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Hey guys and girls, just a quick question.

I've got a shoal of cories in my rainbow tank and well, keeping the gravel clean is becoming a bit of a concern. my rainbows poop a lot and in three days the susbtrate is covered in it, now I don't mind getting the old gavel vac out and giving it a once over, but I am beginning to wonder, I'm doing partial water changes with it, it's one of those type, and it's a 10% waterchange every three days, I'm worrying that I'm introducing too much stuff from my tap water when I do it.

Should I be worried? I'd like to have the tank settle a little in between succuum sessions, should I try a different vac?

I don't know if it would be an issue - I'm sure someone more experiences may be able to answer that, but I figure you could vac, let the poop sink to the bottom of the bucket and then put the no-so-poopy water back in if you're worried that you're replacing too much water.

10% water change every 3 days is Ok. Do you add any Ammonia, Chloramine Eliminator with your tap water before pouring it in your tank?.



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If you use the appropriate water conditioners, there is nothing wrong with changing 10% of the water every three days. But if you feel uncomfortable with those water changes you can buy one of those battery-operated vacuums that come with a filter and return the clean water to the tank. Here in the UK they cost around £10.

I have cories with BNs and guppies. My bns poo alot, same as my guppies and they seem to be fine. I just have an internal filter and that cleans away most of the poo, but still alot gets settled in the gravel.

It's a 55gall so it's a bit of a pain to gravel vac it=, but I want happy healthy cories.

I might invest in one of the powered vacs, or make my own using a crappy powerhead.

We'll see.

10% every three days? Hah - my water changes and gravel vacs (twice per week on average) involve 50% water changes. And my fish love it.

But I make sure the water's been treated with decent dechlorinators beforehand

Let's put it this way, fresh, unpolluted, oxygen rich water is going to be good for your fish. If your tap water contains other nasties you don't want to add to the aquarium (e.g., your reservoir is subject to agricultural runoff and reads 100ppm nitrates out of the tap) then one solution is let some Hornwort hoover the nitrates out of the water before you use it for a water change.



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002