Water Changes

[Lithomunky]

How good should I suck everything out of the rocks before bacteria have developed?

Should I just suck the poop off the top?

Should I just worry about the water?

I have a 55gal and the ammonia is really high, so I'm gonna do like a 75% water change.

 

[THE V]

Suck it as clean as you can get it. The bacteria attach themselves very firmly to the rocks. The more waste that you remove the better the results will be. Be sure to vacuum as much stuff out of the gravel as you can. With the fish that you have in your tank you should do this every water change.

 

[jm1212]

do you have a gravel vac? if not, you should get one.

go through the gravel, sycking up all of the junk, at least once every week with the water change.

 

[Sarge_857]

How good should I suck everything out of the rocks before bacteria have developed?

Should I just suck the poop off the top?

Should I just worry about the water?

I have a 55gal and the ammonia is really high, so I'm gonna do like a 75% water change.

75 percent to me sounds like ALOT! my friend does a 35-50% water change on his 55g tank once a week. if your worried about killin or taking the bacteria out, only vac about half or more of the gravel at a time.

 

[doreenjoy]

If the ammonia is high, get as much poop out as you can.

 

[sillypony]

With ammonia high, i agree, 75% is good this time. Just plunge into the rocks with the gravel vac/siphon, the rocks will get sucked up a bit, and the dirt will leave, while the rocks sink.

My 55 has lots of decor, so it takes a long time to get all the poo out (espec. with 2 plecos). Thus I often end up doing a 25-75% every week. It has never disrupted my cycle, no ammonia or nitrite spikes.

Good Luck

LeeAnna

 

[Radar]

I would be very aggressive with the gravel vacs and do back to back water changes to get the ammonia as close to zero as you can.

 

[TKOS]

So I assume this tank is not cycled. In that case keep doing water changes until the ammonia is at a max of 1 ppm, preferably lower than that.

 

[Hooked Newbie]

If you're fishy cycling, the more and more often (75% is good IMO) you do gravel vacs and water changes the better. The bacteria will reside primarily within the filter media and the only thing you're removing with a water change is wastes. Ammonia & Nitrite should be < .25 before it's considered "safe" and a stable zero is the target.

 

[SchizotypalVamp]

I've heard if you use Amquel Plus it detoxifies the ammonia so that it doesn't burn the fish but the cycle continues. It also makes ammonia test kits give false readings, however.