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Fish and Aquarium cleaning my tank?
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Author | Topic: cleaning my tank? |
shochie Member Posts: 16 |
posted 02-29-2004 08:37 PM
I need help how to clean my tank? How often do i have to change water and how many percent? i have a 50 gallons tank with five RB's, i'm using a power head filter and an a undergravel filter thanks in advance IP: Logged |
fishybiz Member Posts: 146 |
posted 02-29-2004 09:22 PM
my book says to -change approx. 10-20 % of the aquarium water weekly. -Vacuum the tank thoroughly and attempt to clean up mulm and detritus. -test for pH, nitrates and softness for first two months. -trim live plants as needed. Monthly -change 25% of aquarium water clean inside of glass with algae scraper. -Vacuum the tank throughly, stirring up the gravel and eliminating mulm. -rinse any decorations that suffer from dirt build-up. Quarterly -change 50% of the water -replace airstones if needed -rinse filter materials completley and replace if necessary. -clean inside glass with scraper -vacuum gravel-stir gravel up. -trim plants. -rinse any decorations that suffer from dirt build-up. Yearly -strip down entire filter, replace atleast 50 per cent of the media with new matt and charcoal etc. -replace airstones -wash the entire gravel entirely -clean the inside of the tank entirely -Restart the entire tank all over again, but save some of the original water to help condition the tank. * From "The Essential Freshwater Aquarium" by Betsy Sikora Siino. IP: Logged |
JsX Member Posts: 58 |
posted 02-29-2004 09:22 PM
id say check it weekly see if the filter didnt pick up everything but monthy or bimonthly do a full or 80% water change also depends on the fish and the feeding habbits IP: Logged |
t_chelle16 Member Posts: 501 |
posted 02-29-2004 11:07 PM
The main reason for doing water changes is to remove nitrAtes from the water. Other than having tons of live plants, changing the water is the only way to remove them. So, if you don't do water changes, they will keep building up and long term exposure to anything over 20ppm can poison your fish. So, you need to get a test kit for nitrAte (tests for ammonia & nitrIte are also good to have) and test your water once a week. Do enough water changes to keep the nitrAtes at <20ppm. Also, every time you do a water change, you should vacuum your gravel. This will remove waste & excess food which, if left, will break down and cause your nitrAtes to rise more quickly. -Chelle IP: Logged |
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