Fish Tank Water Changes 101: How Much Water Should You Change in Your Aquarium?
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2020
- Hello Fellow Fish Keepers!
In this video we talk about how much water you should change in your fish tank every week.
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Want to learn more about nitrate concentrations? Check out this video: • The Silent Killer - Ni...
Here's why it's important to gravel vac your aquarium: • 7 Reasons to Gravel Va...
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Thanks for watching!
Tetra Water Test Strips Amazon Affiliate Link: amzn.to/3eNfoe3
API Liquid Test Kit Amazon Affiliate Link: amzn.to/2U2bXYO
Want to learn more about nitrate concentrations? Check out this video: czcams.com/video/rTdjjZRBIDU/video.html
Here's why it's important to gravel vac your aquarium: czcams.com/video/8DUyxSZ7Y3w/video.html
Also, our new shirts can be found at: www.primetimeaquatics.com/merch
For the latest in the fish room check us out on Instagram primetime_aquatics
Make it simple: feel your tank with a known total ppm and keep it in a range of 5% :)
I'm a bit of a water-testing nerd (🤓😄) and have recently dumped both my Seachem and API nitrate test kits in favor of a Salifert nitrate kit. Based on my testing, I've found that the Salifert kit gives more repeatable results and is easier to use. The cost per test is higher (API $0.123; Seachem: $0.197; Salifert: $0.267), but I feel that the better repeatability and usability justify the cost.
sorry to be so off topic but does anyone know a trick to get back into an instagram account..?
I somehow forgot the password. I would appreciate any assistance you can give me!
@Jerry Sam Instablaster ;)
@Diego Tanner I really appreciate your reply. I found the site through google and I'm trying it out atm.
Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
When we say we are fish keepers, we are really saying we change water in our bacteria farms.
Haha - too funny!
Water changes are probably the best time (after feeding) to spend quality time with the aquarium. you aint doin' it right if you aint gettin' your hands wet :) - great vid very informative!
Good point!
Oh man, I just said the same thing!
@@Metal.Is.A.Adicshun Great minds!
75% weekly on my over stocked peacock and Hap tank. fish are doing great! 👍
You guys are just wonderful. Thank you for the content.
Always great info here 👍🏿
Great info! This is the best explanation of when to do a water change that I have been able to find. Thank you!
Perfect timing!
Thank you for this education!
superb explanation, thank you so much
I'm so glad I stumbled across your channel. Always so helpful!
Thank you!
Thank you for saying it. I totally agree.
Jason thanks 4 the info. 😎👍
Tanks' for the info sir. I had a very fine substrate that was very difficult to vacuum so I recently switched over to gravel in a 14 gallon Bio Cube next to my desk. I've had it close to 20 years and love it. I do fresh although it's made for a reef life.
Thanks for the informative video👍.
thanks for the info!
Possibly the best video I’ve seen regarding water changes. Fantastic! 👏👏👏👏
Thank you for being here!
A very good video, very useful and practical information. Thanks
a useful video. thanks for this.
very helpful thank you
Awesome vid. Thanks guys! I have a sump under a 75g tank, and I change the polyfill in the inlet chamber to the sump frequenty. Each time I do I siphon vac the gravel into the sump inlet chamber, collecting it all there, then change the floss. I can do this in a only few minutes and it gives me a good look into the nooks and crannies in the tank to keep an eye on what's goin' on in there :)
I had a terrible time with nitrates to the point that I was practically starving my fish and doing 50% water changes every week! Then I tested my tap water. HOLY CRAP!!!! My water out of the tap was testing 60 ppm!!!!!!!! I was replacing bad water with more bad water!!!!!! This needs to be addressed!!!! I watched countless videos before someone actually suggested testing my tap water. We had a whole filter system installed on our home which posed a whole other problem, but no more nitrates! I'd love to see more videos about water coming out of the tap and how to deal with it.
I had a great schedule for our 75g Tanganyka tank 25% once a week until we added 3 multipunk catfish now I've been chasing the nitrates for a couple of months. Going to 3 20 % changes a week trying not to stress out the Calvus. As usual another great video. Thank you.
Very informative, thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you! Love your videos!! :)
Thank you!
Good film. I have auto drop water system. Helps A lot.
Great video as always. ..great facts with science backed information, but you are spot on about feel with more experience with your setup. Have a great night day fish nerds!
Thank you!
Hands down.. you always give the best technical advice in the most simplest terms. I'm buying your affiliated test kit too. Keep up the great work and vids!
Thank you! I appreciate you being here.
Nice video!!!!
Great video 👍
Thank you.
This is when I love the hobbyist and the teacher coming together!! Great video! This really helps me put all this into better perspective!! I also have something to tell you all...So yesterday morning I was on Facebook marketplace and...... I found a 33 gallon lowboy/long with a Current USA light and everything in the tank... It is an amazing tank and I'm so excited...haha..my husband actually popped up when I showed it to him and said let's go get it.. you're rubbing off on him Jason😂 thank you all for helping me enjoy this hobby so much!♥️( And teaching my husband a few things .. like it's cool to be a bearded man.. who loves fish) He also told me yesterday he enjoys watching me enjoying fish That's pretty cool cuz we've been together thirty years👍😂😁♥️🐟🌿🌱
That's so cool! What are the dimensions?
@@PrimeTimeAquatics 4ft x 12"h x12"d if I measured that correctly 😂
That's great my wife and I were at or Lfs and she saw a 33l and asked if we could have it. Before the pandemic I was told by her that I needed to consider getting rid of a couple of tanks. Now we have 13. We put the new 33 between2 20 longs, same width and hight for a total of 108" of aquariums along1 wall. Awesome to have someone you love to share the hobby with. Congrats on the 33.
@@ManxDaddy839thank you and it sounds like you all have a pretty amazing fish room yourself!!! Thanks for sharing!!👍🤗🙏❤️
@@marypaigeflynn4512 2 bedroom apartment.lol Looking for that forever home with a really big basement🐠🐠🐠
My 30 gal long is scheduled for every two weeks, 5 gal. This is a heavy planted tank.
20-30% every 2 weeks for my 55 and have had no issues. Every other water change involves changing filter media, cleaning any algae, cleaning the rocks, cleaning the gravel, and reorganizing the rock piles. Mixed mbuna/peacock tank. Have 10 fish in there right now. I don't water test and feed once a day. Have had no issues in 10+ years and just keep an eye on the fish and tank conditions.
Thank u so much .....
Almost missed this one, glad I caught it 🤓
Glad you did too. Haha
I love these sciency vids you post. :)
Thank you!
Thanks for all your advice . Love your videos and your beard 😜
Thank you!
That Molly tank is beautiful planted. I'm definitely going to the replace plastic plants, hopefully sooner that later. Have to do lots of research
Thank you! It's been a fun tank to watch grow out. :-)
Great advice! Trouble is the nitrate test kits are a pain to use and very inaccurate. I ended up using TDS as a proxy. Takes seconds to check.
Great basic video for beginners in the hobby. Can you do a more advanced one where you demonstrate/discuss how to keep healthy tanks with no water changes at all? Only top-offs. Topics of discussion can be deep substrate layer; functional fast-growing plants vs ornamental plants; and competition of nitrogen between beneficial bacteria vs plants.
Freaking awesome!
My sump socks get the detritus pretty good. Every time I go to gravel vac, even though it’s been a month or so, there is barely anything in the gravel 👌
I dont bother with water changes anymore really I got it down to where I want it I just add new water every week or two after half evaporates I have been in to aquariums for over 10 years now at least once you get a dece method that works for you and the fish! Your golden
Superb
I just have a couple crayfish in a 29 gallon bow front and I grow algae and duckweed in the tank so I don't have to change the water too often.
Very well explained thank u
I do 25 % water change every 3 days
Hi Hugo, I use a hose, not buckets so do I put the dechlor or water treatment in the tank for the total tank volume, or just the 25% fresh tap water I am adding?
My 40 gallon get a water change every week.i find that it’s a good time to interact with my fish.they know my severum will rub against my hand so I could pet them.
I do 25% minimum, 50% maximum weekly. Mostly I do 25% but I dose my tanks regularly with salts, trace elements, etc.
I've never done more than 50%...I think that's a bit high..but I have a sump so filtration is different for me than those who use canisters.
In my big tanks ( 100 g , normal stocking w/ small fish ) around 75% once a month and the smaller tanks ( 15 - 30 g ) 50% weekly.
My saltwater tanks are much less... only 25% once a month on my big tank ( 125 g ) and 10% weekly on my nano.
The rest does the protein skimmers.
Just subscribed to your channel before I even finished this video I just got my first apartment and would like to get into fish and looking to do it the RIGHT way I will surf through your channel and see if I can learn a lot. Don’t know if u done this already but can u do a beginner vid?
Thank you for being here. I have a beginner series. They are older videos, but the info is sound. :-)
I have a $10, 10 gallon Petco Tank, heavily planted, a sponge filter, and a very low bio load: 5 guppies, 10 neocardinas. Actually I think the heaviest bio-load is all the bladder snails (that I never bought). I have heard the the little shrimp are even more sensitive to large water changes than most fish. Is that true? My levels of ammonia, etc are all very low, so I do a 10% water change weekly. I only do that because my “black water” tank is a little too black. I’m trying to slowly dilute the tannins just a bit.
This is so helpful... I've been having cloudy water issue in my 2 month old tank....
I think I'll have to cut back on nitrate and phosphate ferts...
Thank you !!!
That may be!
I love my Tidal 55 but I’m convinced it’s a nitrate production machine .
Umm, you do realize that the purpose and end result of Biological Filtration is *"the production of Nitrate"?*
*High Nitrate* is due more to *overstocking, and thus over feeding* which means excessive Bioload.
Generally speaking, in my 55 gallon Mbuna tank with 17 Mbuna I like to do 50% water changes once a week. In my 75 South American cichlid tank which is composed of a Jack Dempsey, a red devil, a green terror with two convict cichlids I like to do 50-60% water changes every two weeks as I noticed the parameters really don’t change much at all in doing so, so I just let it go an extra week and it’s been good to me. On the 55 I run two 350 penguins and two emperors on the 75. But everyone has their own way of doing it!
It's interesting how each tank takes on a life of its own. :-)
never done a water change since i set up my aquarium
I actually like to test my parameters every single week I do water changes. I find it interesting, gives me peace of mind, and it takes 5 seconds with the strips.
I find it fun as well, but I know it can get expensive and some people don't enjoy it as much. :-)
I used to test with JBL pro scan; nitrates always 25. Now I test with a test kit and it turned out I didn't have any nitrates at all! I tested for 3 weeks at an end and no nitrate to be found. Now I supplement nitrate till a level of 10.
I hear a lot of bad stories about JBL Pro Scan. But to be quite honest, I hate doing the nitrate, fosfate and iron tests. They take up a lot of your time and are quite elaborate.
Prime Time Aquatics you can buy the 100ct tetra year strips for as low as 10 dollars in Amazon. You can cut each strip in half (learned from Cory) and now you have 200! 0.05 cents a test.
Watching this while testing and changing my water haha
Woohoo!
Geez... ive seen people commenting how your videos always pop up at the right time according to aspects of their fish keeping hobby. Yet, I am here also to say i just got done doing my weekly water change and this video was in my recommended feed. I believe AI technology have already arrived.. in the form of smartphones!
I have a 50gl tank stocked with 8 butterfly koi, 1 oranda goldfish and 1 black moore telescope. I’ve never done ammonia test on this tank. What I do is, a 15gl water change every week. My fish are happy and healthy and I’ve never had a problem.
I do 50% weekly or fortnightly.
Cool
As one experienced aquarist told me - fish keeping is all about changing water on time.
I use a sintered glass media called siporax for my bacterial media. It takes a while, but eventually it colonizes with bacteria that can break down nitrate. Between that and heavily planting (duckweed does wonders) I have one tank at zero nitrate. For months in a row. This is a 10 gallon with 8 mystery snails and 20 neocaridina shrimp. Still do my water changes though. The idea of not doing water changes grosses me out.
Can you send me the link for that?
I do between 2 and 4 buckets and my bucket is 20L, every Tuesday morning. I have tried to do every 10 days, 14 days and it didn't work for me. Nitrates were too high.
Also, it is my favourite part of fish keeping. Spending quality time with my pets.
Mua!
I find it can be a relaxing thing too. :-)
A question distantly related regarding a video you did on ammonia vs ph & temperature. What about the nitrite the ammonia is converted to? Is it not more toxic at a lower ph? What is a fast way to neutralize nitrites? (Other than diluting it ex. Prime) I'm looking forward to a academic on the subjects thoughts on this. Thanks
I don't think it is as pH dependent. FOr nitrite I use salt to protect the fish, reduced feeding and water changes to reduce its concentration. A product like Fritzyme 7 has nitrifying bacteria and can lower it quickly too.
I have a Aqua Room with big aquariums, so every weekend i change 30% water from all
I keep super red monkey. 1 fish per tank. I still do 50% water change a week. Never checked my water parameters. I do have cycled media and canister cleaned monthly.
Great video!!! Question, if your water provider has to add different chemicals at different times of year in order to treat how much of at all will that effect water changes??? Thanks 😊
I wish I knew. Recently, we lost some fish after a water change. It happened two times in a row. They were all healthy and eating - zero issues. Then a water change and they died shortly after. It happened in a few tanks but not all. The only thing I can think of is there was heavy rain recently and I wonder if they changed their treatment protocols based on that? My guess is whatever it was prevented them from getting sufficient O2 based on the types of fish we lost and the fact they died with their mouths open.
Mine goes right out the window screen super easy I’m kindof addicted to doing water changes
We sued to do that too!
Hi Kevin! Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom, craft and biochemical expertise with us. I'm currently experiencing consistently higher nitrite levels after the cycle in my Molly tank crashed after doing a planaria treatment with No Planaria. Ammonia went down pretty quickly but nitrites are just not coming down after weeks of babying with daily small water changes and going through several bottles of different brands' nitrifying bacteria. Seems like others have run into this problem too. Spark anything in your genius??
There are different microbes that convert ammonia into nitrite and nitrite into nitrite. Perhaps the microbes that convert nitrite into nitrate were more heavily impacted by the treatment and are taking a little longer to re-establish themselves?
@@PrimeTimeAquatics thanks for the timely response! I get that feeling too. My shrimp tank went through the same thing but obviously the bioload is much less. I tried feeding the mollies less but they just graze all day long on all the plants/detritus. Any suggestions beyond just patience and continued partial water changes?
Any tips on getting stuck aerator out of the sink to use python water change
Usually it takes brute force and a pair of vice grips!
Im new to the hobby and ive been watching a lot of your videos trying to get ready to create a 10 gallon. I want a sole betta with maybe some tetra tank mates. When doing water changes, will i need to de-chlorinate the tap water everytime i do a water change? Should i not use tap water? There is just so much to learn and i want my fish to be well cared for.
Tap water is usually fine. Yes, use a dechlorinator with each water change. Have fun!
@@PrimeTimeAquatics thank you!
I do regular cyclic water change. 1st week monday 20% friday 20% 2nd week monday 30% friday 20% 3rd week monday 20% friday 30% 4th week monday 20% friday 20% 5th week monday 30% friday 30%. Then back to week 1. Redundant filters cleaned once a month. 1st filter on wednesday week 1 and 2nd filter on wednesday week 4. Fishes are thriving growing and ick/diseases non-existent for over 10 years already. No chemical added (worst thing to do is add chems!). 5 tanks (1-180gallon 2-100gallons 1-35 gallons 1-15 gallons quarantine tank)
Sounds like a nice plan!
As far as how to prepaid the water do you use RO/DI water or is a water conditioner of some fine.
We just use tap water and water conditioner.
Jason, I want to know how to test for iron and phosphates in my aquarium water unless that is never necessary.
I don't find it necessary in a freshwater aquarium. They generally don't get high enough to impact fish. I'm not aware of easily available testing kits for it, but I also haven't looked closely either.
I wasn't really testing like I should have and wear just going water changes to be doing water changes thinking my nitrates were increasing. After I started testing, I realized my nitrates were at zero and had to start adding nitrates for my plants! 🤦
How do you account for water evaporation when determining how much water to take out? Also, what do you recommend for cleaning cichlid tanks with sand?
I actually have very little evaporation with us running tight fitting lids. This is what we do: czcams.com/video/OeFp0iLw4yQ/video.html
I was wondering about water change intervals if I could (in theory) remove all fish waste daily. Say I had a bunch of HOB filters and I changed or cleaned the filter floss daily. Could doing that up my need to perform water changes from about once a week to much longer before the nitrates get too high? Or, do fish produce urine which filter floss would not grab? I see folks that say they do not clean their canister filters for 6 months, so dose that make the filter a nitrate factory? Kind of like giving the baby a big diaper and changing it once a month.
You would still need something to remove nitrates (primary purpose of water changes). That could be lots of live plants or some people set up large anaerobic environments.
I have always done a 50% water change every two weeks and my fish are growing fast and healthy with beautiful colors 💯, That’s what works for me anyway
Very cool!
Have you found that adding liquid ferts to any of your tanks increase the Nitrate levels? Nitrogen is a key ingredient in fertilizers. I’ve read different blogs that often seem to contradict each other.
Further adding to aquarium tests that are affected my liquid ferts is TDS, often used as an imperfect measurement of aquarium water quality.
Have you done a video on liquid fertilizer and the indirect impacts they have on water parameters?
I’d be very interested to hear you take on them.
Thanks
Yes, the liquid ferts definitely add nitrates to the water. If I have planted tanks I usually cut back on water change volumes so I don't have to add as many ferts to the tanks.
German Ras are okay with 20 ppm too?
As a max I think that is ok. My biggest problem with GBR is my water is too hard and pH too high.
I have to do it twice a week to have clear water because my tank is near a window and algae grows constantly
At 5:50 - 5:58 what kind of grass like plants are those?
That's just some short jungle val :-)
If I travel vac do I still have to change the water and how do I measure say 75% of the water? Or is the 75% done bye the naked eye
I just eye ball it.
do you have a duck weed vid on benefits i hate the stuff but im stuff with it now :(
We do!
Both of my 10g and 20g is planted tanks with basic gravel substrate. I do 50% water changes once a week and about 50% gravel vacuum as well on both tanks. Should i lower my vacuuming % wise? Will it help the plants more? They are 90% stocked tanks
You could back off a little and see what changes occur. After a few weeks if they have been positive (or neutral) you can back off a little more. If you don't like what you are seeing you can ramp it up again?
10% daily and 25% every 2 weeks for my shrimp tanks and 25% weekly for my fish tanks.
Changing too much water can be a shock because the of the rapid osmotic balance changes.
Michael Clarke, that’s a good point about the shock of the fish. Period.
Michael Clark, that was meant to be a positive comment for you. I hope it came out that way.
So i decided to use water from the supermarket.
I tested it.
Perfect PH for clown loaches!. Also perfect KH and GH. cost me 4 bucks for 10 litres.
It is also free of Chlorine and all that nasty stuff :D
@Riley Bachelor nah. Considering i dont have to buy any PH chems or declorinating chems , water softner stuff etc.. it is cheap.
@Riley Bachelor Its a good product.
Have you ever heard of a man named ' Takashi Amano ' ?If not, Def should look him up cause he does ( did- R.I.P. ) some of the most amazing aquascapes ever!
Hey! Thanks for the helpful video. I have a heavily planted tank that’s nitrates typically week over week stay at roughly 10 (then I add fertilizer). If nitrates stay low, would you ever change the water?
Usually once per month because the plants appreciate the newly added minerals from the water.
@@PrimeTimeAquatics Thanks Jason or Joanna! Love your guys' channel (and The Small Scape!)
I've got a lot of African cichlids, so the answer to how much water to replace is all of it always.
I do weekly 40% water change i mine community tank..
Is there a mathematical computation for percentage of water change based on current nitrate levels?
We keep it simple. If you have 20ppm nitrate and change out half the tank you’ll probably have between 8-12ppm nitrate after depending on how much substrate and decor is in the tank. We determine water change volume based on how much it takes to keep the nitrates under 20ppm right before the next water change.
What's your thoughts on :
0 Nitrite 10-15ppm Nitrate on a 40gb.
9 Black Neons 2 Zebra Danios
3 Apistogramma Agassizii 👌 trio 🙂
(Temp Pangasius home)😬
some Hygrophila Corymbosa , Anubias Congensis, Java Fern
0 Nitrite 10-15ppm Nitrate on a 55g.
14 Black Neons
3 Zebra Danios
2 Bolivian Rams
3 Apistogramma Cacatuoides 👌trio🙂 1 successful spawn!
1 mystery 🐌... lol
40gb gets about 30% now weekly
55g gets much less, guessing like 15%..water line goes down quite fast when gravel vacuuming lol
Sorry for the long read, but figured you should know stock 👍🙂
Thanks for upload
Sounds like both tanks are dialed in well!
@@PrimeTimeAquatics thanks for the reply!
when doing a water change do you take water from the bottom or top ? By the way I am listening to your water change segment right now . Have a good day >
With no plants I usually gravel vac, which also removes the water. If not, I don't worry about it too much.
I am over obsessed with my tank, I do weekly 30-50% water change and do test before and after. I just have one 6 inch fish in 75 gallon.
Looks like we are both obsessed about our aquariums because I do a 50% water change every week and test the water before and after the water change.😊
Can I asked you and are u adding additional bacteria every time? After how many hours are testing the water quality? After 24 hours?
Add more fish buddy
@@martyborst5645 glad to know I am not the only crazy one, lol, I recently connected a breeder box to tank and added pothos in it, my nitrates stay 0 now.
@@vasileiospetropoulos2046 not always, I always keep seachem stability just in case I see any ammonia.
20 - 40% weekly for my fish tanks
I do 50% changes on my 3 tanks once a week about but I keep getting huge ammonia spikes? Flirtation should be well cycled by now so I’m not sure why.
Hard to say for sure, but we have used Fritzyme 7 with good results.
Started an aquarium today. My tank is 160L ..around 40 gal. Has a few fish plus plant. Now I'm confused about changing the water. Am I supposed to take 1/3 of the water out and replace with clean water every 2 weeks? the guy at the store said not to completely throw the whole water away from the tank? Every article has something different to say. Im so confused.
I would change enough water to keep your nitrates at 20ppm or less on average. The amount will be different depending on the set-up. :-)
You mentioned types of fish having an impact on nitrates. Your experience does Guppies have a level to tolerate or is the 20 ppm still in play. Our two 10 gallon guppy tanks seem to be hanging around 60 ppm nitrates. I am changing .5 gal / wk. In your expert opinion do i need More changes. We have not lost any guppies and they are breeding very well.
Thanks for your time and expertise
vic meyers add some plants or do a gallon water change a week see what that gets you... I feel like 60ppm nitrates is a little to high.
I think Beau is on the right track.