Water change

Today I was Supposed to change my water but did not b/c I had a few ?'s about it What is the correct way to do a water change when taking water out and putting new water in do i take the fish out and get the water temp right before I put the fish back in could someone plz tell me the correct way to do a water change with cichlids! Thanks

I syphen out the water into my backyard or a bucket depending on what tank im doing.

I use Prime to declorinate. If you look on the back of the bottle it will tell you how much to use per gallon. I get my 5 gallon buckets and I fill them up in my tub. I dont check the temp I just give it a touch to make sure its not to hot or to cold. I put the prime in the 5 gallon bucket of water and then to the tank it goes. Water changes should be done atleast once every other week. I usually get to do mine once a week. Around 20%. It helps for breeding and water cleaness.

well I just did not want a big temp change to shock my fish and kill them

RustyReid wrote:

well I just did not want a big temp change to shock my fish and kill them

Good Thinking. Some people make that mistake and thats not a good one

If you have gravel do it like holey said, sticking the siphon in the gravel some and sucking out the waste. If you have sand wave the siphon over the sand so you dont suck up the sand just the waste (takes practice).

Use a bucket and add the prime before the water so that the water movement stirs in the prime well. Do a finger test and make sure the water temps are close and dump it in slowly.

I personally don't do too many water changes. Most all of my tanks are under stocked over filtered and moderately to heavily planted.
I have a glass 1 gal pitcher I use strictly for water changes. The water I take out goes into my kiddy pool aka tadpole & mosquito larvae pool, to keep my fresh fish food (1-3 day old tadpoles and any skeeter larvae) alive.
But I do a few gallons every other day or so depending on the tank. I DO NOT recommend doing water changes as small and infrequent as I do. Like I said my tanks are under stocked and way over filtered.

My sand gets stirred when I replant every morning. My corys and loaches don't want the plants where I put them.... It takes about a week or two but we eventually agree on a spot.

I've heard that chop sticks are a good stirring tool.

I also have a dojo loach in there that thinks he is a graboid from the movie tremors. He is all through the sand all the time with just his head sticking up in random places.

Ok I changed the water today and I did a hand temp change and after I ck the water temp after adding the water the water temp only change .3 degrees I will test the lvl shortly to see what has changed and what is diff and I will post them as soon as I do it
Rusty

Sweet. Nicely done my friend.

Ok just did lvls

GH 0
KH 180
PH 8.0
No2 0
No3 0

Is this better than it was or Worse!

Rusty

GH went down to zero from 30 i belive
Kh went up from 130 to 180
Ph went up from 7.5 to 8.0

at home hold on and I will ck them again!

ok this is what I got this time

GH 0
KH 80
PH 8.0

Can anyone call my Home #
and Help me