How To Change Water In Your Aquarium
How To Change Water In Your Aquarium
How To Change Water In Your Aquarium
Changing the water in your fish tank on a weekly basis is a very important step in ensuring the survival and health of your fish. It is actually a very easy task that should not take more than half an hour as long as you're prepared for it and have the necessary tools.
Why Is A Water Change Necessary?
A fish tank is an enclosed ecosystem. Every day fish produce waste just like any other organism. Feces is easy to notice but there is also urine which is unnoticeable. These waste products dissolve into the water that the fish live in and while the filter does help remove some of these, there are still traces of waste that is not removed from the water.
Furthermore, there are also other elements that contribute to the pollution of the water such as excess food, decaying plants, accidental contamination by clumsy human hands and sadly the occasional dead fish. All these elements contribute chemicals that create toxic levels that at first might seem minimal but without topping off new water, will eventually increase in potency and affect the aquatic life.
A lot of fish enthusiasts argue that fish tank plants effectively removes any traces of waste from the aquarium but you need to realize that plants are also a form of life and they only consume certain elements, but there are byproducts of waste that will even harm them.It doesn't matter how wonderful and expensive is the filter that you have set up, a water change is still necessary in order to provide your aquatic life with an environment that promotes good health. Try to imagine what life would be for you if you were locked in a room with conditioned air but no way of getting fresh air from outside.
The Right Way To Chang Aquarium Water
You should not change more than 20% of the total water volume each week. Changing too much of water will disturb the delicate balance of pH and temperature levels in your aquarium. But this is only true if you have a medium to large aquarium, a smaller aquarium of fish bowl will require up to 50% water change.
Preparation is an all important first step. One day before changing the water, fill a bucket of water and allow it to remain for twenty four hours to give time for the chlorine to dissolve. Never dump in tap water directly into the fish tank because the chlorine will kill off important beneficial bacteria colonies in your fish tank.
The best way to remove the water is by using a low suction siphon. You have a choice of either buying an aquarium vacuum from the Recommended Products List below or you could even use a normal rubber hose as a siphon. When siphoning the water, run the inlet of the tube over the gravel, plant leaves and decoration to remove larger debris that has been trapped there. This step is very important if you are using an Undergravel Filter.
If you need to wash the filter media or tank decoration, use the water that you have just siphoned out to wash it in. Filter media and tank decoration will have colonies of bacteria on them too and washing them in tap water will just destroy these colonies which is something you don't want to do.
When pouring the new water into the aquarium, pour it in gently at one corner of the tank so as not to frighten the fish.
After The Water Change
Monitor the water pH and temperature levels for the next couple of hours periodically to ensure that it has not changed much.
That's about all that you have to do. It's simple yet important and should not take up too much of your time. Do it properly and consistently and it will give you healthy fish that will live for a long time.
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