# How much water do the members take out of their tank? Water changes, and vaccuming?



## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

*This is not a beginner question.

I was wondering how many of you do regular water changes?
and if so, how much do you take out, and how do you clean.

It be nice if every member can post how much they take out, and if they vaccum every water change, or only once a month, or whatever.

I do water changes.

but

What is the ideal % of water I should take out with my 38 Gallon with the type of fish I have? temp is always at 27. I would just like to get a general idea as to what the "ideal" situation would be.

Thank you all!*


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## Good Wolf (Mar 5, 2008)

A lot of people will recommend weekly water changes but you can get away with bi-weekly. 

I remove 20% and I do vacuum each time. If you don't vac each time it gets pretty nasty and you end up taking out more water than you want to when you do vac.


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## coheedrules (Oct 29, 2007)

Weekly partials is the only way to go IMO. I do about 40% on my ten gallon and 30% on my 30. It all depends on what you want your nitrate levels to be at. If I was overstocked I would do 50% weekly. If you have to do more than that you are probably overstocked. My nitrate levels never measure above 5ppm in the ten and the 30 never registers above 10 ppm. Both tanks are lightly to moderately planted. I gravel vac every part of the substrate I can reach without disturbing the plants every week. Once a month I'll move the rocks/driftwood and vacuum underneath there too. The result - consistent water parameters (ph, gh, and kh) and healthy fish. Before I did this I killed at least two fish a month and sometimes one a week in the early months of the 30 gallon. I haven't had a death in the 30 since January and only one death in the ten since I started it 3 months ago, and that one was last month. I know all that for sure because I'm anal and keep a log spreadsheet of both tanks .


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

55G Goldfish Community: I remove 15 of 55 gallons every 2 weeks and I also change the cartridges in the filter every 2 weeks. I vaccuum a section of the gravel each time I do a cleaning every 2 weeks.

29G Tropical Semi-Aggressive: The same process as above, but I only remove 5 of the 29 gallons when I do a water change.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Biweekly isn't enough. Weekly partial WCs are the way to go. Keeps water parameters from drastically changing (which they will do if you only change some every 14 days)


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

trashion said:


> Biweekly isn't enough. Weekly partial WCs are the way to go. Keeps water parameters from drastically changing (which they will do if you only change some every 14 days)


Ditto th!

Before I had my "RO/DI system down" 25% weekly WC's I believed to be appropriate.

TR


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## Good Wolf (Mar 5, 2008)

I guess I'll change my routine and go for weekly ones. They don't take long and I enjoy 'working on them. I'm curious how well it is going to go since I replaced the gravel with sand. I'm hoping it doesn't cloud up too much.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Should go fine, I <3 Fish. Just don't try to "vacuum" the sand, hover over it to pick up debris.


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## amypicot (Mar 13, 2008)

i do a 30% water cghange every 3 - 4 days on my 46 gallon. i vacumn a section each time and the filter every week


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## Guest (Apr 8, 2008)

trashion said:


> Biweekly isn't enough. Weekly partial WCs are the way to go. Keeps water parameters from drastically changing (which they will do if you only change some every 14 days)


From personally experience, I will say that that is false.

You don't _need_ to change water weekly. I have a 10 gallon planted tank and I haven't done a water change in 6 months. Judging by the health of the fish and the prolific breeding of the cherry shrimp in there, I'd say the tank is in good shape. 
Weekly water changes are great, but figuring out a water change schedule is completely dependent on how the tank is set up. I will admit that I am the laziest person when it comes to tank maintenance, but I'm still able to run healthy tanks. 

For those new to the hobby, yeah I'd reccomend doing regular, frequent water changes. But once you have a real grasp on aquarium keeping, figure out your own tank maintenance schedule. Props to those who are really diligent with it, but finding your own way to do things is part of the fun here.


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

My tank tends to loose a lot of water everyday and I have to fill it up almost everyday so I just keep topping it off and it seems to work no vacuuming is necesary in a fully planted tank like mine.


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

Ditto what SK said - it depends -ALOT - on the tank, the fish, the plants, the water parameters (especially KH and GH, in my tanks), etc.

My big guys (125g mixed south american cichlids) generally get 50% per week. Sometimes more.
Their tank has a thin sand bottom, and I've got a reef-style maxi-mod pump on there (mad mad flow) so nothing really collects on the sand - so I don't vac that tank, I pump the water out instead.

In one of my planted tanks, I let the detritus settle into a mulm layer on the bottom - the plants seem to do well that way, and it helps provide infusoria for the fish that are breeding in there (I learned this trick from a local apisto breeder). So that tank also doesn't get vac'd - but it does get about 50% changed every 1-2 weeks. 

However - I work 2 jobs and have over a dozen tanks, plus help run a fish club and am webmaster for a ferret shelter - so I don't get to do as many water changes on each tank as I'd like. 

So for my other tanks, its a bit more casual.

I have some killie breeding tanks that get water changes "when I remember" -- they are *extremely* densely planted, and I'm not actually _trying_ to breed the killies, they just won't stop :mrgreen:

Ditto for my Lake Tang. shellies - I know I get more fry when I change water more often, but its been more like every 3 weeks lately. 
I've got a 20g tank that I recently found ancistris fry in - but I honestly don't remember putting two ancistris in there in the first place - so I wasn't exactly cranking out the water changes (it was a killie tank). But they still decided to surprise me with fry.

However - all of my "slightly less often" tanks have either a relatively low bioload, a high plant load, or both. 
Vegatative filtration can do alot toward keeping disolved organics in check.

All that being said - I usually recommend people change some water about every 2 weeks. 
Personally I prefer to change about 50% weekly. Its just not realistic right now for me.


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## Good Wolf (Mar 5, 2008)

Blue Cray said:


> My tank tends to loose a lot of water everyday and I have to fill it up almost everyday so I just keep topping it off and it seems to work no vacuuming is necesary in a fully planted tank like mine.


From what I understand just topping it off does't remove the 'bad' water and it just builds up the waste, toxins, and salt that don't evaporate. If you haven't had any problems the more power to you.


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## Guest (Apr 8, 2008)

In my 75 gallon I do WC's at least once a week, usually about 50%. I feel like I need to because of my pleco *messy "little" thing*, and I want to know for sure that I'm doing the best for my fish. But if the nitrates are running a bit high I may do two WC's in one week, but not 50% more like 30% each time. 
I also agree 100% though it depends on the tank and what you have in the tank. 
I don't change the filter cartridges. I just take out one everytime I do WC (since I have 2 filters) and brush it clean. 
I'm a bit anal about making sure that my little fishies are in the best habitat they can be.... I don't wanna be half a** and let them live in less than desirable conditions.


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

Once a month I do water changes theres just do many plants it keeps unbelievably clean.


> From what I understand just topping it off does't remove the 'bad' water and it just builds up the waste, toxins, and salt that don't evaporate. If you haven't had any problems the more power to you.
> __________________


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## Guest (Apr 8, 2008)

It definitely depends on the type of tank you have, the amount of fish in the tank, the type of fish, amount of live plants, and if you dose ferts or not. I know that if I didn't dose ferts in my heavily planted tanks, I could go longer without water changes. But, since my 29g has a high fish load, I wouldn't go longer than 2 weeks.

My tanks vary a bit.

In my 55g (lightly planted community) I am overstocked, so I change 40-50% weekly. I have plants in there, but not enough fast growing to keep up with the fish load.

40g high tech planted I change 40-50% weekly. I dose ferts, so don't risk nitrates building up. Fish load is low right now, so when I don't dose regularly, I can go about 10 days between changes if needed.

In my 29g (high tech planted community), I change 50% weekly. I dose ferts and to keep things like nitrate from building up, I do a large change weekly. I also have a fairly high fish load in here.

In my 20g (moderately planted Celestial Pearl Danio and Cherry Shrimp tank) I change about 20-30% every other week (sometimes weekly if I have time). Shrimp don't like sudden changes in water parameters, so I do every other week for them. Plus there are tons of stem plants and the shrimp and fish don't make a ton of waste. I don't dose ferts hardly at all, so no risk of building up nitrates.

In my 10g Multi tank, I change about 30-40% every other week. There are only 2 fish in there at the moment (more coming!), so they don't make a ton of waste.

Betta tank is about 20% weekly.

I feed my fish every other day to every 3 days, so in most of my tanks I could go a tad longer than weekly, but I wouldn't go more than 2 weeks in any of them.

As far as gravel vac'ing goes.....most of my tanks are heavily planted, so I just hover in the areas where I can get debri and waste.....otherwise I just change the water. If I had regular gravel, I'd do deep gravel vacs weekly in nonplanted tanks/areas because that stuff is nasty.  With sand, hover over it to get what you can. I do this with the sand in my 55g and 10g. You can see waste and debri alot easier with sand, so you will want to get those out....its motivating. 


edit: forgot my babies! In my 5.5g fry tank, I change about 10% of the water every other day to every 3 days. Fry need more frequent water changes to grow well.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

I have 4 tanks. I change my water weekly most of the time, and sometimes every other week. I change 20-40% of the water and perform gravel vacs with each change. Nitrates tend to stay below 10 in all tanks. I do not always take out the decorations, but I do on occasion in all but my 100 gallon tank. That one will just have to build up due to the heavy rock work. I try to make sure the sinking food stays at the front where the gravel is to minimize any problems the inability to get behind the rocks may cause.


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## welchrock (Jan 4, 2008)

I do 20% every week with my 46G. I typically vaccuum and do half of the tank one week and half the next week. 

Hasn't been mentioned yet but be careful doing water changes if your fish are easily stressed - until they get used to them, they should be as quick and gentle as possible. Otherwise doing something that should help them may actually be hurting them.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

So, with the fish that I have and the tank that I have. Every 2 weeks is fine I presume? 

Would once a month be too long?

Also I noticed that my cartridge for my bio-wheel is never that dirty, even after 2 months. I know people that wait 4 months before changing it and they were fine, but I get told to change it every month? What's the deal on that?

By the way, my water is ALWAYS clean, it always looks sparkly clean.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Do you have a nitrate test? A good way to tell how frequently you need to change water is to watch the nitrate level. Take it down to 10 ppm and when it gets to 40 ppm change water again. A month or so of watching should give you an idea how frequently you need to do it. 

The more different you tank's water parameters are from your tap water's, the more frequently you need to change water just to keep them close. Don't do 75% water change when the pH is far apart. The more often the water changes, the smaller they can be. 



> but I get told to change it every month?


Changing the cartridge every month is necessary to keep the carbon working. If you don't feel you need the benefit of fresh carbon (no cloudy water, no oily film on water), you can just rinse cartridge in water change water and put it back. Replacing the filter cartridge does cost you a portion of your bio-filter, so you should have a reason to do so.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

emc7 said:


> Do you have a nitrate test? A good way to tell how frequently you need to change water is to watch the nitrate level. Take it down to 10 ppm and when it gets to 40 ppm change water again. A month or so of watching should give you an idea how frequently you need to do it.


I don't think I was ever givin a Nitrate test. I will check when I get home. I think the 3 that I got were Nitrite, PH, Ammonia. Now I need to double check!

Thanks!


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

You should never change your BioWheel. Every so often (maybe once a year) you can rinse it with room temp dechlorinated water.

In terms of the cartridge, you probably could do as emc suggests and rinse it. I would still replace it with a new one at least every 2 to 3 months.

In terms of water changes, I strive to do one every week to 10 days but I really only get to it every 2 to 3 weeks. I do replace evaporation loss at least once a week. This has always worked for me but as stated multiple times it all depends on the exact parameters of your tank.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

I have been doing monthly water changes.
I don't think I have a Nitrate test, so I wll go pick one up and see what the results are.

Does the Nitrate go up and up as each day passes until it reaches 40 Emc? 
Am I getting that right?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Yes nitrate generally goes up and up. Its the end product of the nitrogen cycle so any food you put in the tank eventually becomes nitrate. Live plants can take some of the nitrate but rarely do they take all of it. Its less toxic than ammonia and nitrite, but you do want to keep it down. Changing water when you nitrate gets high will also replace trace elements in the water the that the fish and plants use up. Nitrate can kill fish by itself, but often you see a drop in pH or an excessive amount of algae before the fish start dropping. 

For your size tank 4 gallons in a bucket is probably a convient water change size. It will take out about 10% of your nitrate. So if you have 30 ppm, you would have 27 ppm after the water change. If it goes back to 30 ppm in a week, then weekly is the right amount of time. If you change 50% of the water at a time, you can go longer between changes. But pick a target number in the "safe" range and aim to keep it steady. 

Once you establish the routine, you can go without testing unless something changes (more fish, etc.) Its still a good idea to test nitrates once a month or so. Also, test for nitrates in your tap water, some places have them.


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## Guest (Apr 9, 2008)

You have a good fish load in your tank IMO, so I would change water weekly. emc7 is right, you can judge when its time for water changes by your nitrates. I would try to keep them under 30ppm myself, but 40ppm is ok as well. It can get well over that for most fish, before they are affected too bad, but its best to keep them below 40ppm.

For your tank, I would do a 20% water change weekly, especially since you feed frequently.

Everyone has a different view though, as you can see. Some are more lenient and others are a little more anal about the amount they change and how often.


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

JustOneMore20 said:


> Everyone has a different view though, as you can see. Some are more lenient and others are a little more anal about the amount they change and how often.


I can sure see that with all the different opinions I have been seeing here.

I went to PJ's Pets here in West Edmonton Mall (worlds largest mall) and they didn't have a Nitrate test. They had all the other ones including iron and many more. WOW! I didn't know there was that many different tests you can do.

Is the Nitrate test a little more harder to find then the rest?


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Not usually, so it is odd that you are having a difficult time. It is one of the staple tests. I would suggest just getting a kit, but you already have the other tests that would be included in there.


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