So my tank seems to be doing great ,have 12 fish so far no deaths as of yet.My question is about aqautic water from the pet shop its cheap but can't I just treat the water I need and do it myself.Any sugestions on products etc. and what would be recomended on water changes,my tank is 72 gallon .At the pet shop they recomend 5% weekly.And one more question when cleaning my gravel my filter came with a polishing filter. I understand this part but will the fish be harmed by excessive debree while cleaning gravel when the time comes, you know when the bottom gets stirred up any tips
Aquatic Water ?
- Thread starter sdave
- Start date
No need for special water. Drop a few bucks on some decholr. and your good. I personally use "Start Right" made by jungle I believe. I think 5%/week is to small of a water change, More like 25%. As for the gravel cleaning, only clean a portion of the gravel each time. You wont hurt the fish doing this, you'll actually help them. Just suck up what ever gets stirred up.
I dont know anything about the polishing filter. After a quick google, and a very lazy read (ok, I just looked at the pictures) it looks like it sucks in the water, runs it through the filter, then returns it to the tank?
You dont want to do this, unless is magically removes any ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates that are in the water. All you would be doing is removing the excess food, and some poo from the tank.
You do water changes to bring down the levels of the harmful stuff in the water.
I dont know anything about the polishing filter. After a quick google, and a very lazy read (ok, I just looked at the pictures) it looks like it sucks in the water, runs it through the filter, then returns it to the tank?
You dont want to do this, unless is magically removes any ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates that are in the water. All you would be doing is removing the excess food, and some poo from the tank.
You do water changes to bring down the levels of the harmful stuff in the water.
No worries sdave. Ideally, you should change your water a minimum of once every 2 weeks. Each time should be around 20%. If you have a lot of fish, you should change water more frequently. Quantity isn't so much as issue with fish-only tanks. Quality is. Frequency = quality.
What a water change does is two-fold: It removes the waste build-up (nitrates & dissolved organic compounds) and increases oxygen content. Tap water is full of oxygen...fish love it! Unfortunately, tap water also contains chlorine and chloramines, additives that kill bacteria to provide a safe water source for humans. These chemicals will kill fish, so you must neutralize them for your fish with water conditioners. I use Tetra's "Aquasafe." There are others, but I choose this one because it works for me and has for many years.
The debris you kick up while cleaning your tank will not hurt your fish. Water quality does. Fish prefer pure water...water that isn't chemically treated (like our tap water). They also love oxygen rich water, and consistent water changes provide just that. I think that you will find that fish are really simple in their requirements and need our protection more than they need our help.
What a water change does is two-fold: It removes the waste build-up (nitrates & dissolved organic compounds) and increases oxygen content. Tap water is full of oxygen...fish love it! Unfortunately, tap water also contains chlorine and chloramines, additives that kill bacteria to provide a safe water source for humans. These chemicals will kill fish, so you must neutralize them for your fish with water conditioners. I use Tetra's "Aquasafe." There are others, but I choose this one because it works for me and has for many years.
The debris you kick up while cleaning your tank will not hurt your fish. Water quality does. Fish prefer pure water...water that isn't chemically treated (like our tap water). They also love oxygen rich water, and consistent water changes provide just that. I think that you will find that fish are really simple in their requirements and need our protection more than they need our help.
I clean my tank every two weeks. I clean the gravel and do a 25% water change. That's how much water it takes out by the time I finish the gravel. I use AquaSafe from TetraAqua in the tap water. I used to use only drinking water that we get at Water & Ice but I had to pay my parents for it. Now I use tap water. (I know, it's like cheating 
) I replace the filter every 1 1/2 to 2 months depending on the cleanliness of it. That's about it.
) I replace the filter every 1 1/2 to 2 months depending on the cleanliness of it. That's about it.
If you have a smaller tank you might need to change out more water too. In my 10 I change 25 to 40% a week depending on how the fish are doing and what the water perameters are, and I clean the gravel at least once every 2 weeks (usually I do half one week and half the next). The filter I change about every 6 weeks. I too use tap water and treat with AquaPlus (though I"m planning to switch to Prime it's more readily available at my LFS).