Water changes?

I am getting a 10 gallon tropical tank or i might get fancy goldfish instead. I was just wondering how often to do the water change/tank cleaning, and if i do a 100% water change, 50%... And also, do you reccomend i get freshwater tropical fish(tetra ect...) or freshwater fancy goldfish?

I change %25 weekly all depends on the bio load of your tank.
When I used to keep pirhana I did %50 a week due to the mess they would make.

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Originally Posted by bamf64

I am getting a 10 gallon tropical tank or i might get fancy goldfish instead. I was just wondering how often to do the water change/tank cleaning, and if i do a 100% water change, 50%... And also, do you reccomend i get freshwater tropical fish(tetra ect...) or freshwater fancy goldfish?

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You change 20% of which will be 2 gls for you once a month.Well since most goldfish can reach 2ft and are nasty fish i would go with tropicals.If you remember 1 inch of fish(at the size they will reach when full grown) per 1 gallon of water you should be ok.So if you have 4 fish that will reach 2inches each when grown you have the correct amount for your 10gl :gj:

IMO it all depends on what you are keeping.
African cichlids and Piranha require more upkeep than most due to the mess they will leave depending on your setup.
regular tropical fish are not as severe, but a healthy schedule must still be maintained.

i keep Piranha currently with another community tank.
i do a 25% change in both tanks strictly once every other week.
i only do such a low amount of changes due to the way i have my tanks set up, and i have few P's.
once i get more, i will make the changes weekly.
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Edit below
You never want to change 50-100% of the water, it is not good for the filter and beneficial bacteria in the water and gravel.
you also need to treat the water with de-chlorinator so that it does not kill the bacteria in the gravel.
the filter is what you should be most concerned with, i normally turn mine off while i change the water, let it settle with the treatment, and turn it back on 30 mins later.

i change 10% a week. smaller more frequent water changes are better than big ones.
i wouldnt change more than 75% of the tanks capacity in a month 50% would be more ideal.

my african cichlids are not real dirty, but many ppl overstock them.

10g is way to small for a gold fish- deff listen to the rule of thumb that Joe has told you! - when i had gold fish- they would get almost a 50% water change twice a week because they are wiked messy. If you do only one water change a week then do one thats almost 50 because the tank ca get pretty gross with too many fish- if its only 1 or 2 small fish then a 30% water change a week would prolly be good enough.

u can do a 10g setup but it will be more problems in the longrun.I would go with a 29g or a 55g if u can it will be less work and you can keep a fish longer then a mounth.Goldfish make a lot of wast witch you dont want. go with the tetra or go saltwater.

I believe it all depends on the bio load you have and the filtration set up.. Its true that its never recommended to keep any goldfish in a 10 gal and they are messy, but you also need to consider the extra amount of work for you..

I do my water changes monthly or bi monthly. Due to the fact that I have a 55 gal with 2 canister filters (total 150 gal capacity) and plenty of bio filtration. The gravel in the tank is important as well as having a filtration unit with a bio filtration and a chemical filtration set up.

My aquarium looks empty being a 55gal, but its stocked to capacity when you consider how different types of fish are. I have a school of adult bala's (5), one rainbow and 2 plecos.

Just make sure you research the types of fish you want. They all have different needs and temperments. Some need harder water. Some softer. Some higher PH, some lower. Some dig and will move everything around. Others just sit there. Some are agressive and will pick on the others. Even some small ones.. Barbs for example. A great strater fish for small tropical tanks but they are fin nippers. A school of 6 will do good in a 10 gal. They do not generally do well with other types of fish though. Especially if the other fish have big, bright or flowing fins.

Just google the different fish you like and you will find a lot of sites with all the stats for each type of fish.

Here is a great beginners page but there are many more out there..

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/a...cfm?c=830+2855

Doesn't the fish go into shock if you do a 100% water change because it doesn't have any of their old water that they are used to being in?

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Originally Posted by CoolioTiffany

Doesn't the fish go into shock if you do a 100% water change because it doesn't have any of their old water that they are used to being in?

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They can but more due to the sudden temperature change than anything. Plus you have to consider the PH. Some decorations will buffer the PH over time. Like driftwood or coral. If you then do a huge water change, the PH will be different and that can throw them into shock as well. Tap water can be tricky. Mine is well water and is VERY hard. I cant get the water stats correct no matter what I do so I just use bottled water for every change now. If you have city water it will be more stable and better for water changes.

Another thing is some people think they should clean all the gravel and filters with every water change.. Thats a no no. If you do that, you remove all the good bacteria. In essence you will begin to "cycle" the water every time you do a water change. The cycle is the initial amount of time it takes for the nitrites to turn into nitrates from building a healthy amount of good bacteria. If there is any amount of nitrItes in the water, it will kill the fish or shock them so bad they may not recover.

So alternate water changes, gravel cleaning and filter cleaning, leaving at least a couple weeks in between each one. Gotta keep the good bacteria in there to keep the tank healthy.