# Water change, how often?



## amypicot (Mar 13, 2008)

hi, 
i have a 5 gallon tank with 20 guppy fry in, they get fed twice daily 
and i have a 40 gallon tank with guppys, mollies, swordtails,platys and gouramis and some fry (in a breeding box) they also get fed twice a day.
i was wondering how often i should do a water change, they get cleaned every other week, is that enough? the fish store told us thats how often to do it, but it doesn't seem enough, you help would be great


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Cleaned every two weeks? What exactly are you cleaning every two weeks?
The more you change water, the faster the fish will grow. A 5gal with 20 fry should get a 1/4 water change every couple of days for good results. You'll find that things will change as the fish grow.
The more often you change water, and the more you change at a time, the more you CAN change at a time without having problems. The idea is to keep your tank water from drifting too far away from the qualities of your faucet water. The closer you keep them, the less change occurs with a water change chemistrywise, so it bothers the fish less. Cleaner water makes for faster growth, and in a month or less you could very safely move the fry back to the main tank.


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## amypicot (Mar 13, 2008)

yeah every 2 weeks they said to clean the tank (including all the gravel and everything), but they never said anything about the water change.
my husband got the fish about 5 months ago, at first i didn't have anything to do with them as i found them boring, i am now getting addicted to them haha, i have 20 fry who are a month old in the 5 gallon, i am going to keep them in there for another 2 weeks and then they can go back in the big tank and the fry that are in the breeding box can go into the 5 gallon.
thank you for the help


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

What?? They SAID that?

Well, that can work if you do it more frequently than that, but you and your fish would be happier if you let the tank's bacteria do half of your work for you. If by 'clean" you mean _really_ clean, then every time you do that you essentially start all over again. If by clean you just mean shake the crud off the filter and put it back, and siphon the muck out of the gravel while leaving the gravel in the tank, then you're doing just fine.

Water changes can be done at cleaning or separately, or preferably both.


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## amypicot (Mar 13, 2008)

great thanks, i did a water change of 1/4 in both my tanks today and sunday, so if i kep doing that i should be ok then?
thanks for the info thats great


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## oliesminis (May 7, 2007)

i do 3 30% water changes every two week to keep my water quality up. 

1 of each 3 i will clean the filter sponge out and the other two i clean the gravel with a vac, this system works for me as my ammonia and nitrite have been at zero since i started it and my nitrates went from 15-20 to just 5 when im doing this method

hope this helped

-olie


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