Diggly

Hello,

I was wondering for all you big tank owners, how often do you do water changes and maintenance? I have sand not gravel - how different is it to maintain?

Any tips would be a huge help as I am used to smaller tank maintenance but doing 50% water changes in this monster would take half my day!!

Shawnie

is your beast cycled? and if so , how long has it been cycled? what fish are in it and how big is it? what type of filter are you running? how often do you feed them and what do you feed them? all these questions matter..ill give you my examples

my 75 gal african tank is way overstocked (thats how you have to stock africans) and I do 40% once every 7-10 days...I have a penn plax cascade 1500 on that tank...

my 75 gal sa tank is not overstocked, but to the limit...I change 40% about every 10-12 days (lately its been weekly thanks to my spoiling them with food and I Have planaria) ..I have a cascade penn plax 1200 on that one...

but then, i have a wayyyyyyyy overstocked live bearer tank (guppies ) and I do 30% 2 times a week ...i have a cascade 300 on that one....

my 10 gal fry tank (bare bottom) gets 20% every day...

all my fish eat a varied diet and some of it is homeade foods...

alicem

Agreed, you need to let us know your feeding, stocking and filteration info is so to better advise
a schedule for you.
My tanks have sand substrate also. It's not a big deal if you restrict the sand depth to 1.5" or so.

Sand will ruin your impellors pretty quickly.
If your sand gets kicked up easily or if your filter intakes are less than 6" off the substrate, turn off your filters.
Another way to protect the impellor is to tie a "never been washed" nylon stocking around the intake tube end.
You may also use a filter sponge with a slit cut in the middle to slip over the intake like a pre-filter.
My sand doesn't drift around, so I let my filters run while I clean it. This is risky business, tho...

Cleaning sand is similar to cleaning gravel.
First, hover the end of your gravel vac 1/2" or so above the sand surface to remove debris sitting on top.
You'll more that likely pick up some of the sand when you do.
If your waste water goes in a sink, put a bucket in the sink under the return end so
the sand can settle in the bucket and not down the drain.
Use caution that the sink drain is not obstructed by the bucket.
You can return the captured sand to the tank when you're done, if you wish.

After you're satisfied that the top is clean enough, (and if the sand isn't real deep) you can plunge the vac end
into the sand just like you do with gravel.
Watch that it goes up no further than 1/3 way into large siphon tube end, then allow it to sift back out.
I do about 1/3 to 1/2 the tank floor each week or so.

If your sand is pretty deep, you can run your fingers through it to the bottom of the tank.
This will open up any compaction so there are no anerobic bacteria pockets building up.
During the water change you can syphon out the floaties you will get from disturbing the sand.

If you have rock piles, you can use a turkey baister a couple times a month to blast out debris from behind and around the piles.

There is a power head a few inches off the bottom of my 90G to help with circulation and move the debris toward the filter intakes.

As for my routine, I change 40% in each of my tanks every 6-7 days which totals well over 100 gallons.
My biggest tank (90G) takes about 45 minutes for a water change and gravel vac.
It's very communal for me and my fish.
They are used to me diving in their tanks and rooting around. Also, they don't freak out anytime someone walks by them.

hth,
alicem

aquarist48

Hello Diggly. I have a 265g tank, filtration = 2000gph. I change 25g's every 7 days, I change all filter floss every 4 days (I don't personally depend on the floss for bacteria colonies I have other filter media for that). I like to change a little more than 1/3 of the tank every month. I also use a Diatom Filter every 7 days that filters to the micron (parasites, traces of ammonia, algae all gone). Part of my water changes include vacuuming around the tank but not all of it at the same time.
Ken

Diggly

Its about 50% stocked atm - possibly less as most my fish are no where near grown. it has been cycled and was cycled when I got it (I have been keeping an eye on ammonia etc just incase), the main problem is getting the water to a tank after a change. I feed a small pinch of flake food for my barbs twice a day and 4 catfish pellets over the course of the day for my clown loaches. I also put in some algae wafers when algae is low in the tank for plecos.

Sand level varies around the tank, the fish have covered in some of the pipes I put in to make them into little cavesso thats about 4" deep and I really dont want to disturb it too much, average sand level is around 1.5". I am also going to add some more plants and maybe 1-2 freshwater clams as I have read they are good for cleaning and lowering nitrates.

Current fish in the tank are 2 clown loaches (getting 2/3 more), 1 rainbow shark, 4 tiger barbs, 2 cherry barbs (I am getting more tiger and cherry barbs!) 6 plecos - all small varieties bristlenose etc. 3 kuhli loaches (again getting at least 3 more) and a featherfin syno, my featherfin thinks its a pleco and acts like them and sucks the glass next to them lol he also follows them around like a lost puppy :P.

I am happy to do the changes and cleaning out dont get me wrong!! I just want to make sure I do it right.

Edit sorry tank has been going a week and I have 2 fluval 400 internal filters in the tank.

Diggly

ok seriously help..

I tested this morning, ammonia at .5 and nitrite at 1, I have done a 50% water change, tank has been going for about 1 week and 5 days with 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite, I test every day, I also added plants, some gravel and ornaments, driftwood from my old established tank.

is it going through a mini cycle? I WONT lose these fish even if I have to do 50% water changes every hour. I really would appreciate advice.

I had to change to new filters because the ones that came with the tank were external and wouldnt work after a few days so I changed to an internal filter while running the external filter then fully changed to 2 new internal ones. I also put the old filter from my old tank in, I can no idea what the problem could be, please help .

Amanda

If you changed the filter media, you're going through a mini-cycle. Keep doing 50% WC's everyday. It would also be beneficial to pick up some Prime & use it during WC's.

Diggly

I am going to fish shop tomorrow to get something similar to prime I have been using a dechlorinator which has aloe vera and apparantly has beneficial bacteria. I cant get prime here in the uk so I was thinking of API Stress coat and amolock.

I have added some aquarium salts (5 tablespoons) to help them get through it. They all seem healthy and there has been no darting around, all are eating fine etc so I am hoping I can nip it in the bud before they end up dead or damaged .

- EDIT-

Ammonia has stabilised and was 0 when I tested this morning, Nitrite is still 1 but the fish dont seem affected. I will do another water change later and hopefully the nitrite will resolve soon!