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Just curious how often people clean their tanks or how often they you do partial changes. Also, once you vote, tell me what kind of filter you have.

I have an Aquaclear filter made for 50 gallon tanks in a 20 gallon tank, and I've started doing water changes every week or so because I was doing about every 3 weeks, but I think that might not be enough.

It depends. The 30L I clean every week at the very least I do partial water changes every 2-3 days.

The 100g stock tank, I added water to it and skimmed the plant pieces out but I haven't had to clean it yet. Might do a partial water change this weekend.

It has been three weeks since I installed my new filter, the Eheim Professional 2028 (in a 50g tank). The water is still crystal clear *smiles* but there is the beginnings of brown algae, so I need to clean the tank to remove that - though I have been contemplating getting a fish to do that for me... caught in two minds at the minute (as I don't want Spanky to eat it!)

I also do partial water changes every couple of days, which seems to help a little - I hope!

We change our 55gal tank once a month. We have 2 Aqua-tech power filters that are both made for 60gal tanks. But we also take our turtles out of the tank to feed them and after they eat I wait for them to use the bathroom before I put them back in the big tank.

I try to do a full or almost full clean on Sundays and do net cleaning through out the week.

I just want to add, a regular cleaning is necessary regardless of how clean the water looks or smells. There is odorless and colorless waste in that water that cannot be removed with conventional filtration. Partial changes are good just to eliminate that build up.

Good - so my partial changes are important - I am glad I haven't been doing them in vain!

I bought a Pleco today, and it has begun cleaning the tank already, the little turts have been a little curious as to what the heck it was, but Spanky doesn't seem bothered with it at all!

I am glad because it was Spanky I was most worried about - I thought for sure he would have ate as soon as it was put into the tank...

I have sat and watched it all day!

(Sorry for going off topic)

i'm not sure how often to clean. i just got a 55 gallon with an xp3 three days ago. i did a 25% water change last night but i don't know how often i should drain and clean everything. any thoughts?

Do you have a lot of biomedia in the filter? If so, you could get some ammonia, nitrite and nitrate testing kits to see what the condition of the water is like (this will tell you when the water needs changing once the tank has cycled).

When I was using a 50-gallon with the XP3, I think I did a 50% water change weekly and a full cleaning about every 4 weeks.

I got my 55 gallon and xp3 in August and I have yet to do a complete water change/clean. Not sure if that's a bad thing or if I should be proud. The water is crystal clear. Granted it's only full a little more than half way right now. I add a couple gallons of water every 2 weeks cause it evaporates so dang quick.

I haven't done a complete water change since July, and before that it was in January. I've got an XP3 on a 110 gallon stock tank with about 75-80 gallons in it. I do partial water changes weekly, and I keep a check on the water by testing for ammonia and nitrites. I try to clean the filter monthly - 5 weeks.

What exactly consists of a partial water change? Like can you just scoop out some water with a pitcher and add some more?

Well, I don't know how anyone else does a partial but I use an aquarium vacuum and clean the bottom of the tank and then refill it with new water. This helps get the debris that builds up at the bottom of the tank. I only completely drain it and scrub everything down of full water changes.

Yes, you remove a percentage/amount of the water. In larger tanks, when beneficial bacteria have colonized on the filter's biomedia, waste and more toxic substances are broken down into less harmful ones, which can be taken care for for a time with partial water changes. And having a lot of water in a big tank means that it doesn't have to be cleaned as often as a smaller one (this also assumes a good filter is being used). One has to be really religious about doing the partial water changes, though. This doesn't work with small tanks and certain filters. (And since Leo is being treated for shell rot, you really want to keep his water clean--doing a water change/cleaning at least weekly would be good.) I should have added above, that I also use a wet/dry vac to pick up debris when I do a partial.

I have a whisper 10i on one side and a zoomeds submersiable reptile filter on the other... complete junk if you ask me.
I'm putting together a plan to save for a 75gallon tank with stand and all new equiptment, I will NOT be using a whisper filter.