Weekly water changes?

schigara

schigara

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Jan 2, 2005
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Most people here suggest 10-25% water changes per week and say thier Nitrates are around 5 - 20ppm. My question is, why not do 30-50% change or a little more per week?

Other than the labor of changing more water, would it be a bad idea to change more water and keep the nitrates even lower?

On my 15g, I commonly change 50% or more per week and Nitrates are almost undetectable.
 
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You could change 50% a day if you wanted to. Fresh water is always good! I do approximately 25% changes every other day personally. Find a schedule that works well for you and stick with it.
 
you can change more, just try to keep the stress levels low for the fish. some breeders have continously fresh water comming in and no filters.

when im trying to grow out fish i do daily water changes, sometimes 2 smaller ones. depends on how busy i am.
 
As long as your incoming water is similar to your outgoing water, you can do 50% water changes every minute.

The key to water changes is 1) to do them in the first place and 2) to match water (meaning your new water is as similar to Ph Temp etc.as possible)
 
I try to stress the fish as little as possible. When I change water, the lights are dimmed or blinds closed, the water is kept within .5 degrees from tank and new water and water from tap to tank is within about .1-.2 on PH(can barely tell the difference in the test tube.


gsk177 said:
As long as your incoming water is similar to your outgoing water, you can do 50% water changes every minute.

The key to water changes is 1) to do them in the first place and 2) to match water (meaning your new water is as similar to Ph Temp etc.as possible)
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I would still try to do a larger than 25% water change every week. I mean, if you are going through all that trouble in the first place, why not replace as much water as you can?

I've done 80% water changes before and suffered no ill effects from it. Like I said, the key is making sure the incoming water is as close as possible to the outgoing water.

When I do water changes, all I need to do is match temperature, dechlorinate and add Cichlid Lake Salts. My tap water is perfect straight from the tap except it is very soft (i have a water softener). Over the course of time, I have learned exactly how much Salts I have to add to my water to keep a proper GH.
 
My original point exaclty.

I keep the new water very close to the tank water and do 50% a week or more.

I was just curious as to why most people only do 10-25% a week and allow their nitrates to hover at 5-20 ppm, when they could change more water, assuming the new water would be very close to the same chemistry of the old as far as PH and Temp.

gsk177 said:
I would still try to do a larger than 25% water change every week. I mean, if you are going through all that trouble in the first place, why not replace as much water as you can?

I've done 80% water changes before and suffered no ill effects from it. Like I said, the key is making sure the incoming water is as close as possible to the outgoing water.

When I do water changes, all I need to do is match temperature, dechlorinate and add Cichlid Lake Salts. My tap water is perfect straight from the tap except it is very soft (i have a water softener). Over the course of time, I have learned exactly how much Salts I have to add to my water to keep a proper GH.
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I change 20% or so weekly and my nitrates have never gotten above 5ppm. I guess the reason some people let theirs get 20ppm or less is because that is what is considered safe for most fish. Nitrates are way less harmful than nitrites or ammonia.

I'm sure this doesn't apply to all fish.
 
I think you're right. That's what I thought just a few months ago when I started a 15g tank(my first). I also thought I should replace the filter floss when it looked dirty and I was throwing away any beneficial bacteria that had started to grow.

With all the horrible advice I have received from LFS's, I would not have been able to make it without this forum. I have probably spent about 30 hours here sifting through posts and gaining knowledge and this has given me the confidence to start a FOWLR SW tank that will eventually have coral. If I had just depended on advice from the first few LFS's, I would have given up. I recently found a small LFS that specializes in SW and the owner is a true "geek"(pardon me but this is a compliment for him in his business) and this has given me even more confidence with my FW and SW endeavors as he is willing to bend over backwards to help. One of the main reasons I like him is because he really helps with my DIY projects rather than just trying to sell me some stuff off his shelf.

gsk177 said:
I think most people (newbies) are scared to change that much water (50%). They think the water holds the biologicals which is simply not true.
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