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I've been looking into buying a 55 - 75 gallon tank. I have only had small tanks (1 - 5 gallons) in the past. These I would clean out by doing a 100% water change once a week (or more, depending on the tank). Obviously, I can't do that in my new tank. I know I have to do partial water changes and change the carbon thingy in the filter. But, how often do I change the carbon? Also, what % of the water should I take out of the tank weekly. Finally, I've heard of gravel vaccumes. How do they work, and would I be able to use one in a planted tnak without damaging the plants? If anyone has any other suggestions, I'd really appriciate them.

-Tom

I know I have to do partial water changes and change the carbon thingy in the filter.

what kind of filter is it? i only change mine in my HOB every few months

I've heard of gravel vaccumes. How do they work, and would I be able to use one in a planted tnak without damaging the plants?

yup. basically you place the vacuum in and syphon manually.. the water through the vacumm. run it through your gravel and watch how much dirt it picks up.

a little more detailed explanation on the vacs....

u stuck the large wide plastic end into the aquarium water, put the other end of the hose into a milk carten, or bucket, u can get the air out of the large plastic end and create suction by moving it up and down, soon u will see the water flow down the hose and into the bucket, then u start "stabbing" the gravel all the way to the glass slowly and gently, u will then see all the dust and poo flow up the tube and down the hose (oh yea, make sure the bucket is lower than the whole tank for optimal results) when the bucket gets filled slowly pull up the hose and plug it with ur finger, bring the hose up and with ur finger still on the end put it in the aquarium too, to hold the suction, dump the water and u can bring more water back, or wait till u are done vacing. to continue vacing u plug it again, and then move your finger when it is over the bucket, and simply redo what u did before, untill u are satisfied with your cleaning

when u put the water back in, try to get it the same temp, eventually u will be an expert of getting the temp just right by just feeling the water then going to the water source and filling up and bring it back, it only takes a few.....months dont worry, when u have fry the months fly by

hi djtj those are really good questions!

how often do I change the carbon?

Some people choose not to use carbon in their tanks at all. In my case, I keep carbon at home so I can use it for a particular job (like removing meds from a tank) but I don't use it as a standard part of my filtering system.

If you do choose to use carbon, change it once every few weeks. Once the carbon has become full of chemicals, it can start releasing them back into the water so there's no point in keeping it for too long.

Your other filter media will also need cleaning. When you choose your new filter, we'll be able to give you detailed cleaning instructions, but it usually involves removing the white "floss" and rinsing it in used tank water.

what % of the water should I take out of the tank weekly?

Replace around 20% of your tank water each week. You can do more or less each time, depending on what kind of fish you have.

I've heard of gravel vaccumes. How do they work, and would I be able to use one in a planted tnak without damaging the plants?

There's a good explanation above of how they work. In a planted tank you wouldn't vacuum very close to the plants. You can just wave your hand around and get the gunk to float around in the water, then suck it up with your vac.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the help. Other than the 3 things above and scraping algae, (I don't think there's any trick to that) what else do I need to do to keep up with the weekly matienance?

One job I can think of if you have live plants ... gardening!

If you're doing everything right, your fish will be eating, growing if they're juveniles, and producing nice quantities of carbon dioxide and excrement. While the gravel vac removes the excess excrement that will, if left to build up, cause a fatal pH crash in the aquarium, you always leave a small amount behind to give the plants something to feed upon. Once the filter bacteria have gone to work on the detritus, the end result is a collection of substances (principally nitrates, but there are others too) that are utilised as food by the plants. If your plants are suffficiently well lit into the bargain, the result is that your plants grow. And in time, you'll need to engage in judicious pruning in order to thin out the growth and give your fishes back some of the swimming space that has been taken up by said growth. With some plants, this occurs slowly, but with others, you will be amazed at how fast they grow.

I have Hornwort in my Panda Fun Palace™ which I use as part of the nitrate management team, so to speak. This grows at a truly frightening rate. It can, when it is of a mind to, grow at the rate of three inches per day in my aquarium. So gardening is a full-time occupation for me!

In my Panda breeding aquarium, I have Hygrophyla difformis, otherwise known as Water Wisteria. This is illuminated by an 18,000 K tube, and consequently grows like stink. I suspect I'll be taking a good numebr of surplus cuttings back to my LFS soon and selling them.

Likewise, I could supply the whole of my town with surplus Java Moss if anyone wanted it. That stuff grows at a truly silly rate in my aquaria. Guess I must be lucky and have green fingers

Any live plants you have are going to grow if you're looking after the aquarium properly. And sometimes, they'll need pruning. Indeed, with some plant species, this can be a bi-weekly task with ease. If you grow Hornwort as I do, it's more likely to be a daily task!




Last edited by Calilasseia at 28-Feb-2005 21:41

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

gravel vacs....some people believe to gravel vac 1/2 aquarium at a time...not the whole aquarium...you never want the aquarium totally "clean"...in the same way of thinking some of us have 2 filters(never have too much filtering) and clean one filter at a time..again preserving some good bacteria

all great answers so far. I just wanted to touch on this one

Also, what % of the water should I take out of the tank weekly

this depends on the stock of the tank. for bigger, messier fish you want to remove more per week like around 40-50%. For smaller fish you don't have to remove as much and 20-25% per week should be fine. Also, how much you change can be determined by your filtration. If you have a bunch of filtration on your tank then you can safely change more as there will be lots of surface area in the filters for bacterial colonies to grow which can withstand a larger water change. For instance, on my 125 gallon tank I have 2 AC500 filters and an Emperor 400. So at optimum performance that's 1400 gallons/hour which is really good. This way I can change more water at a time which leads to faster growth and healthier fish.

I try to change between 50-70% weekly on my tanks, but I mostly keep South and Central American cichlids.