Anyone have a big fishtank? A question:

[sohcrates]

I've seen big fishtanks with running water and filters and what not...but i've also heard that you have to change the water in them *completely* from time to time.

How do you do that? Especially with a big tank?

Do you have to take the fish out and use a pump or something?

I'm looking into getting some fish....

 

[azazyel]

You just get a syphon and a big bucket.

 

[trmiv]

No, you don't need to completely change the water. You should never completely change the water in a fish tank. Much too upsetting for the fish. A 20-30% water change once or twice a month is really all you should do. Some peope like to do smaller 10% water changes once a week.

 

[shiner]

Back in college I maintained a couple of large, 100 gallon, tanks and never had to totally replace the water. I had both fresh and saltwater tanks and it was never an issue. Of course I spent a lot of time making sure I had the right mixture of fish and vegetation in them and the system seemed t pretty much clean and refresh itself. I did have to vacuum the tanks out occasionally(the freshwater more than the salt) but that was no big deal and if you buy a good tank vacuum it's easy.

 

[pyonir]

<< No, you don't need to completely change the water. You should never completely change the water in a fish take. Much too upsetting for the fish. A 20-30% water change once or twice a month is really all you should do. Some peope like to do smaller 10% water changes once a week. >>


that is what my mom did. get one of those bacteria eating fish too...sucker or whatever. they help keep the tank clean.

 

[brnbngls]

In large aquariums, it's recommended to do about a 30% water change every couple weeks. Just take a bucket or pitcher, empty it out and fill it back up. To clean the gravel and gunk on the bottom, you can get a siphon hose. Start a siphon and then just shove it around in the gravel. It won't be strong enough to pull the gravel out, but enough to clean all the crap.

You need not worry about taking the fish out. Hope this helps. Message me if you have more questions. My wife and I have done several tanks.

 

[trmiv]

The easiest way to do water changes is with one of these. Hook it up to the faucet, turn the water on, it will create a syphon letting you clean the gravel and suck out water. Then, close the valve, and it will start filling up the tank. I like to fill into a bucket (actually a clean 55 gallon plastic garbage can ) first to make sure temperature, chemistry, etc are correct, but if your water is close to the right chemistry for your fish, you can go right into the tank and just add your chemicals.

 

[sohcrates]

<< . Some peope like to do smaller 10% water changes once a week. >>



Ahhh...ok

I could probably handle that.

A siphon eh? hmmmm....

I assume i would have to make sure the water i add is near room temperature as well right?

fish newbie <-------

 

[azazyel]

some tips

 

[sohcrates]

<< some tips >>



good stuff. thanks!


edit: "Always quarantine new fish for at least one month"

how would i do that?

 

[notfred]

<< that is what my mom did. get one of those bacteria eating fish too...sucker or whatever. they help keep the tank clean. >>



A Plecustomus (yeah, I can't spell it) Does not eat bacteria. It does not eat leftover food, and it does not eat other fish's crap. ALL it eats is algae. Algae is NOT poinsonous to your fish. In fact, lots of fish like it. The ONLY bad thing about most green algaes, is that they are ugly, as they grow on the sides of your tank. If you scrape the algae off the sides of your tank, and have pleco's, they will probably starve if you don't feed them something else (they make little compressed algae disk things for them)

Lots of people think that these fish eat anything that other fish don't eat, and clean up the tank. They don't. If you want a fish that will eat leftover food that sank to the bottom of the tank, get a catfish. If you want to get rid of fish sh!t, get a good biological filter, cause fish won't eat it.

Anyway - you should never completely change the water in the tank. Fish get used to the water how it is, they're very senstive to water quality. I used to change 25% of the water in my tank every two weeks. (I don't have fish any more). Also - you don't want the water to be room temperature, you want it to be the temperature of the water in the tank (in tropical tanks, which is basically anything but goldfish - this is usually between 75 and 80 degrees)

 

[Jzero]

Like everyone else said--you should never change all the water at once. 25-30% every couple weeks is enough. I have a 30 gal. tank and an 8-gallon bucket that once held Farrier's Formula (horse nutrient). It's perfect...I use the siphon hose and vaccum the bottom until the bucket's full.
Then I fill the bucket with conditioned water around 80 degrees and pour it back in.

notFred is also right that plecos and algae eaters don't eat leftover foods--just algae. My tank's "garbage collection crew" consists of 2 chinese algae eaters (although I probably could use a couple more) a spotted catfish (only grows to about 3" and sucks food off the bottom) and 2 tiger eels (they just look cool, but they also happen to be bottom-feeders).

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Beware- some Plecos get HUGE. Check with the fishmonger before you select one.