# Daily siphoning



## morrismorris (Mar 21, 2017)

I currently have 18 fish in a 75 gallon, so one can imagine the build up of waste in a short amount of time. The good thing is that the waste builds up in two areas of the tank that are easy to access.

If I do this and top off with tap water, since I am adding strait to the tank, would I still need to dose Prime for the full tank volume, regardless of the fact I am adding back a very small amount of tap water? If so, could this be harmful or dangerous to the fish due to the frequency of using Prime?


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## dalto (Aug 20, 2006)

If you are adding it straight to the tank you need to dose for the whole tank volume. It should not be harmful to the fish unless it gets extreme.

Have you considered altering the tank flow so that waste does not build up either by adjusting your filtration or adding a circulation pump to blow the waste up into your filter?


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## morrismorris (Mar 21, 2017)

Yes, I have considered this but I read elsewhere that siphoning would be more ideal, since the waste would be removed completely, rather than "sweeping it under the rug" by having the filter capture all of the waste.

I don't mind siphoning because for me, I would much rather limit the amount of equipment in view, for the look of the tank. I would also think extremely small, daily water changes like this, would be better for overall water quality, but I am by no means an expert, so appreciate the advice and feedback.


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## dalto (Aug 20, 2006)

morrismorris said:


> Yes, I have considered this but I read elsewhere that siphoning would be more ideal, since the waste would be removed completely, rather than "sweeping it under the rug" by having the filter capture all of the waste.
> 
> I don't mind siphoning because for me, I would much rather limit the amount of equipment in view, for the look of the tank.


As long as you don't mind doing the work there is nothing wrong with doing it that way. I am just not as diligent as you. 



morrismorris said:


> I would also think extremely small, daily water changes like this, would be better for overall water quality, but I am by no means an expert, so appreciate the advice and feedback.


It depends what you mean by extremely small. For example, if you change 5% of you water on a daily basis and never miss a day that turns about 3/4 of your water over in a month. The right amount of water changing is highly dependent what is in the tank so it is hard to say if that is enough or not. In an unplanted tank, testing for nitrates once in a while is the best way to know if your water change regimen is sufficient.


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## morrismorris (Mar 21, 2017)

For what it's worth, I still intend on doing my 30% weekly water change, in addition to this daily waste cleaning. Due to the pile and location of the waste, it shouldn't take more than 3 minutes to clear out at a shot, so wouldn't be enough to end my larger weekly changes.

The reasoning behind all of this is mainly because it really is an eye sore to look at (even after my weekly change, in a matter of a day or two I have a nice pile sitting in these two spots) and because I figure it will help with overall water quality anyway.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

How much water are you siphoning out when you do the daily siphon?

You could always add a bit of water conditioner to the bucket when you do the refill, especially if your water supplier uses chloramines as a disinfectant. Since you are adding water with a bucket, dose for the amount of water and not the full tank size.

Prime should not be harmful to the fish unless grossly over dosed.


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## morrismorris (Mar 21, 2017)

It is probably only a few gallons. If I am using a bucket to return the tap water to the tank, how long should the prime sit in that bucket before pouring into the tank?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

morrismorris said:


> It is probably only a few gallons. If I am using a bucket to return the tap water to the tank, how long should the prime sit in that bucket before pouring into the tank?


Once you add the Prime to the new water in the bucket, you can add directly to the aquarium. You will probably only need a tiny bit of Prime, just follow the bottle instructions for dosing.


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## Aaron S (Apr 4, 2015)

I agree with the other comments. If you are only taking out a small amount (like 2% or less) then I wouldn't worry about dosing it with prime, otherwise I would add the prime to the bucket as Deeda suggests. Doing the daily siphon of the poo piles will probably dramatically help the rate of nitrate formation in the tank relative to the rest of our tanks because all of our poo is sitting on/in the filter for a lot longer which provides a chance for it to break down. I would just remember that, from a nitrate removal perspective, if you take 5% every day out of the tank for a week it is not as effective as removing 35% once a week. Since you mentioned you are also doing weekly water changes - that is not important but I thought it should be repeated.


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## morrismorris (Mar 21, 2017)

Sounds good. Thank you all for the responses!


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