanup issue - There are only 3 methods to remove waste harmful to fish: 1) WCs, 2) Plants (but I doubt you could add enough plants to keep up) and 3) chemicals (BUT this does not address the other toxins, etc. in your tank, nor does it address the total disolved solids TDS, and of course it introduces chemicals into a tank, which I HATE to do...)
Cool thanks to this thread I am not afraid about doing water changes. I clean my tank on a weekly basis... sometimes every week or every two weeks. When I do WC's I would change 50% to 60%. My fish seem fine maybe they are used to it, but before when I did a WC I was scared thinking that I change too much water too often. Thanks everyone for the exellent info.
