# How do you do a water change



## Mr Sparkles (Jun 14, 2005)

I was wondering how i should do a water charge, new. Also should i regulary clean out my filter. I only have one red in a huge tank for life and he dosent make too much mess. I also take out all the uneaten food in 3 hours.

Thanks.

Sparkles


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

hello Mr. Sparkles,
What size is the tank and what size is your red. I recommend you remove any uneaten food in 15 minutes, not 3 hours. To do a water change you use a syphon (most get the python) and syphon out how ever much water you want to change from the tank into a bucket. you then refill that bucket to the same level and fill your tank back up. You can get the spilless python thing that allows you to valve control the flow of water and you can just drain the tank directly into the sink and fill the tank right back up from the tap as well. hope that helps a bit.


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

I do water changes the old-skool way, so manually: I fill a bucket using a piece of filter hose (which also enables me to suck up debris from the substrate) until I have removed the desired amount of water, flush it down the toilet, and then refill the tank again by filling the bucket with tap water and pouring that in the tank. Note that I can use my tap water untreated - if you need to treat your water, do that first!

Many people use a devide called a Python - I've never used, or even seen, one, but I'm sure others can tell you about it.

As far as filter maintenance: depends on what kind(s) of filter you use, and how many. The one dealing with the biofiltration should be cleaned only occasionally, *with tank water* - that filter contains most of the bacteria that take care of the cycle, so needs to be treated with caution. If not, you may kill the bacteria, which means you'll have to cycle the tank again.
Additional filters can be cleaned more frequently.

I use a combination of canisters and internal filters in my piranha tanks - the internal filters are used primarily to filter out free-floating crap and debris, and are cleaned every 5-8 weeks (depending on how much performance they loose by trapping crap and debris). The canisters take care of the biofiltration, and are cleaned twice per year.


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## chopsdsp (May 23, 2005)

i am kind of new to this hole piranha thing but i do water changes every two weeks on sunday. i take the same amount of water out each time about 15%. then because we have crappy water at the fraterniyt house i use start right chlorine remover. man do i love these god damn rbp's


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## delta (Jul 23, 2004)

make sure ya get water temps close and use declorinator if ya got clorinated water. 
I still use the old fashion method also but i change 25% every wk and if ya got 2 filters id rotate the filter cleanings so theirs less chance of probs.


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## piranha98 (Jun 15, 2005)

i just cahnge like 30 percent with vaccum hose


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## rbp75 (May 2, 2004)

Python!!!


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

You wanna talk complicated water change?

My wife and I recently moved to a house that has well water. The water is HARD as sh*t, and I didn't wanna use post softened water. So what does one do?

Twice a week we bring in (5) 5 gallon buckets of city water from my parents house. I fill the buckets with luke warm water, drive them back to my place, do a good siphon gravel vac, then use a pump to pump the water into the tank...


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## kikurace (May 29, 2005)

pythons are great they cost $29 at walmart


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## oojit (Feb 24, 2005)

rbp75 said:


> Python!!!
> [snapback]1074624[/snapback]​










Easiest way to do them changes.


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## sccavee (Feb 11, 2003)

I use 5 gallon buckets for taking water out and use one of the white RV hoses to fill.

Do clean out your filters. I usually clean mine out every 2 weeks.


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## alan (Mar 11, 2004)

chopsdsp said:


> i am kind of new to this hole piranha thing but i do water changes every two weeks on sunday. i take the same amount of water out each time about 15%. then because we have crappy water at the fraterniyt house i use start right chlorine remover. man do i love these god damn rbp's
> [snapback]1071164[/snapback]​


15% every 2 weeks !!


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## zygapophysis (Jul 16, 2004)

doctorvtec - You can get a water softener.


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## ICrazyChrisI (May 10, 2005)

Python!


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

zygapophysis said:


> doctorvtec - You can get a water softener.
> [snapback]1086151[/snapback]​


House has a "water softener", but I do not want all the extra salts and what not thats used by the softener in my tank.


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

sccavee said:


> I use 5 gallon buckets for taking water out and use one of the white RV hoses to fill.
> 
> Do clean out your filters. I usually clean mine out every 2 weeks.
> [snapback]1083535[/snapback]​


The only part of the filter that anyone should think about touching is the carbon insert. Any media like biowheels, biomax, things of that nature are where all your bacteria resides and should only be gently rinsed in tank water about every 6 months.


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## Piranha King (Nov 28, 2002)

doctorvtec said:


> zygapophysis said:
> 
> 
> > doctorvtec - You can get a water softener.
> ...


i have well water and a culligan softener and my fish are fine. 
wes


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

That's fine in your situation. We have an old school antiquated softener system, and i just don't trust the system for my fish. It's not my house and I am only gonna be there for about 1.5 years, so yea.

My criteria for my new house we are buying is decent city water, a basement that doesn't leak, and a big ass garage. The wife can decide everything else.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

doctorvtec said:


> That's fine in your situation. We have an old school antiquated softener system, and i just don't trust the system for my fish. It's not my house and I am only gonna be there for about 1.5 years, so yea.
> 
> My criteria for my new house we are buying is decent city water, a basement that doesn't leak, and a big ass garage. The wife can decide everything else.
> [snapback]1086902[/snapback]​


I was on well water for 5 years and this is what I experienced. The softener removed all the GH but left the KH very high....also the ph was above 8. There was no changing the ph because of the high KH so I just left it as is. I did add a product to raise the GH. My fish did very well in this water. It is up to you but I wouldnt do the bucket thing. I would set up a small tank (hospital tank) and test the water with some disposible fish. I would bet that you have no GH but your KH and PH will probably be high. This is not really a bad thing, you just need to acclimate your fish. If you softener runs though salt, like mine did, it doesnt add much to the water. You could test the TDS to really get an idea of the water you are dealing with.


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

Grosse Gurke said:


> doctorvtec said:
> 
> 
> > That's fine in your situation. We have an old school antiquated softener system, and i just don't trust the system for my fish. It's not my house and I am only gonna be there for about 1.5 years, so yea.
> ...


I see your point. But the bucket thing is like 2nd nature right now and is working just fine. It takes under an hour to goto my dads house, get the water, bring it back, drain out the tank water, and pump in the new stuff. That also includes talking with my dad for a little bit while I'm over there.

I don't see a negative to this method as far as the tank goes. My bad back though, yea definite negative.

It's only 5 buckets twice a week which is roughly 50%. It'll make the hobby more fun when we move and I can use the python again. Plus, since all I do is school right now until we move, it gives me sumpin to do besides help my friends here at P Fury!


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## calispec (Jul 19, 2005)

so you treat the water with de-chlorinator in the bucket and then just pour it in the tank? It's that simple? What do you do with the fish? Can they hang out in the tank when you do all this (when doing partial water changes that is)?


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

calispec said:


> so you treat the water with de-chlorinator in the bucket and then just pour it in the tank? It's that simple? What do you do with the fish? Can they hang out in the tank when you do all this (when doing partial water changes that is)?
> [snapback]1130007[/snapback]​


Yes, and yes. You treat the water while it''s in the bucket then add to tank. And the fish will be fine in the tank. You never want to net and remove a fish unless its absolutely needed.


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