30% 20% 10%?

Question

why do people say u hav to change only 10-30% of your fish tank even if the water is still going to stay dirty? tell me how u clean ur 10 GALLON tank. otherwise answer my question......and how much is ten to thirty percent of water anyway?

how much water is it for 10, 20, or 30% of water for a ONE GALLON tank.

Answer 1

10% on a 10 gal tank is 1 gal per week 20% is 2 gal every 2 weeks and so on rec. 10% a week is rec. every week no need to do more than that

Answer 2

The point of taking out some of the water is that you take out the dirty water, and put in some clean water. You have to keep doing that so the water never gets too dirty.

To clean your tank, buy a vacuum tank cleaner:
http://i20.ebayimg.com/03/i/07/0e/24/65_1_b.JPG
You put the large end in the tank, and then create a vacuum (suck on the small end till the water gets near your mouth) and the water will suck into a bucket (make sure you use a clean bucket that never has had cleaning products in it). You can put the large end in the tank into the gravel and swish it around, still will suck out all the fish poop and excess food in the gravel. You just let that go till you've taken out as much as you want to.
20% is a good amount to take out every week, so that's 2 gallons if you have a 10 gallon tank. So if you have a 5 gallon bucket, then you should fill the bucket almost halfway. It doesn't have to be exact.

If you are having problems with your fishtank being dirty, do as I just said, but do it a couple times a week until the water is clean. Also try to feed your fish less (your should only feed what your fish can eat in two minutes, twice a day.)
You could also upgrade your filter. I love the Aqua Clear brand. For your 10gal, an Aqua Clear 30 would be perfect- I always get a filter that is rated for 20 gallons more than what my tank is.

Answer 3

If you change more than 30% of the water, there is a higher chance that the water parameters won't be exactly the same, and the temperature won't be exactly the same, and it will stress your fish to the point of disease. 10% of a 10 gallon is 1 gallon, 20% is 2 gallons, 30% is 3 gallons. If your tank is staying dirty, try using a gravel vaccuum to do your water changes, or stirring up the gravel to get some of the waste floating into the water before you do the water change. If your water is cloudy, you need to check your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates to make sure they are at safe levels, and if they aren't, you need to do 20% water changes daily, or every other day, to get the levels down. If your aquarium is dirty because of algae, you can scrape the algae off of the sides and decorations with an algae scraper before you do your water changes, or you can add a small algae eater like a siamese algae eater or an oto catfish. Never empty your aquarium to clean the inside with soaps or tap water. This will kill your nitrifying bacteria, and then your aquarium will have to go through a cycle again, which will kill some of your fish. Also never clean your filter with tap water, soap, or chemicals, for the same reason. Only clean using dechlorinated water, preferably from your aquarium.

Edit: For a 1 gallon aquarium, 10% is about 1.5 cups (12 oz), 20% is about 3 cups (25 oz), 30% is about 4.5 cups (37 oz).

Answer 4

If your tank is staying dirty you could try a 50% water change.

But more information is needed, what do you mean by dirty? is it foggy/green colour in that case you have an algae problem and should treat it with an algae cure.

You should also be cleaning the gravel with a gravel vaccuum when you do the water changes whether you have an undergravel filter or not.

There are treatments to clear water however many can be harmful to fish.

10-30% is usually 1/4 of your tank water, just do it by the look of the levels no need to be 100% exact, it's a half of a half of your tank water. Good Luck.

Answer 5

In a ten gallon tank:

30% is taking out and replacing 3 gallons.
20% is taking out and replacing 2 gallons.
10% is taking out and replacing 1 gallon.

In a one gallon tank:

30% is taking out around a third of a gallon.
20% is taking out a fifth of a gallon.
10% is taking out a tenth of a gallon.


The reason people say to only change part of the water at a time is because the fish can be stressed out by their water suddenly being completely different.... hotter or colder, or different chemicals in it. So if the water's really dirty, changing out a third of the water, every day or two, but leaving a few hours between changing, might help them not be as stressed out by the big change as if you changed out all of it at once.

When I had a ten gallon tank, I cleaned it with a siphon, a plastic tube you find at a pet store usually, that sucks up the gunk from beneath the gravel and in the water. Then replaced the water with tap water that I'd added some water conditioner to. You can find the water conditioner at most pet stores also.