Weekly Routine:

Since the water in your aquarium is stagnant, it needs to be partially changed as often as
once or twice a week. Water will build up large residues of waste, dissolved gases and
debris if left unchanged. When you replace a little of the water with new water, you are
effectively reducing the total amount of waste concentration in the aquarium.
In a regular aquarium, nitrate and nitrite is the primary source of toxin. Since fish excrete
nitrous wastes, the nitrate and nitrite build up in an aquarium with a large number of fish
can be quite high even after a short period of time. Regular water change is the safest,
surest and cheapest way to detoxify your aquarium.
If you have used medications in the water, these also will need to be removed as soon as
their presence are not longer required. You should not leave ANY unwanted chemicals in
the water of your aquarium.
There are two important factors that decide how effective your water change will be: The
frequency of the water change, and the percentage of water you change each time. The
overall effectiveness of the water change is dependant on the amount of water you change
in a period. One water change should however never be very large. When there is a
sudden change in your water quality (pH and temperature etc), the fish in your aquarium
will be subjected to stress. If your aquarium water has the same pH, temperature and
hardness as your new water, then changing up to 50% of water at a time will not stress
the fish. If there is a significant discrepancy in pH levels, temperatures etcetera, changing
large amounts of water may stress your fish enough to even kill them. During
emergencies, it can still be necessary to do large water changes quite often. In some
cases, this is the best line of defense as it would be more stressful for the fish to stay in
the unsuitable water.To facilitate this, you need to get replacement water that is as near a match to the existing
water in the aquarium. Another factor is that in the course of time, the water in your
aquarium will tend to change its chemistry a little. Thus, it is necessary to keep a check
on your water chemistry every time you make a change. You can push the acidity of the
water up or down by using non-inert materials like crushed corals, rock etc, or through
the use of certain chemical additives.
How frequent should the water change be? If you can change the water more frequently,
then you need to change only lesser quantities of water. The longer the gap between
changes, the more stressed the fish become because you will need to change larger
portions of the water. One way to start off is by replacing about 25% of your water once a
week. But this should only be taken as a starting point for you to assess the needs of your
particular aquarium. For the water change to be effective, you must take into account the
number of fish you have in the aquarium, invertebrates if any and also the algae build-up
in your aquarium.
If you notice that the pH of your water changes sharply, then making more frequent
changes of small quantities of water will be the safest way to go. There are certain things
to keep in mind each time you change your water. The water should be treated when you
change it. Remember to add water conditioners every time you change the water. If you
add salt into your water, these levels also have to be adjusted. Dechlorinate the water if
you are taking it from your tap. Also keep in mind that the chlorine amount in your water
is sometimes weather dependent.
Water changes helps to remove nitrate and nitrite after it have been produced. Effective
biological and mechanical filtration is another excellent way to combat the waste buildup
in your aquarium. For this, you must clean your filters regularly. It is however also
possible to remove some of the nitrogenous waste before it turns into nitrate and nitrite.
Debris like uneaten fish food, fish waste etc will typically collected near the filter from
where it can be scoped up.
Thus, water changes are largely aquarium dependent. More frequent water changes are
said to be especially beneficial while breeding and raising fry. A much improved growth
rate is seen in such cases. Also, if you are keeping messy feeders like Cichlids, you will
need to change your water frequently. While you decide on how much and how often you
need to change your water, remember that in nature, the water often gets changed many
times in the course of a day. Also, large water bodies like a river or lake has very high
quantities of water to dilute the wastes formed in them. Here is a rough calculation on
species-dependent water changes:
􀂾 A community aquarium that is not fully stocked up does
well with 20% water changes every 2 weeks.
􀂾 A fully stocked community aquarium can do with a 20%
water change every week.
􀂾 If you keep large Cichlids and predatory fish, 25% water
changes every week is recommended.
􀂾 If you are rearing fry up to 1 month old, change 10-15% of
water every day.
One of the most important steps in your weekly routine is vacuuming your substrate.
Removing dirt and debris from your substrate by siphoning it out is highly recommended.
Thus the solid waste in your aquarium will be removed. This also prevents these wastes
from further breaking down into nitrates and phosphates in the aquarium.
If you have a gravel substrate, the end of the siphon tube should be plunged into the
gravel to suck the dirt out. Special siphon tubes with wider end pieces are available for
this purpose. Stir up the gravel slightly as you go along. The debris will rise away from
the gravel, and they can be siphoned off. After that, the gravel will subside back into its
place gently. Siphoning is particularly important in aquariums that have Under Gravel
filtration in place, since it will help keep the filter bed healthy.
In case of sand substrate, hold a clean garden hose half an inch or so above the surface of
the water. This will help to remove the visible debris without disturbing the surface of the
sand.
In aquariums that are richly planted, vacuuming the substrate may be very difficult. This
will churn up the substrate and disturb the roots. Plants tend to get damaged when their
roots are disturbed. The plant roots themselves will keep the substrate healthy. So,
vacuuming a planted substrate is not necessary. Plunging a siphon into a nutrient rich
layer of the substrate will make the water cloudy. If this happens, then nutrients may be
released into the water column. This will lead to an increase in the algae population in
your aquarium.