Do I need to empty and rinse and refill my fish tank if I have a filter?

Question

I am about to buy a fish tank (a three-five gallon one) and am wondering if I need to empty, rinse, and refill my tank every month or so even with a filter. Some quick feedback would be awsome....thanx

Answer 1

You really don't ever want to empty the tank and clean it out when you have a filter. Heated or not, you should do about a 25% water change every week to keep the tank stable, clean and running smooth.

MM

Answer 2

Your fish should be in a well maintained large tank to begin with. Then they will have the best chance of surving an outage and a possibly longer outage. They will have more oxygen, less polluants, and the temporary will change slower. The first problem when the power goes out is that with not filter or current, the fish can use up all the oxygen in the water, and gasping for air doesn't get them much air and can cause gill damage. You can buy a battery operated air pump to keep the water moving. You can use a cup or water bottle to scoop water up and poor it back in the tank from a distance to create bubbles and break the water surface, repeat as often as possible. the power was out in my tropical tank for 5 days this past winter, the temperature dropped to 65 degrees but all the fish survived. !!! Goldfish can handle chamges in temperature much better than tropical, so hopefull they will be ok!

Answer 3

NO! There are good bacteria at work that you do not want to disterb!. Once a month remove 25% of the water in the tank. Then refile will FILTERED WATER. Get it at local store for only a few cents. The filter systems we have now are way more advanced than the rince and reuse of the past. You can invest in a vacum for your tank. It works like the one at home but it sucks to poop out of the rocks and some water. That is what I do to get my 25% out.

Answer 4

No but you should change half the water out about every 2 months. But you want to have enough water sitting out in a couple of jugs for a few days to replace the water you remove you dont want to take it straight from the tap into your tank. You should also check your filter regularly and change it as well.

Answer 5

i have 2 tanks (a 5 gallon and a 15 gallon) and i never take all of the water out and put new water in it because you are suppolsed to let the water sit for a while when you put new water in it before you put the fish in it, and i have a filter. my fish are very happy and healthy and i have an algea eater so its nice and clean.

Answer 6

For a tank with NO heater.....You should change 10% of the water every week and 25% of the water every month - now the 10% and 25% that you refill with "new" water....should be conditioned according to the instructions.

Answer 7

the answer is yes because the fish go to the bathroom in there and the filter doesn't filter the smegma so the smegma just stays so you have to clean the tank

Answer 8

u do not have to empty the whole tank, just replace about 3/4s of the water every 2 - 3 weeks. change your filter about every 3 months and change all the water then.

Answer 9

you do, just not as often. Change about 20 %of the water every month, and twice a year change the entire tank. Thats what we did with my 60 gallon tank, you will probably need to do it more often since yours is about 20% smaller than mile was.

Answer 10

Oh my God. You must not do that because 100% new water in 100% cleaned tank can endanger any fish (perhaps Betta can survive that but he does not like it though).