Ok, so I've been reading about water changes and cycling 'n' all but I'm kind of confused.

I know you have to do weekly 10-20% water changes but do you keep your fishies in the tank while you do it?

And how often do you have to change the water in the whole tank? Cos surely you have to clean out the gravel as well and you can't do that while they're in there, can you?

Sorry if I sound stupid or whatever!

Jen

Hi Jen,what size tank do you have? I keep my fish in their tank.I usually try to do about a 25% water change myself. I use a gravel vaccum to do it with.Not only does it take out the water for you,you are also using it to clean excess food/waste etc.in bottom of tank. These are both important steps in keeping your water params good. Hoped I helped you some!

Hi!
First of all, there are no "stupid" questions. We are all here to learn and I have certainly learned so much in the year that I have been a member of this forum.

I keep my fish in the tank when I do a water change--I feel that it would be too stressful to take them out.

I use a siphon hose and buckets to change 25% of the water (for me, that is 11 gallons). I use the siphon to "vacuum" the tank--I have no gravel, only a small amount of river rocks and I can easily see what needs to get vacuumed up.
The fish are big enough that I don't have to worry about them getting siphoned up. They are used to me doing stuff in the tank since I do the changes at least once weekly.

There is no reason to change all the water (100%). As long as you vacuum the gravel and do partial water changes weekly, they tank will be fine. And of course good filtration is important.

If the gravel is really dirty, if it hasn't ever been vacuumed or it has been a really long time, only do a small amount at a time--the bacteria that build up in it can be deadly! It will really pollute the water.

What kind of goldies do you have?

Your tank is kinda like a little world in itself. If it is given the care it needs, it has a wonderful life. The fish waste is processed by bacteria to clean the water. But the final by product of this fish waste is nitrate - a "fertilizer" for plants. If you have real growing plants in your tank, they process the nitrates! But it takes a LOT of plants to process the results of ONE goldfish - they are messy fish.

To help remove this nitrate, you do water changes each week - or whenever needed. You are diluting the nitrates down to a concentration that is tolerated by fish. That is what the water changes are for. Gravel often collects extra fish waste and uneaten food, and vacumning will help remove this, and there is always some fish "poo" that needs to be removed. When you syphon the bottom, you are cleaning what gravel you have there, removing the excess food and poo, and removing a portion of the water. The water is then replaced with nitrate free water, diluting the original water.

That is all the syphon is doing. You should not ever need to clean a tank completely except in the case of catostrophic disease crisis. If you clean on a regular basis, there will not be horrible amount of waste stirred up and the fish can remain. Mine think it is a game, they race around the syphon and love to play in the stream of new water being poured into the tank.

Just to let you know, gravel vacs aren't expensive! I thought they were and didn't buy one right away. I used a hose and stuck in the tank and syphoned that way, but it took so long because the hose was small. Then I was at nooppee and I found one but wasn't sure if it would work. I looked at the petstores and they the same thing, about the same price, but nooppee was cheapest. I spent about $7.00 CAN to buy my vacs, and it's been wonderful. My tank is so much cleaner!

I leave the goldies in - they liked to play and one even "kisses" my hand like he's thanking me for cleaning his home. The fish might be a bit scared during the first few cleanings, but curiousity will overcome them and they'll be fine, so I suggest leaving them in.

A couple years ago we didnt have a filter for our goldie (he has a filter now with some friends in there too ) So we did 100% water changes in the tank about once every 2 and a half weeks, it worked pretty well but the tank was so yellow when it was the day before the water change! Now we know that filters are a good idea .

I don't do water changes weekly cause my mom wont let me lol... She says "You don't need to do that its not that dirty!", but I can barely see through it right now.... Hope she isn't the problem if my fishie's die .

Noah

p.s. I am doing a water change this weekend since were going to nooppee and thats the place where I get the water since we have a well.... I'm getting some Neon's too and setting up a new tank

*just so everyone knows.. Jenel has a brand new 20gal!! *

You shouldn't do full water changes. Like the others have said, 10-25% is good weekly, and if you get a gravel vac, you kill 2 birds with 1 stone (they say) you can vac the gravel and get all that gunk out of it WHILE taking water out for your water change!
Also remember to let your water sit in a bucket for a day or so then add some stuff to get out cholride,etc (what i told you earlier) before adding the water to the tank

Thanks for all your great advice!

Yeah, I have a 20 gallon tank with two medium sized common goldies.

I went out and bought a gravel vac (you were right - they are cheap) but I doubt I'll use it for a few more days cos they're still settling in from their big move a couple of days ago!

Yay I think I'm pretty much sorted now. I just wish I had y'all back when I first got goldfish!

Jen

As Nancy said, there no "stupid" qestions, every question is accepted as a question - no stupid added.

I do a 20%-30% water change weekly- to every 2 weeks. You don't really have to clean the whole tank, but it's good to when you are starting a new cycle. For me I change the whole aquarium water every year.

Just one word of advice about the gravel vac (since I just cleaned up a huge mess myself last pm).

My vac sucked water out ALOT faster than I was prepared for & I only looked away for a min (I was standing right there)-suddenly my feet were wet. (The bucket was too small for the vol coming out & presto - a mini lake )

Just have a large bucket ready and be prepared for any water escapages!

My fish enjoyed the new water bring slowly poured in - they were playing in all of the bubbles!

Enjoy your fishes!!

Jenn

Poor u fisharenewtome! I'll bear that in mind - I don't want my new carpet ruined

Just to check, there isn't any possibility of them getting sucked up into it is there? lol. Should I get a divider so they don't go near?

Thankies!

I've never had one get sucked up it.

See, when you use it, it's powerful enough to pick the gunk and water, but not the gravel (at least not all the way up).

I always start in a corner where there are no fishies, then let the water flow. With the open end in the gravel, the fishies can't get in. They might run into it though if they ger curiuos enough!

I have a gravel vac with a shut off valve, its really good, so if anything ever gets stuck, just turn it off and it will stop the suction. Its called the No Spill Clean and Fill.

I came up with a groovy idea t'other day. You'll notice that the hose that fits to the vacum is actually the same size as a standard garden hose, I bought me a 15m length of garden hose and stuck one end on the vacum and ran the other end down the stairs and out the front door. That way you never overflow anything, and you get really good suction cos of how much lower the other end is.

I don't think you're goldies will get sucked up with the dirt and water, so there is no need to worry. Most fish won't go get sucked up, beacause the water curent isn't strong enough and once they feel it they move away.

Note; Never leave the siphon thing that sucks it up and the tube in the bucket when you are leaving the room..Just for a minute. Once I had to do something for my Dad. I made sure the siphon was not sucking and put it back in the tank. 5 minutes later, I come back, to find no water in the aquarium and my goldfish flapping on the gravel. Thank fully I came back soon enough so that they didn't die, but still gave me quite a shock there.

Forgot to add.. Simonsnet that is a groovy idea! Did you know that the fish poop/debris that comes into your outtake bucket - is actually good for roses and other plants. As long as there is no medications in it and everything. Maybe that garden hose should end at a plant Simonsnet!