How often do I change water in 6.5 gallon tank? I only have 1 betta in the 6.5 gallon tank. Do I change once a week? Do I check for Ammonia and Nitrates?
You always check for ammonia and nitrates even tho there is only 1 fish as uneaten food, unfiltered poo, decaying matter, etc can deteriorate the water quality. Getting into a routine of changing water once a week will not hurt the fish and can help avoid buildup issues that may be lurking.
You change water for more reasons than just a high nitrate level and in a cycled tank, there should be no ammonia. The fish absorb the minerals in the water so doing routine water changes will replenish those minerals that keep your fish healthy. In a 6.5 gallon tank ( which holds less than 6.5 gallons of water btw ) you can get away with only changing 1 gallon a week so that any water parameters would not change drastically all at once.
As your tanks get more mature, you will get to the point where you cut your testing to every 3 or 4 days then, if they remain stable, back to once a week. As you get more familiar with how fish act and doing routine water changes, you can eventually not even test unless something doesn't look right. Your fish will tell you if something is not right.I have been checking the Ammonia, and Nitrates in my 6.5 gallon tank and there is no Ammonia, and very little Nitrates. I can do water change once a week of 1 gallon. I was doing 75 percent water change, but I can cut back on that. I ran out of my Api test kit. I should be getting my test kit, by tomorrow. I had to re order. I have to test all three tanks and the api test kit doesn't last long, cause i have to check water every few days on all three tanks. Thank you for your help.
I did water changes on all my tanks every week. I just did it as a routine, every Wednesday I did water changes.
If the nitrates go above 20ppm between water changes, do more water changes.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
This is what I do after a water change, I have a 40 gallon high tank. After the water change. I put in 3 capfuls of water conditioner into my fish tank, then I add Ammonia lock. Then I add Fritz 7. I add water from my kitchen sink into two empty jugs, until I fill up the tank. Then I add 3 or more capful of conditioner into the tank. I do use tap water btw.
I just did a 50 percent water change a few days ago on my 40 gallon tank. I did an
Ammonia 0 or 025ppm
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5.0
Test. Do I need to do a water change and if so how much?
I did check my betta tanks and the Nitrates were high, so I did a water change and that helped.