new2fish

Hi again,
Sorry if this is a repeat question, I did a serch & did not find exactly what I was looking for
I have not done a water change yet... Here is what has happened...

Aprox 15 - 18 Gal Tank... cycled a week, water tested fine & the pet store we added 3
Neon Tetras.. waited about 4 or 5 days added 2 Zebra Danios, 2 Rasboras & a Ghost Shrimp.

Everyone seems to be doing fine.

I need to do a water change I guess....I was told a 10% change?? however, it looks like that should be a 20% change?*

Can someone please clarify the percentage & if I am supposed to be doing the water change already.* Any tips on how to do this & how tio figure out if I am taking the right amonut out (or do I just eyeball it?? Sorry if these are crazy questions... just want to make sure i am doing it right.

Thanks in advance*

OH.... Also do I need to put more water conditioner in.. a few drops or something??

Does the temp of the water I am adding matter?

Sabi

well it vearies from person to person, i do round 25% a week,but then i'm overcrowded so i've to do extra...
The ppl at my LFS also told me to do 10% but i found it too little as well.

vin

I have a 15g, slightly overstocked and change 4 gallons/week.

sgould

Once your tank is cycled, the frequency and amount of your water changes need to be geared to keep your nitrate levels down. Most do a partial change weekly. 10% sounds a bit skimpy...I prefer 20-25%. You could get yourself a 5 gallon bucket to use for changes and that would be about right. You do need to put conditioner in the new water that you add back to the tank, and you do want to try and match the temperature of the water you are adding to the temperature of your tank as closely as you can.

new2fish

OK, Thanks for all the info... what is the next step in maintenance?
Gravel cleaning?? if so, how does that work, do I put the fish in something else?
Any tips for keeping my tank up & my sons fishies happy would be greatly appreciated

sgould

You can vac out your gravel while doing your water change. Just push the siphon tube down into the gravel once you have the water flow started. You will see a disturbing amount of waste make its way up the tube. Once no more debris is being lifted from the gravel, move the tube to a new spot, and so on. There is no need to remove the fish while this is going on...just be careful not to catch them in the tube.

COBettaCouple

We do at least 25-33% weekly on our tanks. If you've got gravel for your tank, you might want to look into the python:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...1&N=2004&Nty=1

It will not only make the gravel cleaning easier, but your water changing as well.. and it's currently on sale. Unless a tank is really tiny, i leave the fish in as i clean.. unless you have any fish that are very stress prone, but i've done cleaning with otos and mahachai bettas and they were ok, so it should be fine to leave your fish in when you do the cleaning.

As long as you might be placing an order with DFS, you might want to consider the following products if you don't already have them for keeping the tank up & fish happy:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113074
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...8&N=2004+22763
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113767
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+112994
along with Ich-Attack, Rid-Fungus and TriSulfa if you want to stock up on meds.

griffin

i think these people pretty much covered it. just add conditioner to the water that you're adding (unless it's aged, then you don't need to add anything). temperature should match that of the tank.

i personally used to do 50% weekly, but i'm thinking about changing that to 33% for one tank. for my other tank, i'm currently doing 10-20% a few times a week (3-4).

once you get to know your tank, you'll be able to have a better idea of what you should do for water changes

Tazmiche

I keep bottles that hold just over one gallon each, i fill them with tap water and add the conditioner and leave them ready for my next water change. It is handy but also means that the water is then room temp and not icy cold as it is from our taps. This works for us.

Sabi

Thats a nice idea!

darkwolf29a

I do the same with 3 5 gallon buckets.

Sabi

Well, i use 5l buckets and go bucket by bucket...

griffin

i do that with a few 1 gal and a 5 gal

new2fish

Hey,
Thanks guys for all the great info. I am definatley going to use some of these ideas

Thanks Again,

vin

Aging water will not reduce the chloramines found in many public water sources. It used to be that municipalities would add chlorine to the water they would distribute. But more and more municipailities have switched to chloramines instead. Chloramines don't 'gas out' like chlorine does....If you are unsure of what your water company adds, give them a call. They will tell you how they treat their water.

griffin

true - forgot to mention that.

i know i just age my water, and i have no issues with it, but you should check with our water company to see if just aging will work for you.

good catch vin

COBettaCouple

besides.. if you age your water, it will retire and move to florida.

vin

And cause the cost of living to increase......

As for aging water, I keep a gallon of water filled up an on the kitchen counter. I use it to top off if in between water changes if needed....I haven't had a problem with it...But then again I use it so infrequently. I treat my replacement water though, just to be safe.