Whats the proper way to perform water change

[daniel86]

Do i scoop the water with a tub. Cause if i do it this way i seem to be only removing the water near the surface. Or do i use a siphon to remove the water from the bottom instead.

Does it make a difference?

[|squee|]

It does make a difference in my opinion. When you siphon water from the bottom, you get to siphon out the detritus, crap, dead leaves, etc too, which is definitely better than just scooping water from the top.

I always siphon with a hose. When refilling the tank, I scoop and pour in, with my hand to break up the force of water so it doesn't dislodge anything. As I refill, I try to pour water into the areas of the tank where plant growth is heavy to dislodge any trapped detritus. Sometimes you wash out dead fish/etc too so it's good.

Also, before siphoning I like to use my hand to wave above the substrate to agitate the dirt up.

[daniel86]

Great help. That make sense. I been scooping the water out previously. Guess its time for me to buy a gravel vaccum

[|squee|]

No real need for a pricey gravel vacuum. Just any water hose will do.

[felix_fx2]

I use a the pipes that came with my cannister attached to a garden hose to drain out water.

I fill back with pipe also, but I break the water flow downward to avoid disturbance to substrate. (of course some anti chlorine is used).

[Cyberkinetic]

For my 40L planted tank with tons of malayan and a couple of Yamato shrimps, the substrate is pretty clean and I try not to disturb the substrate too much. So with the relatively small size of my tank, I will first turn off the canister filter to prevent the water sprays from the rainbar splashing water all over and out of the tank. Then I use a plastic cup and scoop the water out and focusing on clearing the debri floating on the water surface including the "oily" protein layer. As I do 10% water change each time only, it doesn't take too long for me to do this(although it'll not be possible on big tanks definitely).

Filling back with water treated with Seachem Safe(powder version of Prime) again using the plastic cup and I am careful to aim the water released into the tank on top of my stones. So far it's proven safe in the sense it does not disturb the substrate as the stones manages to break the flow of the water nicely.

When water level is restored, then I turn on the filter again. Done.

[Misty666660]

If you have alot of fish in your tank you would definately want to siphon the gravel. A gravel vacuum will save you a lot of hassle in the future. Regular vacuuming will prevent a buildup of rotting fish waste, meaning that your water quality will remain good over time and your fish will be healthy and free of disease. Much cheaper than buying expensive medicine in a few months because your fish are sick.

Also try not to change too much water at once and always use dechlorinator. Generally a 10 - 20% water change once a week will keep your water quality good and your fish happy.

[Neptune, the Mystic]

How I do weekly water-change of a 90 litre tank with 27 neon tetras, 8 guppies and 1 albino cory:

1. Switch off water pump
2. Remove everything in the tank that would get in the way of siphoning the bottom bed. (Two driftwoods remain to calm the fishes)
3. Scrap off brown algae on the glass.
4. Siphon enough water to fill a 5 gallon pail. (Agitate the sand bed slightly to stir up debris)
5. Wash first layer of white cotton mesh filter in the discharged water
6. Slowly add in untreated tap water that was left 6 days in a covered pail
7. Put back everything taken out from the tank.
8. Switch on water pump and job is done in less than 30 mins

How long tank in use: 6 months
How long fishes in tank: 1 months in 3 batches from LFS.
Casualty: none so far
Never tested water parameters since started fish-keeping 6 months ago. (Not advocating that any one do the same)
From my experience, what is critical is to match temperature of new water with that in the tank.

Two days after last water-change:

[daniel86]

30 minutes with the pump off? wouldn't that kill off your beneficial bacteria in your filter

[Neptune, the Mystic]

The filtration system, or filter media, is in a compartment of its own and never run dry during water change.

Will good bacteria die so quickly in the interim water change when the water pump is disabled? I don't think so. From time to time, my location would have power outage lasting 20min or twice as long due to ongoing lift upgrading. If the fishes managed to survive every episode, why not the bacterial organism?