Lots of water changes, how often?

[thefirethief]

I know the normal answer......... but Im trying to give my tank a good clean up and dont really know how often its safe to change the water in a 35G?

I think Ive learned more since I put my fish in 4 weeks ago than I did in the months and months of reading before it. So with my short experience so far Ive done a lot learning. Things like overfeeding and plants being messy if you dont plant them right have left my tank with a lot or particles in the water and on the substrate.

Im pretty sure thats the reason my nitrates have been climbing so much. They can go up to 40ppm over a couple of days. Im really trying to get rid of a lot of the waste in my tank, but my gravel cleaner takes up so much water that I dont get thaaat much cleared up until I need to stop. Ive been doing about a 30% water change every 3 or 4 days. Does this seem ok?

Ive attached a photo for a laugh. You'll see what I mean if you look at the plants in the background.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/thefirethief/P1000405.jpg

[YoFishboy]

Given that your tank has recently been set up, I think the smaller, more frequent water change route is a good one. Keep any detritus moving out!Slowing down the flow of your water removal equipment may help. Or lightly "stirring things up" a bit will place particulate matter into suspension, thereby making it a little easier to remove. However, you want to make sure that your biological filtration is not being compromised - speaking of filtration what kind do you have? And I like your Ram pic!

[carpguy]

There is really no special magic that happens over time. Assuming the water is properly dechlorinated, water changes won't have any impact on your biofilter. 50% everyday, 50% twice a day, three times, isn't going to hurt anything.

The exception to this would be heavy gravel-vaccing: turning over the gravel and burying the bacteria that lives on it could hurt the biofilter. Work the gravel in sections giving each section a few days to recover. If you worked the substrate in quarters, for instance, you could do daily changes but never hit the same gravel more than once every fourth day.

I'm heavily planted and tend to not work the substrate very much at all. The wide tube on the vac slows the flow down enough so that heavier particles (like gravel) get dropped and only the lighter debris goes up and out. Most of the time I don't use the wide part of the vac at all, just a 1/2" ID hose. It provides a much more intense flow that will suck up just about any loose debris from a good inch or so off the surface. Get too close and it'll suck up the substrate and the occasional plant as well. You need to work out the right touch but it makes debris collection very efficient IME.

The good bacteria live on things and are solidly attached to them. They aren't in the water and they won't be dislodged by suction. They are oxygen loving so they aren't evenly mixed throughout the gravel. They live in a narrow layer at the top that gets enough oxygen: burying them can reduce their numbers. In a fully cycled tank their numbers are high enough that they'll bounce back rapidly (population can double in a day).

Some fine mechanical filtration can help as well.

Keep an eye on the fish: they'll let you know if there's a problem. Don't be too impatient… if it takes a week it takes a week, if it takes two it takes two.

[thefirethief]

Thanks very much for the help folks! Thats cleared things up for me, especially now that I know that water changes wont affect the bio cycle. I tend to loosely vacuum the gravel anyway, so I should be ok that way.

Ive actually been stirring up the particles in the tank then using a really fine net to catch them. Ive been doing that a couple of times a day and its definately working wonders.

I think some of my Java Moss might be adding to the Nitrates. Its not looking the best, although Im going to change my lighting to a higher WPG tomorrow and Ive only just thinned the moss out and re-planted it so hopefully things will start to take off there.

Oh fishboy, my filter is the fluval 3 plus internal. Its the only one Ive ever used so dont really know if its good or not, seems to be doing its job though.

thanks, thanks and thanks again!