Cleaning / up keep of 3 tanks

Hello. I'm wondering if u guys can suggest the best possible ways to keep my tanks there best for my bettas.

First of all I set up a 100litre tank for my female sorority last weekend, how much & when do u think I should change water, & add stress coat / salt etc? It is filtered with an external fluval filter, which keeps the water crystal clear I must say!

Also my boys tanks are 60litres, one has two filters either side, as divided the water dosent really flow through them that well with just one filter. Same question about water changes.

I'm asking this because I wanna get my tanks on some sort of cycle because I do bits here there & everywhere whenever & I wanna get some sort of system going.

Your help is much appreciated as always.

Hi
As long as the filters are working correctly and keeping the ammonia and nitrItes at zero, water changes of 25% every 10-14 days will keep it in order. A gravel vac once a month in conjunction with one of the water changes to remove debris.
Every couple of months gently squeeze out the filter media in old tank water and remove any big bits of muck stuck to the media.

One thing i do worry about in the females tank, is i have a snail & a good few bottom feeders that poop alot, will the amount of poop affect the females if left for a month.
How do u test for ammonia? I have some ammonia lock stuff, should i add that every so often aswell?

I was told not to use the ammo-lock, not good, doesn't do right. Testing is done by either test strips (not as good) or like most of us the liquid tests. They are a bit more expensive, my kit cost about $50USD it contains 7 bottles, ph, ph high, NitrIte, 2 bottles to check Ammonia, and 2 bottles to Check NitrAtes. 4 test tubes, color chart and directions. I don't recommend trying to buy the bottles seperate to start with, to replace, fine, but buying the test stuff seperate costs almost twice as much. Check weekly for cycled tanks I check daily and do daily water changes because my tanks were not cycled. I don't know about a month, but Van or Netty or someone will help soon!

Also, there are two different types, freshwater and saltwater kits. We only have the API tests kit here in Juneau,AK you may have different types in the UK

I'd stay away from the ammo lock too. The best test kits are the API liquid ones. With those you can test for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and ph.

Netty, do you think they would be ok for a month? She has a snail in the Fem tank.

With weekly water changes they should be fine but it would be best to test the water regularly to check. If any ammonia is showing then it might be best to gravel vac every two weeks.

In newly set up tanks that have not been cycled manually with bottled ammonia, it's really important to test daily for ammonia and nitrites (by-products of the waste the fish produce). The reason for this is that in the first couple of months, you don't have a good eco-system in the tank is naturally remove these chemicals, and they're really bad for the fish.

This is one reason why having a good liquid test kit for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates (at least) is essential.

If you test daily, you'll see the numbers move in the trend - the ammonia will climb up and then go down, and the nitrite will follow. After a couple of months, you should see the numbers reading zero all the time - this means your tank has a good eco-system and is what we call cycled.

In the meantime, you need to do water changes any time you see the numbers get above zero. Nitrates are OK - don't worry about them too much as if you do daily water changes in a new tank and weekly/fortnightly water changes in a cycled tank, you should be able to keep the nitrates low enough. It's the ammonia and nitrite you need to worry about.

Until you know all your tanks are stable and cycled (i.e. never any ammonia or nitrites), it's really hard to get into a routine.

So, for a routine, this is what I do (with 7 tanks):

1) Pick a day when I'm not doing much.
2) Turn off electrics (filters, pumps and heaters) 20 mins before I want to start
3) Do a water change and gravel vac at the same time (using a nifty syphon or gravel vacuum tube)
4)Tidy up any algae and dead plant leaves
5)Add fresh, dechlorinated water that is close to the temperature of the tank
6) Turn everything back on and check it works.

Doesn't take longer than 40 minutes for all =)

Wow, thank you.

You should definitely do some research on the nitrogen cycle. It typically takes 6-8 weeks to cycle a tank. If your tanks are not cycled you are taking a HUGE risk of losing your fish. The cycle works like this: Ammonia is produced by fish waste, uneaten food, any rotting plant debris, and even your fish just breathing. ANY ammonia in your tank is harmful and potentially lethal to your fish. Think of as if you sat in a room with a car running and no ventilation. Even if you live through it your lungs will be permanently damaged. As your tank matures it will grow beneficial bacteria colonies in the filter, substrate, and on any decorations. These helpful little guys consume all that ammonia and turn it into Nitrite and then to Nitrate. Nitrate is also harmful to your fish but a lot less harmful than ammonia. You remove the nitrates by doing a routine water change. Depending on your tanks bio-load and size is how often you need to do a water change. Usually a 25% water change weekly is enough. If you have a higher bio-load (more fish) you'll need to do it more often. If you have a heavily planted tank you may be able to get away with less. With a properly cycled tank you shouldn't need to add any chemicals aside from a good dechlorinator.