Any aquarists in the house?

Originally Posted by Ws6

So how do I change out some 15-20 gallons of water without absolutely wrecking the temperature of the tank?


I just go by feel and get the refill bucket water as close to the tank water as possible. If anything, err on the slightly cooler side for the bucket water.

I know when I refill my 75g by hose from the utility sink in the winter time when the tap water is frigid, my 40g natural gas water heater starts begging for mercy half way into it and I'm refilling with much cooler water. If anything it mimics a rain storm for these fish because the severum gets all frisky and nasty towards the oscar for a bit.
 
A couple of great recent posts just added here...it all sounds overwhelming but in time it'll become 2nd nature, all this stuff.

Yes.. ammonia is no bueno and can kill fish quick like. As I mentioned in a previous post, the only "safe" ammonia level is ZERO. When your tank has cycled you'll see how the bacteria do the job of keeping ammonia in check unless something happens like overfeeding or adding too much fish too quickly. If I recall, the rule of thumb is 1" of fish per gallon of water.

- adding water..after a while you'll get use to knowing what 78f degree water "feels like" - hint, it's not freezing cold and it's not uncomfortably hot to the touch either, it's just barely warm to touch. Go stick your hand in the tank. Buy a separate, cheap temp gauge for like $2. The water you add doesn't need to be exactly at 78f (ideal tropical temp) but close enough that your heater won't take ages to dial it in. Healthy fish can tolerate a temp change of a couple degrees without ill effects for a short period.

- and fwiw I don't feed every day as this helps to keep ammonia levels in check (less food/waste = less ammonia). Fish in the wild don't get fed everyday either, so it will do no harm skipping a day or two of feeding. On the non feeding days the fish are more active scavenging and picking away at any algae that may be forming. I have 2 Mollie's in my tank that especially like eating algae and the 2 Cory's (sm catfish) I have do a great job of scavenging the tank bottom. In time you might want to consider bottom feeders for this purpose...plus they're cool to look at. With your tank size you could easily do a Pleco.. those are really cool. I use to have one that would come to the top and allow me to hand feed him pellets and pet him.

Originally Posted by Skippy722

Yep... when my at the time 2 year old decided to feed the fish while I was at work, I got one heck of an ammonia spike. 0.50ppm was enough to kill my angels and Bala sharks.

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Hahaha...my kids did that, it took all my strength to not blow a head gasket!...‚ (wasn't laughing at the death of the fish, that sucks.. just that I feel your pain)
 
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I too don't feed every day. 5x per week max. Another important issue is read the labels on fish food. If the first 3-4 ingredients aren't whole fish or plant products, skip that brand.

I like Omega one products for this reason. Quality ingredients means a little goes a long way and less water pollution.
 
Originally Posted by JTK
I too don't feed every day. 5x per week max. Another important issue is read the labels on fish food. If the first 3-4 ingredients aren't whole fish or plant products, skip that brand.

I like Omega one products for this reason. Quality ingredients means a little goes a long way and less water pollution.


^^add me to the 5 day list.
I also like feeding Frozen brine shrimp, Frozen bloodworms and frozen mysis shrimp, I keep the diet varied and once in awhile flake food.
Only feed as much so all food is gone within minutes
 
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My fish go bonkers when I drop in some bloodworms or brine shrimp. I had a Betta literally jump OUT of the tank (thankfully no damage) during a feeding of brine shrimp, she got so excited....‚

Anywho.. your wise to be spending a little extra on high quality food. Omega is a very good brand. I use to use Tetra years ago with good results but the quality went down IMO. I suppose for the avg hobbyist it will do but I prefer Hikari now and I've experimented with ZooMed but I keep going back to Hikari. I've been using that brand for a few years now and the fish have great color and healthy.
 
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Originally Posted by Ws6

So how do I change out some 15-20 gallons of water without absolutely wrecking the temperature of the tank?


I use a thermometer and get the water temp within a degree or 2. Add some stress coat, fish are happy! I also bought one of these... it's an absolute game changer, no more buckets!

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Originally Posted by JTK
Originally Posted by Ws6

So how do I change out some 15-20 gallons of water without absolutely wrecking the temperature of the tank?


I just go by feel and get the refill bucket water as close to the tank water as possible. If anything, err on the slightly cooler side for the bucket water.

I know when I refill my 75g by hose from the utility sink in the winter time when the tap water is frigid, my 40g natural gas water heater starts begging for mercy half way into it and I'm refilling with much cooler water. If anything it mimics a rain storm for these fish because the severum gets all frisky and nasty towards the oscar for a bit.


What if I do this smaller...swap out 1 gallon per day? Let the new gallon "age" until the next day?
 
Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
My fish go bonkers when I drop in some bloodworms or brine shrimp. I had a Betta literally jump OUT of the tank (thankfully no damage) during a feeding of brine shrimp, she got so excited....‚

Anywho.. your wise to be spending a little extra on high quality food. Omega is a very good brand. I use to use Tetra years ago with good results but the quality went down IMO. I suppose for the avg hobbyist it will do but I prefer Hikari now and I've experimented with ZooMed but I keep going back to Hikari. I've been using that brand for a few years now and the fish have great color and healthy.


Agree with the Omega, I always check ingrediants, however I have an issue with the Omega, the flakes in the container always end up broken up into tiny pieces. Ill look into the Hikari which I know is another well known brand. Pretty much, my tank never gets the same food two days in a row (either does my dog *L*) Humans cant live healthy on the same food everyday and I am sure nothing else can.
Though with fish, I am not saying they cant. I didnt always vary so much. Just something I do now, it all started with my dog years ago. (not a dog thread so all Ill say) :eek:)

I do think frozen is the way to go most days, little waste drifting around the tank, more natural for sure but again, I do flakes too.
 
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Originally Posted by alarmguy

I do think frozen is the way to go most days, little waste drifting around the tank, more natural for sure but again, I do flakes too.

Ditto. I keep on hand freeze dried shrimp, bloodworms and algae wafers but all protein can be just as bad as all fiber/plant matter. So I alternate that with the Hikari. I keep the Hikari in the mix because it's fully formulated with all the essential nutrients. So far so good.. the colors on my Betta's really pop!!!
 
Originally Posted by Ws6

What if I do this smaller...swap out 1 gallon per day? Let the new gallon "age" until the next day?

Certainly. There's nothing wrong with doing that. In fact years ago I use to fill up multiple gallon size water jugs and put them under the tank, inside the stand out of view so they weren't unsightly. By the time I needed to top off, the water was always at room temp (72'ish)... and doing it a gallon at a time won't drop your water temp hardly any in a 55gl. It really doesn't matter "how" you change water only thing that matters is that a) you're changing it and b) try and get the new water as close to the tank water as possible to avoid shock.
 
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Late night aquarium shenanigans? Late night aquarium shenanigans! Coworker gave me his old light, he told me when on night mode only half of it lights up, but the blue LED's work fine when on normal. Can't beat free! Helps even out the light tremendously.

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Originally Posted by Skippy722
Late night aquarium shenanigans? Late night aquarium shenanigans! Coworker gave me his old light, he told me when on night mode only half of it lights up, but the blue LED's work fine when on normal. Can't beat free! Helps even out the light tremendously.

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Puuurty!.. you gonna do Glo Fish??
 
My wife wants angel fish, I'll be getting a pleco, probably a gourami or, maybe a Bala Shark or 2. I'll start with a pleco and see how Blue reacts to new tank mates.
 
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Originally Posted by Skippy722
My wife wants angel fish, I'll be getting a pleco, probably a gourami or, maybe a Bala Shark or 2. I'll start with a pleco and see how Blue reacts to new tank mates.


You need a way bigger tank for bala. Bristle nose plecos are great (don't get a common pleco), just avoid a male and female pair as you'll wind up with more BN plecos than you'll want. In terms of gourami, pearls are my favorite and tend to be less jerky than blues or golds.
 
Originally Posted by Ws6

What if I do this smaller...swap out 1 gallon per day? Let the new gallon "age" until the next day?


The problem with such a tiny volume water change is in time, it likely will do little/nothing for nitrate reduction.

Not trying to be rude, but if 4-5 five gallon buckets out and in once every week or two is daunting or not possible for you, you're in the wrong hobby!
 
Originally Posted by Skippy722
My wife wants angel fish, I'll be getting a pleco, probably a gourami or, maybe a Bala Shark or 2. I'll start with a pleco and see how Blue reacts to new tank mates.


I like all of them I would probably hold off on the Bala until the others are settled in. Most likely the pleco first though it probably wouldn't be bad to have some algae growing in the tank first. Got to keep the wife happy, angelfish is one of my favorites. In a good tank they grow quite large and can live a long time

I agree with the post above very small water changes are not going to do to much to reduce nitrates.
With that said...
I think of 5 gallon bucket once a week would be fine or 10 gallons every 2 weeks better.
But that's just me and it depends how much you stock the tank
 
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Very cool, now if I were you I would hold off a few weeks and let the tank cycle.
If you have the patience, once you see a small amount of algae develop you know you are good but I know that is a long wait.

If I had the time and the "room" these photos make me want to set up a fresh water tank in addition to my salt.
Brings back many memories.
Thats a healthy looking gourami.
 
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Originally Posted by Skippy722
Didn't get any angel fish, but did get a couple platys, a gourami, and an albino bristlenose pleco

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Nice!..ok, so you know Gouramis, like my Betta's and catfish, are labyrinth fish right? So you need to provide it the opportunity to come up to the surface and breathe if it needs to. This is because labyrinth fish don't have sufficient gill function alone to derive all the oxygen they require. Try and provide an area at the water surface that isn't so turbulent that he won't come up, otherwise he'll be chronically low on oxygen. Sorry if you knew all this already but I thought it was worth mean...oh, and the platy's are a nice addition, they're omnivores and will eat algae too. Darn it.. now i want some new fish!!...‚

I love the natural river rock how it contrasts with the plants, good call.ðŸ‘.. one of the issues i have with my tank is it's too "dark", that's why I was thinking of replacing the pea pebbles with sand but maybe rock like you have is the way to go.🤔
 
Cool! When I got back into the hobby 10yrs ago after a long break, my setup was similar. I used pea gravel from Lowes that looked just like that. I didn't keep it as a substrate for long because it was too 'chunky' for the corydoras I was keeping. They do best with fine/softer substrates.

Hopefully the platys are both female or both male, or you could wind up with more platys than you'll want.

For the BN pleco, what I do for mine is feed them those mini pickle sized cucumbers. I peel most of it first, then shove a stainless steel fork in them or screw a SS bolt of screw in them to keep them at the bottom. After 2 days the only thing left is the fork, screw, etc.

If you decide to feed the plecos sinking wafers, just watch those ingredient labels. The majority of them are total water polluting junk.
 
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