# how often.......



## bubba_519 (Dec 13, 2003)

just a quick question, how often should you do a 25 - 50% water change for your tank? someone said just once a month but i didn't think that what enough.


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

once a week 25%


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## rbP NUT (Dec 2, 2003)

once a month for the 50% if you want to, but if you do your weekly 20-25% w/c i dont think its nessescary to do the 50%


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## bubba_519 (Dec 13, 2003)

ok, i just did the 25 % water change and when I was putting in the new fresh water it upset the gravel and all sorts of stuff went floating every where. sh*t, Leaves, flake food all sorts of stuff. Is my gravel in need of serious cleaning or is that normal for that to happen. The filter took care of most of it anyway and I also netted some out. Is there a way I can clean my gravel with out getting one of those vacuems. How expensive are they?


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

bubba_519 said:


> ok, i just did the 25 % water change and when I was putting in the new fresh water it upset the gravel and all sorts of stuff went floating every where. sh*t, Leaves, flake food all sorts of stuff. Is my gravel in need of serious cleaning or is that normal for that to happen. The filter took care of most of it anyway and I also netted some out. Is there a way I can clean my gravel with out getting one of those vacuems. How expensive are they?


 either change the gravel to sand
or get a hand pump or a python
i paid $15 for a hand vacumn pump that works great


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## bubba_519 (Dec 13, 2003)

15 bucks?

Thats pretty good, the only thing that confuses me about these vaceum pumps are since there vaceums how do they just suck up the stuff you want out of there without sucking up any gravel.


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

bubba_519 said:


> 15 bucks?
> 
> Thats pretty good, the only thing that confuses me about these vaceum pumps are since there vaceums how do they just suck up the stuff you want out of there without sucking up any gravel.


 they arent that strong to suck up gravel that hard and its a venturi effect and it has a check valve i think


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## upt1me (Jun 26, 2003)

I do a 20% Water change every 2 weeks.


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## Chunkis (Nov 2, 2003)

If u have piranhas. i do a 20% water change twice a week. Piranhas waste is large and feeders crap too u know. plecos also prduce lots of waste. and vacume the gravel once a month. U can buy a siphoning hose that has an attachable thing at teh end the prevents rocks and fish getting sucked up, it only sucks up the dirt. lol. I took the end of mine nad sucked up 2 feeders for fun.









And if u dont want all ur gravel to go flying everywhere when you put water in your tank...here are some tips.

#1. filling an empty tank up with water: put a plate in teh tank then pour the water in teh plate. it help not mess everything up.

#2. puttin gwater back in teh tank after water change: I just get a stand or somthing put books on teh stand and pu the bucket on them with the water in it and siphon teh water in to my tank. teh bucket has to be higher than teh tank though.


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## darkling (Dec 30, 2003)

I do 15-20% weekly and gravel cleaning to.


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