OB Guy
Administrator
Doing regular water changes and how often you do the water changes are a critical part of freshwater aquarium maintenance. Switching out part of your tank’s water allows you to more closely control the level of debris and toxins. To do a water change, you will need to get the fresh water ready and siphon out the dirty water from your aquarium. You can also take this opportunity to clean up your gravel and remove algae from the tank’s walls. How often you'll need to do water changes in your aquarium will vary depending on how many fish you have in the aquarium and type of filtration. I do 5-10 percent water changes daily or every other day in my heavily stocked aquariums. I also do a 25 percent water change monthly. Normally your fish will do just fine with weekly 10 percent water changes. Some will only do 25-50 percent water changes monthly. It really depends on the type and quantity of fish you have in your aquarium. I also recommend not cleaning your filter(s) at the same time you're doing the larger monthly water changes.
Get out a clean bucket and fill it with water directly from the faucet. Keep the new water temperature as close as possible to the temperature of the water in your aquarium Follow the instructions on your water conditioner bottle and pre-treat the water prior to adding it to your aquarium. I use Seachem Prime for treating the new water I add to my aquariums and highly recommend it as a water conditioner. The conditioner will make the water safe for your fish by removing dangerous chemicals and heavy metals found in tap water. I always use the same two buckets, one for the water I syphon from the aquarium and one for the fresh water I will be adding to the aquarium. I always use the same bucket for the water coming out of the aquarium and different buckets for the new water going into the aquarium. Using separate buckets is especially important if you have more than one aquarium to help prevent cross contamination between different aquariums. If you only have one aquarium one bucket will be just fine to do your water changes.
Get out a clean bucket and fill it with water directly from the faucet. Keep the new water temperature as close as possible to the temperature of the water in your aquarium Follow the instructions on your water conditioner bottle and pre-treat the water prior to adding it to your aquarium. I use Seachem Prime for treating the new water I add to my aquariums and highly recommend it as a water conditioner. The conditioner will make the water safe for your fish by removing dangerous chemicals and heavy metals found in tap water. I always use the same two buckets, one for the water I syphon from the aquarium and one for the fresh water I will be adding to the aquarium. I always use the same bucket for the water coming out of the aquarium and different buckets for the new water going into the aquarium. Using separate buckets is especially important if you have more than one aquarium to help prevent cross contamination between different aquariums. If you only have one aquarium one bucket will be just fine to do your water changes.
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