# Water changes



## L.Poore (Aug 17, 2007)

I wanted to start another topic on water changes. I currently change 30% a week I want to see what others are doing and how often filters are cleaned.


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## coreydyck (Dec 6, 2003)

Good topic. Especially interseted to see how often and how people go about cleaning their filters since all those benefincial bacteria live there


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

L.Poore said:


> I wanted to start another topic on water changes. I currently change 30% a week I want to see what others are doing and how often filters are cleaned.


Same for me, usually around 25-50% depending on how and what I feed them. Clean filter floss (emp 400) every other week. Take down the entire filter once a month due to hard water.


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## Guest (Aug 27, 2007)

I have nothing else to do now since i dont go to school but i might keep doing my often water changes when I do go back. I do 40% water changes every 3 or 4 days. I am planning on cleaning my filters every 2.5 or 3 months.


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## Dizzy Dawg (May 1, 2007)

I do 30% water change once a week. 
I also rinse some of the media from inside my filter once a month. I never rinse out the bio-ball things though since they hold lots of beneficial bacteria. Just the sponges and stuff. And never all at once, just a few each time.


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## skubasteve! (Feb 14, 2007)

I do 15-20% every week or so.. however I only have solo fish in my tanks and they all have good filtration. IMO it all depends on what you are stocking and how much filtration you have, obviously the more water changes the better but not all of us have all the time in the world to do daily changes. I also clean my filters out (XP3's) every few months or so, or when I notice a reduced flow. I will take it apart and rinse out the impeller area, and then rinse out the sponges in a bucket of tank water.


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## RAZOR_TOOTH (Jun 22, 2006)

I change 20-30% every 3 days in all my tanks..
Sponges in XPs, sumps and FX5s once a month ( in tanks water )
UVs cleaned once a month.
100 micron pollish pads replaced every 2-3 weeks depending on feedings..

R.T.


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

50 to 60% every week, sundays usualy / filters once a month


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## mrstreetz (Jul 31, 2007)

assclown said:


> 50 to 60% every week, sundays usualy / filters once a month


 i have 6 p's. i do a 30% water changes and rinse my media from my filter every month in the tank water that i drained from the tank.


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

I do 30% qnce a week. My filters are all AC's for the exception of one wetdry. I clean the filter media when the sponges start rising in the bay which can range from every 3-4 months. All tanks are normally stocked and are fed 1-2 times a week only. I clean the wetdry media when signs of water appear on top of the drip lid.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

THe readings are through the roof according to the sticks I used to test. How often is too often to do water changes? I want to get the levels back down. I did a 35% water change sunday and about the same last night. 
I removed a large amount of the rocks so that there is mostly glass and the filter picks up more and there is less Sh%t on the bottom rotting.
Is that good? I want to change it again b/c Im home until tomorrow night when I leave for 3 days.
Any suggestions?
Im picking up a larger tank 30 gal. (it know its not huge but I don't have the space right now spilo is in a 20 long now, and is about 6 1/2 inches. ) and second 30 gal tank for feeders possibly(Im up for suggestions!!!)

Can I just add the rocks from the current tank and put half the water from that in the new tank and then add water and let the filters run to "cycle" it?
What is the TRUE def. of Cycling a tank?


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## GlassblowRBPown (Apr 4, 2005)

wtf, explain ur crack bindge. rocks wont cyle ur tank, only time... media will help but not complete.... techniclly u can do waterchanges daily as long as ur params dont change much


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

GlassblowRBPown said:


> wtf, explain ur crack bindge. rocks wont cyle ur tank, only time... media will help but not complete.... techniclly u can do waterchanges daily as long as ur params dont change much


I know that, even though reading it doesnt seem that way. What I was asking is would the water from my current tank and some of the substrate thats in there help? Then I could throw suggested fish in the tank with currently used filtration as well.

Suggestions only please no unneeded bull!!
glassblow


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## CorGravey (Feb 13, 2007)

Water will do nothing but some substarte in a nylon stocking will help. So will cycled media.

I change 50% weekly with gravel vac, and stagger my filters, cleaning them once a month.


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

notaverage said:


> wtf, explain ur crack bindge. rocks wont cyle ur tank, only time... media will help but not complete.... techniclly u can do waterchanges daily as long as ur params dont change much


I know that, even though reading it doesnt seem that way. What I was asking is would the water from my current tank and some of the substrate thats in there help? Then I could throw suggested fish in the tank with currently used filtration as well.

Suggestions only please no unneeded bull!!
glassblow
[/quote]

Bacteria is not free floating so the old water is useless. There is some bacteria in the gravel but most of it is in the media. If you use your currently used filtration as long as it is established and you keep the bacteria alive you will not have to go through a cycle.


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## Piranha_Mcfly (Jan 11, 2007)

Dr. Giggles said:


> wtf, explain ur crack bindge. rocks wont cyle ur tank, only time... media will help but not complete.... techniclly u can do waterchanges daily as long as ur params dont change much


I know that, even though reading it doesnt seem that way. What I was asking is would the water from my current tank and some of the substrate thats in there help? Then I could throw suggested fish in the tank with currently used filtration as well.

Suggestions only please no unneeded bull!!
glassblow
[/quote]

Bacteria is not free floating so the old water is useless. There is some bacteria in the gravel but most of it is in the media. If you use your currently used filtration as long as it is established and you keep the bacteria alive you will not have to go through a cycle.
[/quote]

I do water changes 30 percent every two weeks and clean filters (just floss) every 2-3 months. I feed 2 times a day. I will probably start doing water changes every week now soon though.


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