how many water changes for cycling tank ?

[bert]

my tank is in it's 5th week of cycling [100 gal.] i did a 25% water change 2 weeks ago , my canister filter hoses are showing a yellowish algea looking coating inside the Magnums hoses, how oftern should i be doing water changes? i hear let the ammonia levels get high and changing water would take out some ammonia right ? the water is crystal clear, i had a water sample tested last week, and my levels were at their peak i was told, so good idea to do a water change this weekend ????:cool:

[JSchmidt]

Are you cycling with or without fish? If you have fish in the tank, do not let ammonia levels exceed 1 or 1.5 ppm. If you're fishlessly cycling, you can go with 4-5 ppm max.

If you are cycling with fish, you need to be changing enough water to keep ammonia levels below that listed above. If ammonia becomes more concentrated, it creates significant distress for fish and can cause permanent damage.

Don't worry about the film building up in your hose. It is normal. New tanks, especially, see a bloom of diatoms (often called brown algae). It doesn't hurt anything and it often goes away on its own. Your filter hoses will get a film on the inside. It's normal and there's nothing you can do about it. Every several months (at most) you can clean the hoses if you have a long hose brush. At this early stage, I'd ignore the hoses and keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite levels, esp. if you have fish in the tank.

Good luck,
Jim

[bert]

thanks jim, yep. i have 20 small starter tetras in a 100 gal. tank, and they look and act happy, but i think a 25%water this weekend would be a good idea

[TKOS]

Yes, make sure to test the water every few days so that tjose levels don't get high. And nitrite is worse than ammonia (that is they get worse at lower levels). 25% a week might not cut it and more might be needed.

[bert]

thanks for the helpful info , the water here is hard, and my tank has 3 nice pieces of malaysian driftwood in it and my PH is around neutral according to my last water test, they said it must be the wood in the tank [ the dealer who tested the water for me] now changing 25% of the water, i use novaqua to make the water safe, during water changes before the water is running into the tank, through the gravel vac from the sink, i dose the tank real good with the stuff and let the tap water mix with it now with the PH at nuetral, will the harder tap water change my PH , make it go higher from a 25% addition of new water ?:confused:

[carpguy]

Well what's the pH of the tap (after its been allowed to sit overnight)? If its different it will change the pH in the tank… how much depends on how different…

25% weekly is a decent regular water change.

As often as needed for cycling…

[JSchmidt]

When you're cycling with fish, you really can't make any general statements about the percentage of water that needs to be changed. The bioload, how much you feed the fish, etc. will all have an influence on how much ammonia builds up and how quickly it starts to accumulate. THe ONLY way to know if you're changing enough water to prevent gill burns from ammonia is to test.

Good luck!

Jim

[Alainuws]

Did the nitrite started to show? Wich could tell you if the eating ammonia bacteria as started to show up.

[bert]

well, i had my water tested today, both tank AND tap water, P.H. is around 7.4 for both that is good news, my levels peaked very high a week ago and today, the ammonia was zero and zero nitrites, i just sqeezed out my foam filter on the powerhead in some tank water i took out just for the rinse, boy was it cruddy, the powerhead flow was greatly reduced and after a rinse in tank water the flow is a flowin' again. now, to decide what kind of fish i want to stock a few at a time of course, picture this, 100 gallon black gravel, black backround, malaysian driftwood in the center and out to the forward sides about 8 inches from either side of the tank, the wood is sitting ontop of green spawning mat grass 12"x12" squares [plastic] sorry !:eek: and the 3 of them are angleled in a diamond shape where 1 corner of each is touching the front glass and the rear corners are touching each other at the rear, and different size amazon swords and a few taller green plants behind the driftwood the tank is probably the best looking tank i have done, i want to choose just the right fish to compliment the tank and vise-versa, any suggestions ? i have 20 berry tetra starter fish in there and would like to keep them since they did an outstanding job of cyclying the tank and all 20 survived and thrived the entire time.:D :D :D

[bert]

nitrites/nitrates, what ever one is the bad one is zero

[DEmigh]

Originally posted by bert
[...] picture this, 100 gallon black gravel, black backround, malaysian driftwood in the center and out to the forward sides [...]

Sounds like a beutiful setup :)

As a thought: small, bright, active fish would show very nicely against this high contrast background. With 100 gallons, you could have several sizable schools of species that met the criteria.

I'm not familiar with the appearance of berry tetras, but they might already fit the bill.

Pleas post pics if it is convenient. I'd like to see this one, even if its just your starter fish living there.

[bert]

i wish i could post some pics, i will need to borrow a digital camera and then i will be able to. what is the best way to post pic.s on this forum ?

[DEmigh]

Check out this thread in the "General Chit-chat" area.

Secrets to taking pics of aqariums?