tony

I have a 20 gal. tank (see the fish below) Up until now i have been doing a five gallon water change once a month. Is this frequent enough? Am I changing enough water? My tank also does not have enough space on the bottom for me to vacum it out. So I must remove all the contents of the tank to vacum it and perform the water change. I know that this places stress on the fish. Am I performing the water changes correctly?

P.s. My tank is also overstocked, I have about 2 inches of fish for every gallon of water

Thank you

jack11

no you should be doing this water change once a week

tony

Even though this will stress the fish? Should i also vacum the tank out with every water change?

jack11

this wont stress the fish out anywhere nearly as much as poor water conditions, some people do water changes every few days, if possible i would try and do it more often than once a week. yes you should vacuum with each change.

tony

I will start doing that now. Thank you very much

susitna-flower

Tony, do you have a Master test kit? The only way you can really tell what your water conditions are is if you test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. It sounds like your tank is probably cycled, but with water changes the way you have been doing them, the nitrate is probably high.

I would do changes of up to 50% per day until the nitrates range between 5 and 10. If you vacuum once a week that should be adiquate, if you do the water changes as I decribe above.

Another problem with a tank with lots on the bottom, nitrogen gas can get trapped under rocks and decorations, when it does come out it will kill fish. ALSO the oxygen doesn't circulate under the decorations, cutting down on the amount available to the bacteria which help convert the ammonia to nitrite and nitrate. So if it is possible, you could eliminate some of them, or exchange the decorations for something like Java Moss which will give some protection for fish, and help eat some of the waste in the water, but is really easy to vacuum around.

Good Luck,

Merry Christmas

Dino

We dfo 25-50% cahnges on the tanks here, each week.
The fish will appreciate the fresh water.

tony

I do not have a master water kit tester thing, but every time i go to have my water tested, they tell me that the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrated are all either low, or okay. (i don't know how) But i will start doing the 25% water changes every week, and vacuum the tank out.

P.S. I have the bio-wheel filter, and i thought that was supposed to cut way down on the ammonia, thus reducing the nitrites and nitrates. That may be why i haven't had a problem with them.

jsalemi

The bio-wheel filter just gives an additional home for the bacteria that turn the ammonia into nitrites, and the nitrites into nitrates. The bulk of the bacteria lives in the substrate and on decorations in the tank. There's no real magic in the bio-wheel itself, other than maybe more efficient processing of the 'bad chemicals'.

Ammonia is a by-product of fish waste, left-over food, and decaying stuff (plants, dead fish, etc). When a tank is fully cycled, there's sufficient bacteria of both types to process the ammonia and nitrites quickly. But the nitrates will build up, because the only way to get rid of them is to have a lot of plants that use them as food, and frequent water changes. Without a test kit and at least weekly testing, you don't really know for sure that you 'haven't had a problem with them' -- your nitrates could still be high enough to be uncomfortable for the fish without being fatal.

Every fishkeeper needs to understand the nitrogen cycle, and this is a good place to start: http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Barbrella

Don't vacuum the entire bottom all at once. Do part of it with each water change.