tank maintenance

[jamiya0727]

I have a 3-gallon tank, a 6-gallon tank, and a 12-gallon tank. I have been struggling with how often I should be vacuuming the gravel and doing water changes, and how much water to change out.

I know the 3- and 6-gallon tanks are less stable and need more constant maintenance. But I have read everything from "change 10% of the water daily and do a larger change once or twice a week" to "do a water change once every week or two". What the heck?

Should I do it by nitrate readings? My ammonia and nitrites are always zero. What level of nitrates should prompt a water change?

I am also reading now that too aggressive gravel vacuuming could be harming my good bacteria. Is it safe to say this isn't happening, since my ammonia is always zero?

And finally, I am trying not to overfeed, but I bet I am. How much and how often is the correct way to feed fish? For instance, the 6-gallon has 4 danios and a small cory. I feed a small amount of flakes most days and frozen bloodworms or freeze-dried tubiflex worms twice a week. I also rotate between a small part of an algae wafer, a shrimp pellet, or a hikari sinking wafer for the cory.

How do I judge how much flake food to put in?

Thanks for answering my newbie questions!

 

[BoCoMo]

What are you using for filters on these tanks?
Have you tested the water in these tanks?
Are any of these tanks planted with live plants?

 

[gmh]

Once a week water changes are a good rule of thumb. A 50% change should be easy enough on those small tanks. Maybe 33% on the 12g,assuming reasonable stocking levels. I keep my nitrates below 20 but even if yours stays below that it is still wise to do the regular weekly maintenence. That way your water stayes on an even keel and various waste products not measured on the nitrate test are removed.

Gravel vacs should have no effect on your bacterial colony.

 

[jamiya0727]

What are you using for filters on these tanks?
Have you tested the water in these tanks?
Are any of these tanks planted with live plants?

No live plants.

They are Marineland tanks, so they all have a carbon filter and a bio-wheel. Yes, I have tested the water - as I said, ammonia and nitrites are always zero. Obviously the nitrates climb until I do a water change. I initially read that I would need to change water daily in a 3-gallon, so I have been doing a small water change every day and a larger one twice a week in that tank. So for the 6-gallon I have done a 25% change twice a week, and the 12-gallon is new but I have been doing about 20% once a week.

24 hours after cleaning, the 3-gallon measures around 10ppm nitrates. I skipped a day on the 3-gallon and then measured the nitrates and they were between 10-20ppm. Should I wait another day and test again to see what nitrates are? Or just go with every other day cleaning?

I used to go two weeks between water changes/cleaning on the 6-gallon and the fish seemed fine. Then in the summer the tank was getting too hot so I had to leave the lid propped and water was evaporating, so I was doing a water change once a week. And then I did some reading online and decided maybe that wasn't enough and have been doing twice a week. But I don't want to stress the fish with too many water changes!

So again I ask - what level of nitrates is acceptable? I have danios, a cory, mystery snails, and eventually I will have guppies. Am I overfeeding?

 

[RodInCALIFORNIA]

i feed lightly in the morning and again early evening instead of one large feeding. i change 50% weekly and it works fine for me.

 

[LeahK]

Keeping the nitrate below 20 is a good rule of thumb. If the nitrate in the 3-gal rises so quickly following a water change, try adding some live plants. They consume nitrate. Although, if it were me, I'd probably still do at least two water changes per week on that tank, because it's so small, even if the plants do help keep the nitrate down.
By the way, what's your stock in the 3 and 12? How many of each fish?

 

[TMDragon]

Normally for flake food, you want to feed in very small amounts at a time so that most of the food gets eaten before it hits the floor and you can repeat this until you feel that the fish has had enough. Since you have a cory, you'll want to make sure that it gets some to eat too though so let a little hit the floor. It's hard to tell exactly how much to feed, but if it makes sense, you want to feed enough so that everybody gets some, but little enough so that most food is eaten instead of falling in between rocks where it will rot instead of being eaten by the fish. Hope that helped a little.

 

[lookit]

I have a 3-gallon, a 12-gallon and a 29 gallon. All are moderately to heavily planted. My standard routine is to change the water in all three tanks on Tuesday morning and Friday afternoon each week. Each change is 30 - 50% in the 3-gallon, roughly 30% in the 12-gallon and 5 gallons in the 29-gallon. Ammonia and nitrites each run 0 in all three tanks; nitrates generally run 0 for 3-gallon, 5 - 10 for 12-gallon and about 10 for 29-gallon. I also gravel vac around the plants and on wood and rock surfaces during each water change. I feed flakes and veggie wafers to the fish in the 12-gallon and 29-gallon on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. The betta gets a pellet in the morning Monday - Friday. Everyone fasts on weekends. Any food not eaten by the fish is consumed by the snails or swept up during the next gravel vac. I should add that I don't have heavily stocked tanks: only the betta and some Maylaysian trumpet snails in the 3-gallon; 9 tetras (flame and pristella), 3 otos and MTSs in the 12-gallon; and 5 hatchets, 1 honey gourami, 3 albino cories, 3 panda cories, a clown pleco and MTSs in the 29-gallon. Hope this helps.

 

[jamiya0727]

Normally for flake food, you want to feed in very small amounts at a time so that most of the food gets eaten before it hits the floor and you can repeat this until you feel that the fish has had enough. Since you have a cory, you'll want to make sure that it gets some to eat too though so let a little hit the floor. It's hard to tell exactly how much to feed, but if it makes sense, you want to feed enough so that everybody gets some, but little enough so that most food is eaten instead of falling in between rocks where it will rot instead of being eaten by the fish. Hope that helped a little.

Very helpful! When I put the flakes in, it all starts to float around and then drift down very quickly. Do you turn your filter off for a few minutes to avoid this?

I read somwhere that a fish only needs as much food as the size of his eye daily - anyone know if this is true?

 

[jamiya0727]

I have a 3-gallon, a 12-gallon and a 29 gallon. All are moderately to heavily planted. My standard routine is to change the water in all three tanks on Tuesday morning and Friday afternoon each week. Each change is 30 - 50% in the 3-gallon, roughly 30% in the 12-gallon and 5 gallons in the 29-gallon. Ammonia and nitrites each run 0 in all three tanks; nitrates generally run 0 for 3-gallon, 5 - 10 for 12-gallon and about 10 for 29-gallon. I also gravel vac around the plants and on wood and rock surfaces during each water change. I feed flakes and veggie wafers to the fish in the 12-gallon and 29-gallon on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. The betta gets a pellet in the morning Monday - Friday. Everyone fasts on weekends. Any food not eaten by the fish is consumed by the snails or swept up during the next gravel vac. I should add that I don't have heavily stocked tanks: only the betta and some Maylaysian trumpet snails in the 3-gallon; 9 tetras (flame and pristella), 3 otos and MTSs in the 12-gallon; and 5 hatchets, 1 honey gourami, 3 albino cories, 3 panda cories, a clown pleco and MTSs in the 29-gallon. Hope this helps.

Thanks you!! Very helpful!