Pets Stack Exchange
Pets Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [water-changes]

Questions involving the act of changing water, most often referring to aquariums.

Performing water changes is an important part of aquarium-keeping. It is the act of taking some of the water away, and replacing it with new, clean, water.

Questions can be anything ranging from how to properly perform a water change, the importance of water changes, when a water change is necessary, and more.

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How does one effectively "cycle" an aquarium?

I have read that prior to putting fish in an aquarium, one must "cycle" the tank so that bacteria that oxidize ammonia will produce nitrite, and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria will make nitrate. I understand the chemistry behind it, but I'm not really…
Peter Grace
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My tap water is contaminated by the chemical (MCHM) leak, what do I use for water changes?

I'm in the 'Do Not Use' zone of West Virginia, so I'm affected by the MCHM CHEMICAL Leak and need to do a partial water change on a freshwater tank. Some of my fish are 16+ years old, and I don't want to lose them. Since I cannot use water from the…
Charlene
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How can I keep a very small tank well oxygenated?

First of all, I didn't have any experience on fish keeping before. But my child really wanted to have some fish, so I bought a small (0.5 gallon) fish tank. I got him two guppies and two gold fish. But the gold fish died two days after I put them…
user1285419
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Why do you need to change the water in your fish tank?

There are several posts here about the right ways and wrong ways to change water in your fish tank, and all the ways it can go wrong. Why do you need to change it? It would seem unlikely that water would wear-out, you need to manage the pH and…
James Jenkins
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Would a small amount of bottled water mixed in with an aquarium harm the fish?

This is kind of urgent - I'm watching someone's dogs currently because that is what I am experienced in but they also have an aquarium. I have little to know experience with fish and I did warn the owners. I don't have 100% of the information, a lot…
fishnewb
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How often should I perform water changes in my Red-Devil Crab terrarium?

I have a terrarium of Red-Devil Crabs. The terrarium is about 70% land, 30% water. I have pea gravel underneath the Exo Terra bedding, so that it isn't touching the water. There's no airstone or filter as it's about a liter of water and is only…
Spidercat
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Aquarium water becomes overly acidic very quickly

A few months ago, we took over ownership of a small fish tank (with fish) from their existing owner. They had kept fish for many years without trouble, and told us that they changed the water every 2-3 weeks, and the filter cartridge every 2…
Bob Tway
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How can I remove waste from a tank with fry?

I have surprise fry in one of my tanks (I've counted 8 or 9 so far). I've removed all the adults into a separate tank, so the fry won't be eaten. I have apple snails in the tank as well. These guys create a lot of waste. I've removed the filters…
Richard C
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Is the filter change necessary?

My Betta, Neptune, lives in a BiOrb FLOW 30 tank which has a spongy filter material sitting on top of charcoal pellets. I was changing it monthly but got behind and the current filter is going on 3 months. I also got behind on water changes (don't…
user12553
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Axolotl nitrate levels high- more frequent water changes?

I have had a young adult male axolotl (Smaug) for about a year now. Recently when testing water parameters I have found that the nitrate levels are very high (80ppm), but both nitrite and ammonia levels are at 0. I currently do a 20% water change…
Eloise Lockyer
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How to change which water conditioner I'm using

I have two tanks: my ghost shrimp tank is using Tetra AquaSafe for Bettas water conditioner (the tank used to also contain a Betta fish, but no longer does). My Betta tank is using Seachem Prime water conditioner (truthfully, largely because I find…
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine
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What the best way to get water up to temperature for a water change?

I'm just about to do a water change and was wondering what's the best way to get water up to the right temperature to put it back in to my tank?
Jamie
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Betta and geothermal water

I'm moving to a new location that uses geothermal water. Generally, when I top off/replace water for my betta, I get my water to the correct temperature, add the stress coat + to remove chemicals, and add it in. But I am struggling to find any…
Gwendolyn
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Should aquarium overflow maintain a certain level of water

I have a 55G aquarium that I am setting up for saltwater fish, probably clownfish. It includes a custom built-in overflow to the sump. The water level in the overflow is low. Is this to be expected or should there be a certain level of water in the…
Antarr Byrd
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Red fin-like protrusions from gils

[New aquarium owner. Pardon any lack of basic knowledge or incorrect terminology.] My fish has some weird red protrusions coming out from the bottom part of its gills that look like either "external gills" (if such a thing is possible) or a second…
Vladimir
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