WATER CHANGES

WHY, WHEN, HOW AND HOW MUCH?

Water changing is a necessary and very important part of aquarium keeping, and need not be an arduous task. With the right equipment, and a little preparation water changes can be a quite easy and simple process.

WHY

Water changes are necessary for a number of reasons, the first is that the pollutants that accumulate in the water of an aquarium can, if they are not diluted, reach toxic levels over a period of time, and at the very least cause stress to the aquariums inhabitants.

Secondly the aquarium’s gravel and filters need to be cleaned on a regular basis to prevent them from becoming clogged with detritus and uneaten foods etc. and the water change is the perfect opportunity to carry out this cleaning.

WHEN

There are no hard and fast rules about when you should perform your water changes, but as a guide we recommend that approximately 40% of the total volume of your tank is changed fortnightly. (this does of course vary depending on each individual set up. Feel free to discuss your particular situation with us.) How you go about achieving this is up to you, you may choose to do one large change fortnightly, or smaller changes on a more regular basis.

(Smaller, more regular changes decrease the stress that is placed on the fish.)

HOW

It is important that when the water change is performed, that the replacement water is of a similar temperature to the tank water and that the water has been aged to remove all traces of the chloramine which the water board uses to ensure that all bacteria in the water are killed off and safe for human consumption.

Water can be aged using any of the currently available preparations such as Wardley’s Tri-start ®

It is extremely important that the water is treated prior to addition to the aquarium, i.e. by treating it in a bucket before adding it to the tank.

The best and possibly the easiest way to clean the gravel is to use a "gravel vacum" which is simply a syphon tube that lifts the dirt out of the gravel, but does not have the power to lift the gravel to the full height of the tube. This vacum is moved gradually through the entire gravel bed, cleaning the bed and removing the tank water at the same time. The pre treated water can now be added to replace the water that has been removed.