Water changes and cycle question

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I finally set up my freshwater aquarium about 4 days ago and I took a water sample to the pet store. The guy there said that the PH level is too high and I should wait a couple days before getting fish.

He also said that I should never change the tank's water out completely. I always used to change the whole tank once a month a few years ago but he says to only change about 4 fingers depth worth of water every week.

I have a couple questions about this process:

1- Is it okay to just add tap water when changing the 4 fingers depth worth of water once a week? (I'd also add the chlorine remover for the ammount of water added)

2- The guy said I should add a little bit of salt to the water. Won't I end up with too much salt if I keep adding it without changing out the water of the whole tank?

3- Since I'm not changing out everything in the tank once a month anymore, all I have to do is syphon the rocks at the bottom, use one of those magnetic things to clean the glass, and replace the specified ammount of water once a week?

I looked for an article about this on the site but couldn't find it. If someone could please let me know the proper way of keeping up the tank, I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks so much

 

[jamesrm]

Hello,
I recently delt with this issue myself, and here is basically the instruction that I recieved from the more advanced members here:

First, read this, its a great thread about the nitrogen "Cycle" and how it affects your tank and you. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21

For your water changes, people generally base the quanity of water on the number of gallons in their tank, and change 10-20% of that per week, or as tank conditions dictate. So, for 20 gallons, that would be 2-4 gal per week. Using a syphon to clean your gravel or pick up loose debries from the substrate is desired for this.

A lot of fish like slightly salty conditions, but I would recommend using freshwater aquarium salt, available at most pet stores. I do not even know if table salt is usable, but seeing as how its bleeched, I would think thats a big no there.

I would never ever advise a total water change, the most I have ever done in an emergancy 2 years ago was a 50% change after the person in charge of my tank during an extended vacation let me down.

For a glass cleaner, I would recommend a Pleco They are fun to watch and will take care of anything growing on your glass, unless you have a bloom occur.

Hope this helped,

James

 

[rich311k]

1. Yes it is fine to add tap water with dechlor added right to the tank. Just be sure the temperature is close. I would recommend at least 25% every week.

2. Salt is not necessary except for treating certain diseases, no need to add it.

3. Yes a gravel vac and water change once a week along with regular filter maintenance should do the job.

There is never a need to do a 100% change, unless something goes horribly wrong such as a vicious bacterial infection or something nasty gets dumped in the tank.

Please read up on the nitrogen cycle and do a fishless cycle, much easier on you and the fish.

Rich