Major Tank Maintenance - Water/filter/tank.

[carolinafishkeeper]

I do a 25% water change once a week for three weeks then during the forth week i might, if i feel like it do a 10% change, however on the forth week, or once a month i change out my filters. when ever i do water changes i lift rocks, driftwood, plants, and any other decor(mini carolina panthers helmet ). But once a year, i will remove everything from the tank including fish, and thouroghly clean gravel, glass,and ornaments when i do this i keep about 10 gallons of old water, plus water used in buckets to hold fish, for a total of about 30 gallons of water, i then set the tank back up,using "new" water and the 10 gallons of old water and let run 75% full for a few hours, please note that when i do this type of clean i keep the "old" filters in use, and don't discard of them until 2-3 days later. after being setup and running for a few hours i then begin to add the fish back to the tank, from the less aggressive to the most dominant fish being placed back in last. Don't know if this is "proper tech." but it works for me and i haven't lost any fish do to water conditions

 

[Newt]

I do water changes with gravel vac twice a week on the 75 and 55 because of the stocking level. All other tanks are once a week.

Filters are all cleaned/inspected once a month.

Major cleaning or breakdown of my tanks only occur once a year or so, when I get bored with a tank and just want to redo the decor or change the substrate. Except for my planted tank. Seems like every 6 months I'm redoing that one.

 

[JustLooking]

I only have one tank that has any decor.
that tank gets strip cleaned monthly,
& water change weekly
All other tanks are bare,so weekly water change for them only.

 

[Greenaveli]

If this sounds wierd someone please stop me... In this hobby I was under the impression(and this is where I might be wrong ) that we do water changes to replicate what goes on in nature. Water evaporation , rain etc.... With me keeping this in mind I refuse to move rocks or driftwood around because in nature there arent to many fish that are gonna turn over a 50 lb rock. Now I am at the point where I do either 2 25% water changes a week or 1 40%. I also do not vaccum my gravel anymore. I only deal with my filters once a month (which is usually every 2 but I really really do shoot for 1 per its just that i hate it sooooo much). I religously hit my water changes though. Does this sound wierd ??? Any takers?

 

[Nova 8]

If this sounds wierd someone please stop me... In this hobby I was under the impression(and this is where I might be wrong ) that we do water changes to replicate what goes on in nature. Water evaporation , rain etc.... With me keeping this in mind I refuse to move rocks or driftwood around because in nature there arent to many fish that are gonna turn over a 50 lb rock. Now I am at the point where I do either 2 25% water changes a week or 1 40%. I also do not vaccum my gravel anymore. I only deal with my filters once a month (which is usually every 2 but I really really do shoot for 1 per its just that i hate it sooooo much). I religously hit my water changes though. Does this sound wierd ??? Any takers?

I do water changes to removed dissolve matter from the water and debris from the gravel to keep my tank healthy so in turn its inhabitants are healthy. I have never heard of someone saying water changes are done just to simulate weather patterns, so yes it does sound weird. The reason I move objects (generally pots and driftwood, most my rocks are to heavy for one person to move) to get any debris out from underneath them that may foul the water.

 

[ewurm]

I do 50% water changes on larger tanks and 25% on smaller tanks weekly.

 

[Nic]

no I wasn't kidding my canisters get cleaned when I feel like it and I do atleast one water change on that tank wich is a 45 gallon with a fluval 304 with emp 60 bio wheels and a eheim (dont remember the model but its for a 90gallon tank by manufac specs) I do gravel vacs on all my water changes the tank has a lot of fish in it and my params are always in check flame me bash me I don't care I go buy the K.I.S.S method here and keep it simple on my 220 I do water changes weekly and change mechanical on the sump as needed there is my regime on my tanks and if you don't like how I keep my very healthy fish you can go pound sand

 

[ChileRelleno]

Twice a week:
NO3 test, extra water change if NO3 20ppm>.

Once a week:
NH3/NH4, NO2, NO3, pH, KH & GH testing.
Mandatory water change (average 50%) and thorough vacuuming of half the tank, all decor moved in area of vacuuming.
Alternate sides weekly.

Every other month:
Full break down/rinse of UVS/pre-filters/filters/spray-bars/medias.

Six Months:
Replace UV/tank bulbs.

I've never completely broke down a tank for maintenance.

 

[Danyal]

i try to do a 10~20% weekly and maybe clean the filter once a month. i never actually break down the tank(removing the deco, major water change etc) i just rescape my tank and everything else goes along w/ it. i've rearranged my 29g once in the year and a half i've had it, change my 11" cube atleast 6 times in the 2yrs i've had it and i used to rescape my 10g BW every other month or so.