Partial Water Changes

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sprout18

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Messages
8
Location
Harford County, MD
Ok so I know this is probably a dumb question but like I said before Im a total :n00b: here. We have had our tank up and running for almost a week now with the fish in it (had it up and running about 3-4 weeks before we added the fish) and I want to do a PWC but Im not sure how. I am going out today to get a gravel vac (any advice on that would be good) and maybe some more decor for our little tank (its a 5 gallon), is there anything else I need to do the water change? Do I have to take the fish and ghost shrimp out to change the water and vacuum the gravel? I've only seen my father in law do his and he always does like a 90% water change and takes his fish out first (he has a 20 gallon I think and only does the change when the tank looks yucky). Everything looks good in our tank but from reading on here I've read that you should do the PWC weekly so thats what I want to do (I want some happy, healthy fish!) So can someone walk me through a PWC so I don't freak my fish out. Thanks
 
A small siphon type vac is what you need for a tank that size.
The siphon will have a wide part on the end that you can vacuum while the water siphons out. Do 20% to 30% is about normal and try to vacumm about 1/4 of the tank floor each time, different section of the bottom each time.
Match the temp and treat the new water before adding and there is no reason to remove any fish. After a while they get used to it. Some of my fish nibble on my hands when I am working on the tank.
If you ever get into larger tanks a Python aquarium vacuum is a dream to use but it is really too much for such a small tank.
Read up on cycling tanks, and adjust your water changes according to your water test results which you should do every 2 or 3 days until your tank is cycled.
 
Did you fishless cycle the tank before you added fish? If not it will still be cycling. Check you water daily with a test kit. I like the API freshwater master test kit. Water readings in a 5 Gal. tank can change rapidly. Check for ammonia and nitrItes. When either reading reaches 0.25ppm do a PWC until the tank is cycled.

Also here are some articles you may find handy.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articl...cle/Page1.html
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articl...le-/Page1.html
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articl...ons/Page1.html

How many fish and of what type are in your tank?
 
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