"Sunny" wrote in message
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"Victor Martinez" wrote in message
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dragon wrote:
My bettas are all in unfiltered 2.5 gallon tanks. How often would
ya'll recommend I do a 100% water change? I've been doing it once a

100% changes should only be done on emergencies (i.e. you dropped your
cocktail in the tank).

Same size tanks, 80% water change weekly with a 100% change, and
gravel/tank clean every 2 months.
(works for me, and the Bettas reckon it's OK) :-)


As the quality of water varies from where everyone lives, so does the
quality of the advice in regards to large water changes ;~).

Generally speaking, I agree with Victor. The exception would be if the
water was very stable and high quality, and you regularly do large water
changes. In theory you could change 100% of the water continuously (this
is called a fast moving river ;~), but it's rare to have access to such
stable & high quality water. Some hobbyists do this using holding tanks
to prepare the water in advance (de-gas, de-chlorinate etc), but for the
average set-up, 20% is a nice low-shock change.

I used to advise Betta owners to keep a jug full of water in the vicinity
of their Betta tank. After a few days, the jug water has outgassed, aged
a little and is ready for use at approx. the same temperature of the tank
(if tank and jug are in a fairly warm location, otherwise add a little
hot water to the jug to match the tank). This way you can go to larger
water changes if done frequently and regularly. jmo
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