One of the first things a novice aquarium owner hears from fish-keeping friends and/or pet store personnel is the need for partial water changes of about 20 percent every few weeks, preferably on the same day of the week so as to have a set interval each time. This news may cause the new owner of an aquarium some apprehension, as they look at the size of their tank and try to figure out just how they are going to change the water without making a big mess.
You have tank owners who do this the hard way. They catch their fish, which can often take a while, and place them in a bucket already filled with water from the tank. Next, they dip out all the water by hand, using a bucket or some other container to do so. They then remove all of the wet, often smelly gravel by hand as well.
By the time the inside walls of the aquarium are spotless, the filter has been cleaned, the gravel rinsed clean, and the water replaced either by walking back and forth from the nearest faucet with a heavy bucket of water, splashing it here and there, or by pulling a garden hose inside, the typical aquarium owner is exhausted.
Other tank owners take a shortcut, which eliminates a good portion of the tank maintenance work. They make use of an aquarium vacuum when they take care of their partial water changes every 21 days or so. The typical aquarium vacuum attaches to a faucet indoors or out, and removes the water with the help of the water pressure from the faucet.
A tube is attached to one end of the aquarium vacuum, and can be pushed into deep gravel to suck out all the mulm waste and uneaten food, leaving cleaner gravel behind. Typically, the entire gravel bed is cleaned in this manner, then the filter medium is changed, and water is re-added to the aquarium.
There are some people who are new to the hobby of keeping fish that assume if taking 20 percent of the water out of the tank, then doing a partial water change of 50 percent or more would be even better. Unfortunately, these folks learn the hard way that removing too much water from an aquarium is not a good thing to do.
Aquarium water has a different chemistry after fish have lived in it for a period of time. Uneaten fish food and the waste products excreted by the fish cause these changes. The fish get used to the water chemistry. When too much of this ìlived inî water is removed, the fish cannot cope with the change, and become quite stressed. The weaker fish will die, often just a short time after they are placed back into the freshly cleaned aquarium. Hardier fish will live longer, perhaps for a few weeks or a couple of months before they also die.
Those uninitiated in fish keeping will swear that their partial water change killed their fish, and harbor the belief that doing partial water changes is not a good thing. They firmly believe that partial water changes should not be done at all if you want your fish to stay alive!
A much easier solution for solving the problem is to make use of the EcoBio-Block family of products. The EcoBio-Block is made from a distinctive type of volcanic rock that has been populated with live, friendly bacteria. These bacteria will grow and reproduce for a two-year period of time as they feed on the uneaten food and fish waste. This helps to keep the water crystal clear and free from odor, and makes frequent water changes unnecessary. You will have much more free time to enjoy the antics of your fish in your beautifully clean aquarium when you use an EcoBio-Block.