aquarist48

Hello everyone. I'm interested in knowing how you perform your water changes and some of your techniques. Mine is below.

I pre-filter water for my changes in a 29 gallon tank that I keep on the screened porch. I treat the water with Nova Aqua, Amquel Plus and Immune Plus and filter it for 10 days prior to my water change. (the filter on my 29g is a Whisper 5 with floss and carbon) Then I bottle the water using 1 gallon jugs that I set in a sink of water 120 degrees to increase the temperature in the jugs to my tank temperature. I shake the jugs a few times (because heat rises) to make sure I have an accurate reading. Then I pour in 2 gallons at a time. I actually change out 25g every 10 days. My tank is 155g. This gives me a water change of 75g every month. By doing a change every 10 days its helps to keep the water chemistry in tact and my pH levels where they need to be. (Most of us know that there is no such thing as a STABLE pH.) My pH ranges from 7.0 to 8.0 during these 10 days. I've done this religiously for the past 8 years. My fish are happy and when they're happy I'm happy

Once the new water is in the 155 I use my Diatom XL for several hours...I treat the entire tank with the same 3 chems I listed above. I rinse over flow sponges and change the filter floss every 5 days. I change the carbon and white diamond every 3 weeks.

I keep a dated log of everything I do and when I do it. Hope to hear from some of you. Thanks!

Lucy

Maybe my routine is different because my tanks are as large as yours.

Why isn't your PH stable?

Fill a clean bucket with water that feels about the same temp as my tank
Add proper amount of Stress Coat.
Vacuum gravel and remove old water
Rinse any decorations or filter media that needs to be rinsed in used tank water.
Add new water to tank.

URFisher35

I use the same method as Lucy...

I change 8gal ever week in my 29, 4gal in my 20, and 2gal in my 10.

- Fill large plastic bin with water from my tub thats about the same temp as the tank
- Add Stress Coat+ (always 10mL per 5gal) let sit for a half hour to an hour
- Vacuum gravel and add new water

Every once in a while I move my driftwood to vacuum underneith

Shawnie

im with lucy also...I vacuum once a month and change water depending on which tank every week or ever other...with a bucket and stress coat+ added to the bucket and finger test the temp to be the same as the tank water(after doing it for so many tanks, you get the temp right on after a bit)

Jonah

i am with the folks above I generally follow the same process

dmm28

Ditto, I usually empty water out of the tank and vacuum, then add water that's the same temp. I use aqua plus conditioner though (same thing).

I'm thinking about getting an aquaeon water change system to help out. It's $100 though!!!

aquarist48

Lucy my pH normally stays around 7.5...however, when I first do the water change it is about 8.0 and it just tends to fluctuate during the 10 days. It never drops below 7.0 and is never higher than 8.0. I do have well water and not city water. I use the TetraTest pH kit. As to why it changes during the 10 days I don't know. It always has. It's rare that it drops to 7.0. Anyways...I've used the same routine for 8 years. Since the tank is so large it's much easier to do it every 10 days than once a month. Too, gives me something to do and the fish seem to enjoy it.

Thanks for the responses! I was just curious about other techniques.