how do i do a water change in my tropical fish tank?
i have just bought a tropical fish tank and added 13 neon tetra after 4 days. wat do i need to do to do a water change it is a 64 litre tank.
1. drain 25-33 percent of the water into a bucket using a syphon hose (put the bucket on the floor, put one end of the hose in the tank, give it a suck until the water comes down low enough for gravity to take over. and let it drain. If you get some fish water in your mouth it seems kinda gross but won’t harm you.) You would be smart to invest in a gravel syphon so that you can vacuum the crud out of the vacuum while you do the water change. They are pretty cheap.
2. Discard the old water, put the proper amount of conditioner into the bucket, and fill it up with new water. Let the water sit for about 10 minutes (more than this is not needed, conditioner works instantly) and add it to the tank. The temperature of the new water should roughly match that of the aquarium.
That’s it. It should not be any more complicated than this. If you do this every other week it’s ok, but if you can do it every week your tank will be clean and healthy and stable for a very long time. As far as I’m concerned anyone who can’t give the fish half an hour each week for maintenance probably shouldn’t own them anyway.
Since you bought a whole bunch of neons and didn’t cycle, you should test for ammonia daily and do a water change if it gets too high – neons will not tolerate it. I love how you are keeping a real school of them in your tank (a nice change to see a beginner do) but 4 neons is a more appropriate number to start with than 13 in a small and uncycled tank, so you must take extra care or risk losing your fish.
Get a gravel syphon and clean until a quarter of the water is gone.
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1. drain 25-33 percent of the water into a bucket using a syphon hose (put the bucket on the floor, put one end of the hose in the tank, give it a suck until the water comes down low enough for gravity to take over. and let it drain. If you get some fish water in your mouth it seems kinda gross but won’t harm you.) You would be smart to invest in a gravel syphon so that you can vacuum the crud out of the vacuum while you do the water change. They are pretty cheap.
2. Discard the old water, put the proper amount of conditioner into the bucket, and fill it up with new water. Let the water sit for about 10 minutes (more than this is not needed, conditioner works instantly) and add it to the tank. The temperature of the new water should roughly match that of the aquarium.
That’s it. It should not be any more complicated than this. If you do this every other week it’s ok, but if you can do it every week your tank will be clean and healthy and stable for a very long time. As far as I’m concerned anyone who can’t give the fish half an hour each week for maintenance probably shouldn’t own them anyway.
Since you bought a whole bunch of neons and didn’t cycle, you should test for ammonia daily and do a water change if it gets too high – neons will not tolerate it. I love how you are keeping a real school of them in your tank (a nice change to see a beginner do) but 4 neons is a more appropriate number to start with than 13 in a small and uncycled tank, so you must take extra care or risk losing your fish.
References :
Did you buy your fish tank and set it up, and then, 4 days afterwards, fill the tank to almost ful stocking levels in one fell swoop?
Okay, you’re going to be looking at a major ammonia bloom. Go to a local fish store and locate some Bacteria in a Bottle, or anything to help speed up the nitrogen cycle. Warning: you will probably lose some fish in the next few weeks, because your water will be very, very toxic. A good fish person should know what you’re talking about. If no one at that store knows about the nitrogen cycle, find a new store.
Once you have your cycle-starter, or your bacteria, add in twice the daily dose recommended. Test your water daily, as well — pick one up while you’re out buying the bacteria. Once the ammonia and nitrites clear, then you can do a water change.
THE ACTUAL ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION \/
For the water change, remove about 15-20 liters of water. It doesn’t matter how; using a syphon, using a clean cup, using an airline tube, as long as you remove the 15-20 liters of water. Then, refill the tank with some dechlorinated water.
That’s it.
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Three years personal experience
Hiya
It sounds like you did not perform a fishless cycle on your tank, a crucial error. I can guarantee atleast 4 of your neons will die in the next week or so as they are very picky with water conditions. Not too late though, you can save the rest by using them to perform a cycle with fish (use google) however you will give them ammonia poisoning and they are not a tough gish, whatever way now so you`ve kinda ballsed it up.
Don`t blame yourself if you didn`t know. Blame your LFS for not helping you!
To perform a water change you need to buy 2 new buckets solely for fish use. One is for dirty water, one for clean. None should be used for any household things.
Syphon about 20% of the tanks volume into the dirty water bucket, picking up any waste from the gravel with it too. Every month, rinse your filter media in the old tank water in this bucket.
To fill it up, fill the clean bucket up with room temperature tap water, and add the required chemicals you are using into the water, and then pour into the tank.
Job done.
Good luck
Deren
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well u should always do a 25% water change every 2 weeks. Ok, we have a proble,. Did you set up the tank, then after 4 days of it sitting u added the neon tetras? if u did this is preety bad. this is because u must let your tank sit for the bacteria in the gravel and filter to caught up to the bio load. You see there is good bacteria that fights off the bad bacteria. When you frist set up a tank u must let good bacteria from. when u add a fish it produces waist, this is known as AMMONIUA. When you stet up a tank u have large amounts of Ammoniua, then the 2nd part is nirtite, and then the nirtie gets converted into nirtates. then its up to you to do your weekly water changes of 10%-15%. the problem with you is that neon tetras are not hardy and u added a lot in 4 days. i say go to the pet store and buy a product known as CYCLE. its bacteria in a bottle, it will help your tank. Do do a water change you use a shpyon, you frist insert it in the tank, u then shake it up and down really fast then u get a current going through it. then you stick it in the gravel, let it pick up the gravel and suck up all the fish waist and food. then you move across the tank and try to get as much as you can before u have reached your water mark.
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