100% water change after about 4½ months??

I have had a 10 gallon tank with 3 adult sword tail fish 2" in length
for about 4½ months.. the water is really dirty because when I did my
50% change as recommended by Tetra, my plastic bucket had some
dirt/debree in it that I didn't spot until after I added the 50%
remaining water..

My test kit shows medium water hardness, borderline Nitrate/Nitrate,
and border line unsafe PH.. I was told at my recent visit to Petco,
that I should completely drain my tank, clean all decor with water and
replace all water with filtered water and let sit for a few hours
before re-adding my fish.. Also they recommended a bubble stone to
introduce more Oxygen into my tank...

Has anyone done this before, and any tips, etc to help along the way??

PS.. My fish have had about 17 fry in the past few weeks that I have in
a breeding net...

JB wrote:
I have had a 10 gallon tank with 3 adult sword tail fish 2" in length
for about 4½ months.. the water is really dirty because when I did my
50% change as recommended by Tetra, my plastic bucket had some
dirt/debree in it that I didn't spot until after I added the 50%
remaining water..

My test kit shows medium water hardness, borderline Nitrate/Nitrate,
and border line unsafe PH.. I was told at my recent visit to Petco,
that I should completely drain my tank, clean all decor with water and
replace all water with filtered water and let sit for a few hours
before re-adding my fish.. Also they recommended a bubble stone to
introduce more Oxygen into my tank...

Has anyone done this before, and any tips, etc to help along the way??

PS.. My fish have had about 17 fry in the past few weeks that I have in
a breeding net...

I recommend efficient small more frequent water changes using a gravel
vacuum in careful patterns in your substrate, generally around 20-30%.
As for debris, you should have debris in your cleaning bucket after a
cleaning.

What is borderline pH? I recommend a pH over 7.5 for swords, but often
too much emphasis is given to pH and not enough to other water
parameters. Your ammonia and nitrites should be 0, your nitrates should
be under 40 ppm, and your kH should be 160 or higher, and your Redox
-300 mV.
Often kH is forgotten for many fish, but I have through my work and
research that the kH is more important than many realize. The calcium
supplied via proper kH management (not the old baking soda method) is
essential for ALL fish.
For more about this subject:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumKH.html

As for the added bubble stone, that is a good idea.
But it sounds like your aquarium is under filtered. What are your
filter(s)?
Not all filters are equal and some are better than others in one area
and worse in others (example: a HOB is generally a better mechanical
filter than a sponge filter, but a quality sponge filter is generally
superior to an HOB filter for bio filtration).

Carl
http://www.americanaquariumproducts....formation.html

What Carl said but I'd like to stress the filter situation. If/when you
do this major cleaning, leave the filter alone. Don't clean it at the
same time you clean everything else. There is a colony of bacteria
growing on everything and hopefully a super colony growing in your
filter media. Wipe out the entire civilization of bacteria and all your
fish will die within a week from ammonia poisining.

steve

JB wrote:
I have had a 10 gallon tank with 3 adult sword tail fish 2" in length
for about 4½ months.. the water is really dirty because when I did my
50% change as recommended by Tetra, my plastic bucket had some
dirt/debree in it that I didn't spot until after I added the 50%
remaining water..

You really should change water more frequently.

The dirt/debris at the bottom of the bucket isn't anything to worry about...
it was in there before you did the water change, you merely put it back.

My test kit shows medium water hardness, borderline Nitrate/Nitrate,
and border line unsafe PH.. I was told at my recent visit to Petco,
that I should completely drain my tank, clean all decor with water and
replace all water with filtered water and let sit for a few hours
before re-adding my fish.. Also they recommended a bubble stone to
introduce more Oxygen into my tank...

They said you should do this all at once?

I'd recommend removing the ornaments and cleaning one by one, then hoovering
the gravel while you do a 50% water change.

Then do the same again a week later... then the week after that.

Leave a bucket of water out overnight to dechlorinate so you don't have to
add any dechlorinating chemicals.

Has anyone done this before, and any tips, etc to help along the way??

I hope all fishkeepers have done this before... I do it fortnightly... so
should you.



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nut wrote:
JB wrote:
I have had a 10 gallon tank with 3 adult sword tail fish 2" in length
for about 4½ months.. the water is really dirty because when I did my
50% change as recommended by Tetra, my plastic bucket had some
dirt/debree in it that I didn't spot until after I added the 50%
remaining water..

You really should change water more frequently.

The dirt/debris at the bottom of the bucket isn't anything to worry about....
it was in there before you did the water change, you merely put it back.

My test kit shows medium water hardness, borderline Nitrate/Nitrate,
and border line unsafe PH.. I was told at my recent visit to Petco,
that I should completely drain my tank, clean all decor with water and
replace all water with filtered water and let sit for a few hours
before re-adding my fish.. Also they recommended a bubble stone to
introduce more Oxygen into my tank...

They said you should do this all at once?

I'd recommend removing the ornaments and cleaning one by one, then hoovering
the gravel while you do a 50% water change.

Then do the same again a week later... then the week after that.

Leave a bucket of water out overnight to dechlorinate so you don't have to
add any dechlorinating chemicals.

Has anyone done this before, and any tips, etc to help along the way??

I hope all fishkeepers have done this before... I do it fortnightly... so
should you.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com



I'm using a Whisper Filter with the carbon in the filter cartridge ...
Also, should I remove my fish when trying to take out the decor to
clean, or leave them in?.. Also, should I just filter water before
adding more, or just add my water treatment chemical?...

JB wrote:
nut wrote:
JB wrote:
I have had a 10 gallon tank with 3 adult sword tail fish 2" in length
for about 4½ months.. the water is really dirty because when I did my
50% change as recommended by Tetra, my plastic bucket had some
dirt/debree in it that I didn't spot until after I added the 50%
remaining water..

You really should change water more frequently.

The dirt/debris at the bottom of the bucket isn't anything to worry about...
it was in there before you did the water change, you merely put it back.

My test kit shows medium water hardness, borderline Nitrate/Nitrate,
and border line unsafe PH.. I was told at my recent visit to Petco,
that I should completely drain my tank, clean all decor with water and
replace all water with filtered water and let sit for a few hours
before re-adding my fish.. Also they recommended a bubble stone to
introduce more Oxygen into my tank...

They said you should do this all at once?

I'd recommend removing the ornaments and cleaning one by one, then hoovering
the gravel while you do a 50% water change.

Then do the same again a week later... then the week after that.

Leave a bucket of water out overnight to dechlorinate so you don't have to
add any dechlorinating chemicals.

Has anyone done this before, and any tips, etc to help along the way??

I hope all fishkeepers have done this before... I do it fortnightly... so
should you.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com



I'm using a Whisper Filter with the carbon in the filter cartridge ...
Also, should I remove my fish when trying to take out the decor to
clean, or leave them in?.. Also, should I just filter water before
adding more, or just add my water treatment chemical?...

I leave my fish in to avoid extra stress, then add the new water
slowly, de-chlorinating it prior or during addition of the water
(de-chlorinators are instant).

As default stated and clarified better than me is to not over clean
your media in your filter.
With Whisper filters you can remove the old carbon from the filter "Bio
Bag" and add it to your new cartridge to seed it. Also I often use
sponge pre filters (such as the Filter Max) on my HOB filters to add to
bio filtration and add a margin of safety when you change cartridges,
this also helps with the bio weakness of this filter. The addtion of
the air stone will aid in circulation. But an additional filter will
help even more.

You can clean your whole cartridge or a filter sponge by using used
aquarium water from a water change and squeeze the sponge or swish the
filter cartridge several times until nothing more is expelled form the
filter media. You also may use de-chlorinated tap water or well water
(without added chemicals) for rinsing your filter media. I often will
use both methods and I will use the de-chlorinated tap water for the
final rinses until the rinse water in no longer dirty.

Try and correct all your water parameters too.

Carl
More about sponge filtration, including pre filters.:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts....iltration.html

JB wrote:
nut wrote:
JB wrote:
I have had a 10 gallon tank with 3 adult sword tail fish 2" in
length for about 4½ months.. the water is really dirty because when
I did my 50% change as recommended by Tetra, my plastic bucket had
some dirt/debree in it that I didn't spot until after I added the
50% remaining water..

You really should change water more frequently.

The dirt/debris at the bottom of the bucket isn't anything to worry
about... it was in there before you did the water change, you merely
put it back.

My test kit shows medium water hardness, borderline Nitrate/Nitrate,
and border line unsafe PH.. I was told at my recent visit to Petco,
that I should completely drain my tank, clean all decor with water
and replace all water with filtered water and let sit for a few
hours before re-adding my fish.. Also they recommended a bubble
stone to introduce more Oxygen into my tank...

They said you should do this all at once?

I'd recommend removing the ornaments and cleaning one by one, then
hoovering the gravel while you do a 50% water change.

Then do the same again a week later... then the week after that.

Leave a bucket of water out overnight to dechlorinate so you don't
have to add any dechlorinating chemicals.

Has anyone done this before, and any tips, etc to help along the
way??

I hope all fishkeepers have done this before... I do it
fortnightly... so should you.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com



I'm using a Whisper Filter with the carbon in the filter cartridge ...
Also, should I remove my fish when trying to take out the decor to
clean, or leave them in?.. Also, should I just filter water before
adding more, or just add my water treatment chemical?...

The carbon is worthless after a month or two it's no longer "active"...
replace it for the white sponge stuff.

Always leave the fish in.

Fill a bucket of tap water and leave it overnight.

Siphon a bucket-full of water out, disturbing the gravel as you do so... try
and suck up as much of the crap from the gravel as possible. Don't worry
about the water going cloudy.

If you haven't siphoned before, treat yourself to a gravel pump... they're
very cheap. they're shaped like this:

\__ ___/
¦ ¦
¦ ¦

Then fill the tank back up with the bucket water... don't worry about
creating bubbles... it oxygenates the water and the fish like it....
assuming the bucket has been sitting next to the tank overnight the
temperature difference is only slight.

Don't use any water treatment... so long as the bucket has been sitting
overnight all the chlorine in the water will have evaporated.

On a 10G tank you can do a 30% (3G bucket) water change every fortnight
quite easily and the fish will love you for it... even monthly will be ok
(although your filter is crap) ... just don't leave it so long this time...
get into the routine of leaving a bucket out on a friday night and it'll all
fall into place.

Replace the white spongy stuff every two months, but leave half of it in.
Alternatively, wash it out with TANK water... but don't use tap water as the
chlorine will kill the friendly bacteria.

It's the friendly bacteria which has kept your swordtails alive.



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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

nut wrote:




Don't use any water treatment... so long as the bucket has been sitting
overnight all the chlorine in the water will have evaporated.

Although it is true that Chlorine will disapate naturally if water is
left to stand the same is not true of chloramines. If you water company
uses chloramines in your water it is essential that you use a suitable
water conditioner before adding the water into your tank. Personally, I
use it even though, at the moment, my Water Company does not use
chloramines as I prefer to be able to get the water change task done as
efficiently as possible without having buckets of water hanging around
overnight - but then I have 6 tanks - and the number of buckets required
for a water change on a 130g tank make this quite impractical....also
without checking my water company's website each time I change the water
I never know if they might have changed their policy on adding
chloramines....

Gill

Gill Passman wrote:
nut wrote:




Don't use any water treatment... so long as the bucket has been
sitting overnight all the chlorine in the water will have evaporated.

Although it is true that Chlorine will disapate naturally if water is
left to stand the same is not true of chloramines. If you water
company uses chloramines in your water it is essential that you use a
suitable water conditioner before adding the water into your tank.
Personally, I use it even though, at the moment, my Water Company
does not use chloramines as I prefer to be able to get the water
change task done as efficiently as possible without having buckets of
water hanging around overnight - but then I have 6 tanks - and the
number of buckets required for a water change on a 130g tank make
this quite impractical....also without checking my water company's
website each time I change the water I never know if they might have
changed their policy on adding chloramines....

Thanks for the info Gill... i was unaware of this.



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I sure am not a big fan of having to buy chemicals to get rid of
chlorine either. I add chemical chlorine remover only in a dire
emergency other than that I set water out in 5 gal buckets or use
water out of the bank of tanks that we have setup and running without
any fish in them. Its a constant supply of good water. 24 hours in an
open container will remove the chlorine, however as other pointe dout
cloramines need chemical remover to get rid of them. They will not
dissapate like chlorine will. Luckily the water company here does not
use cloramines.

On Sat, 6 Jan 2007 15:17:15 -0000, "nut"
wrote:

Gill Passman wrote:
nut wrote:




Don't use any water treatment... so long as the bucket has been
sitting overnight all the chlorine in the water will have evaporated.

Although it is true that Chlorine will disapate naturally if water is
left to stand the same is not true of chloramines. If you water
company uses chloramines in your water it is essential that you use a
suitable water conditioner before adding the water into your tank.
Personally, I use it even though, at the moment, my Water Company
does not use chloramines as I prefer to be able to get the water
change task done as efficiently as possible without having buckets of
water hanging around overnight - but then I have 6 tanks - and the
number of buckets required for a water change on a 130g tank make
this quite impractical....also without checking my water company's
website each time I change the water I never know if they might have
changed their policy on adding chloramines....

Thanks for the info Gill... i was unaware of this.



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!