# full tank change



## tikotaz (Nov 20, 2007)

When should a full tank change be done? One that will not kill off my fish, seeing as the ten percent changes aren't doing much to get rid of the nitrites. I would think doing that once might help, this way I can get rid of some of the poop out of the gravel, though not all cause I know they need some of it. But i'm still in the danger zone, been doing the 10 percent changes for almost three weeks straight and hasn't been helping all that much. So should I do a full change, clean half the gravel and leave the rest?


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## Guest (Dec 30, 2007)

I wouldn't do a full tank change...you'd end up re-cycling the tank, imo. Which kind of defeats the purpose. If you still have nitrites, your tank hasn't cycled completely. I do 30% weekly changes on all of my tanks.


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## tikotaz (Nov 20, 2007)

*tank changes*

i've been doing the 10 percent for three or more weeks now and it's just at the base of the danger zone, I still have a long way to get rid of almost all of it. and 50 percent changes weekly.


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

nitrIte is naturally processed by the filter if you haven't over-stocked the tank (or stocked it too fast).
If you've had high levels of nitrIte for 3 weeks you might have something else going on - overfeeding, etc.

10% a week should help keep nitrAte in check, but not nitrIte.

How big is the tank ?
What fish are in there (and how big are they, how many, etc) ?
How long has it been setup ?

What kind of filtration do you have ? What cleaning schedule are you using for the filter(s) ?


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## joe kool (Jan 24, 2005)

NEVER ...

I hear horror stories about folks that do full tank changes bleach their plants AND rocks and the decorations and set the tank back up and then put their fish back in (that have been sitting in cups or bowls for hours) and wonder why they have a huge die off of their pets. I ask them why they would ever do this and they say "the pet store said to change the water every so often and I could clean the plants" 

they didn't go into anything to do with nitrogen cycle, much less cycling a tank or anything. All too often this is the case. people don't even take care of their cars like they're supposed to ... my favorite one day at the base service station when I was doing a fund raiser pumping gas for donations. I check the oil for a young woman and it was low I aske her when the last time she had her oil changed as it looked pretty black. "oil changed??? you have to change the oil?" me ... do you ever check your fluids? "I put water in the box when the windshield washer stops working but I usually get someone to do that." me ... ma'am you might want to go to a service station and have a full service oil change. Check out your owners manual and it will tell you how often you should be doing that. 

the car was like 4 years old and she'd had it since new and never done anything but gas and windshield washer fluid :lol:


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## tikotaz (Nov 20, 2007)

*change*

I Seemed to have no choice last night, put new gravel in, I have a ten gallon tank that is made by topfin. It's filter is like a water fall. I usually change it in two weeks, and on weekly change I clean it once. Though since doing that the water has gone back to normal and all the fish survived. Two bloodfins, really small, not even an inch well maybe an inch for the female. Two mickey red platy's 1.5" or so, one guppy I don't know he's skinny but long. And one MOlly that is about 2" Maybe, with two cory catfishes on the bottom. The tank has been running for about three months or so.


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## darkfalz (May 7, 2006)

I had to bleach my fake rock as it was stained with meth blue which wouldn't come off, it has worked and the rock is now original colour. So I soaked it overnight in hot water again and then left it another night on the window sill and no longer smells of chlorine, but I will soak it one more day in water and one more day on the window just to make sure.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Okay you ALWAYS have a choice. By changing out your gravel, where the good bacteria lives, you have reversed a lot of your hard work. I strongly suggest that you fishless cycle in the future, and if there is anyway you can get the fish you currently have back to the fish store, do them a favor and do it. Then you can fishless cycle and get a handle on your nitrite without worrying about lives and worrying that you "have no choice" to try to bring numbers down. 

In the meantime, if you are not able to give the fish back to the store, I would strongly suggest you spend some money and buy "Birospira" it is in the refrigerated section of your fish store and will cycle your tank very quickly. It is well worth the expense. I would not suggest other products as most of them have the wrong kind of bacteria that actual make it harder to cycle your tank (and if you were using those that might have been the source of your problem). Birospira is the one you want. 

I understand how nerve wracking this process of cycling can be but it is something that you have to go through. I almost gave up because my cycle took so long that I lost all of my fish. I will never cycle with fish again. By fishless cycling if you get stuck in the cycle you have time to figure out what the problem is without worrying about lives, I cannot speak highly enough of this process.


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## Guest (Dec 30, 2007)

Obsidian gave you good info, as did the others before her. 



tikotaz said:


> I Seemed to have no choice last night, put new gravel in, I have a ten gallon tank that is made by topfin. It's filter is like a water fall. I usually change it in two weeks, and on weekly change I clean it once. Though since doing that the water has gone back to normal and all the fish survived. Two bloodfins, really small, not even an inch well maybe an inch for the female. Two mickey red platy's 1.5" or so, one guppy I don't know he's skinny but long. And one MOlly that is about 2" Maybe, with two cory catfishes on the bottom. The tank has been running for about three months or so.


The levels are back to normal now because you removed the good bacteria from the tank that convert ammonia to nitrates. Now you will have to re-cycle the tank. Keep checking the levels once a day or every other day because you will most likely see some ammonia soon and then nitrites. Cleaning everything in the tank and changing out the gravel is like starting over.


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

and IMO 8 fishes in a 3-month old 10g tank is a bit too many too fast anyway (even without the cycle restart) -- I usually recommend about 2 fish for the first 2 months and then 2 fish a month thereafter in a 10g tank (up to about 8 small fishes total).
YMMV


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## tikotaz (Nov 20, 2007)

*I know*

I only put one or two in at a time, when I first started it, the others I had were kept in a seperate tank til I could put them in. I just found this liquid stuff that apparently gets rid of visible poop and stuff. Would that work in getting rid of it?


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## Guest (Jan 1, 2008)

I would not buy that stuff. You can't get rid of poo and such, even something like that will just break it down further, but the nitrates will still be there. Only water changes will get rid of nitrates and gravel vac'ing will get rid of the poo. Don't waste your money.


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## Sock Yee (Dec 29, 2007)

It's always a best practice never to conduct full water change. The recommended is about 50%. If I were you, I would go to LFS to get a gravel cleaner, the one that will suck out the dirt trap inside the gravel. I believe the source of your nitrate fluctuation results from the anaerobic condition exist in your gravel.


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