I have a drip system so no more water changes. I change out my canister filters about once every other month and the same time I also suck the sludge out of the bottom of the sumps and gravel vac because I have the equipment out anyway.
Maintaining Aquarium, What do you do?
- Thread starter Benfica
- Start date
50% water changes every 1-3 weeks depending on what's in the tanks, always gravel vac and the same time. Filter rinse in tank water every month to couple months.
40-50% WC twice a week, usually on tuesday and saturday, vac gravel each wc, clean filters once a month, change bio media every 3 months. I just use Primed tap water for adding new water and add a bit of salt.
Benfica;3720535; said:
I just use the Aquaria Vac hose that connects directly to your kitchen sink faucet, saves hassles from using 5 gallon buckets which takes forever especially dealing with huge monster fish tanks.. A WC takes me no longer then 30-45 min with gravel vacuum. Also I just take tap water straight away from the tap coming from the vac hose shooting directly into the tank and adding prime while it's shooting in. This way may not sound safe for your fish but I have done it this way for many water changes and no problems at all with my fish. Only downfall is I use alot of Prime. Even majority of the Local Fish Stores all use same method while doing their waterchanges.
Man, I read often about 10-50% water changes weekly, and for moderately stocked tanks. Not needed. Of course the smaller the tank the more frequently the water should be turned over, but come on!
I have a 220 with: Eheim 2217, 2234, and a 2229 wet/dry, moderately stocked (170" of fish), and I change 30-50% once a month, usually, and clean and (rarely) change the media every three or four months, including a sock of carbon. Spend money on filtration. And a few powerheads.
The water is crystal clear and the fish are as happy as pigs in poop.
Also, I don't overfeed, the tank is out of the sunlight, and I talk nice to the aquarium gods often. It's that simple.
The way I see it is if you are doing that many water changes, you have far to many inches of fish per gallon, are overfeeding, have a tank in the sun, or have been convinced of something you don't need to do.
And you probably are not praying to the fish gods.
d
I have a 220 with: Eheim 2217, 2234, and a 2229 wet/dry, moderately stocked (170" of fish), and I change 30-50% once a month, usually, and clean and (rarely) change the media every three or four months, including a sock of carbon. Spend money on filtration. And a few powerheads.
The water is crystal clear and the fish are as happy as pigs in poop.
Also, I don't overfeed, the tank is out of the sunlight, and I talk nice to the aquarium gods often. It's that simple.
The way I see it is if you are doing that many water changes, you have far to many inches of fish per gallon, are overfeeding, have a tank in the sun, or have been convinced of something you don't need to do.
And you probably are not praying to the fish gods.
d
taylor;3723691; said:
Do you understand the nitrate cycle, and if you do, do you realize the only way to get rid of nitrates is by doing water changes, right? Your fish really are happy as pigs in poop, because they really are in poop.
Here's part one of a great article regarding water changes that was recently in TFH, its worth a read:
http://speshuled.smugmug.com/Other/Water-Changes/9908331_4CHxL#675436671_gz8JZ
I still need to scan part 2, but I think this will at least get you on the right track.
