How to change the water....

[Water]

Ive had two Betta fish before and I had trouble keeping the water clean,after about a week it starts to smell and what I would do is take the small tank and sit it under warm water while the Betta was in there....was the the right way of changing the water?

Another question,how do I prepare my small tank for a new betta? I mean its kinda dirty and has this white coding over it,I guess from just sitting and not having water in it.

thanks for the help

 

[FroggyFox]

How small of a tank is it? If its small enough (say under two gallons) I'd probably opt to put the betta in a cup and dump all the water out, put some dechlor into the tank and swish some clean water around in it, dump it all out again, then put some more dechlor in and fill up the tank with water the same temp as is in your betta's cup, and then put the betta back into the tank. Many people change 50% or so of their small tanks once a week or more, just by using a cup to pull the old water out and then dechlor and putting the same temp of dechlored water back into the tank. You can also get a tiny siphon to clean the gravel if you want...but In small tanks I usually opt to dump it all out instead.

To prepare for a new fish, I'd rinse everything in the empty tank with really hot water. The white residue is probably just calcium buildup, hard-water stains.

 

[NoDeltaH2O]

furthermore, never use soap, in case you might have been wondering. You can wipe off algae with a soft clean cloth or paper towel.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Or you can have water waiting out for a while so it becomes room temperature for when you're ready to refill the tank. If you leave it out 24 hours or more, you don't need to add dechlorinator.

 

[Water]

Thanks,and yes its a very small tank under 2 gallons,it maybe a 1gallon at the most.