Doing First Weekly Water Changes

Hi,
This Saturday I plan to do my first water change after the fishes have been in the aquarium for a week . I already have a covered 5 gal bucket with treated tap water awaiting. I plan on removing/adding 2 gallons. My question is when adding the new water should I add roughly 1-2 cups every few minutes or is there an outline so the fish do not go into shock (2 guppies)?
Thanks

 

you'll want to make sure the parameters are similar, usually temp and pH.

 

Until you get comfortable with water changes the first couple of times you may want to run your PH test on both your tank water and your source water. If they are the same all you have to do if take some water out of the tank and replace it with temp matched water treated with your water conditioner.

There is no need to let water set in a bucket for any length of time before putting it in your tank. Your water conditioner will make it safe for your fish almost instantly. I put the conditioner in the bucket as it is filling up and the water is ready to use by the time you have all you need in the bucket.

You can temp match the water by using both cold and hot water from the faucet. Just pour it straight into the tank. Your guppies will probably try to swim through the stream while you are pouring it in so go slow so it doesn't push them to the bottom with the force of the water.

 

I use an infrared temperature gun ($15) to match the current temp in the tank with the new water. As others said, I also put Prime into the 5 gallon bucket too.

 

Thanks for the tips

 

Temp isn't nearly as important as PH, but unless your PH's are WAY different, those shouldnt be a problem either. Test the tank and the new water. As long as theyre not a full point apart (7.4 and 8.4) you'll be fine. Temps can be off as much as 5-10 degrees in my opinion. If you have 80 degree water and you change 30% out with 70 degree water, the water will then be right around 77 degrees. Not enough to effect the fish in any way, shape or form.

Every 6 months or so I when I do a big water change in my Amazon tank filled with Corys I drop the temp 8-10 degrees. You know what it does? Triggers them to spawn.

 

In a cycled tank, your water change schedule (frequency and amount) should be determined by your nitrate levels.

Doing 2 25% water changes a week versus 1 50% is a personal choice. For me, it’s easier to do larger, less frequent water changes. But since you are changing more water, the temperature needs to be closer to the taank’s temperature.

My goal is to do a 50% change when nitrates get to 40ppm, this reducing them to 20ppm. Some try to keep them under 20ppm. I do what I call a “reset” every 4-6 weeks where I do 50% water changes on back to back days.

If you manage to keep nitrates under 40ppm, most fish will be healthy.

 

I did a 20% change and after adding new water it wound up being only a 4 degrees difference. I have a 10gal so every week I'll be doing a 2 gal water change. Everything went well. I only have male guppies so no babies, other then my human toddlers.
On a different note the plants must be happy because they are producing new growth.