how often can you water change if necessary?

S

sirgardens

AC Members
Jun 23, 2006
27
0
0
49
Arleta, Ca
How long do you have to waite for the next water change if Nitrate levels are high in a african cichlid tank?

Can you change water too often?

Is it a good idea to add bacteria/enzyme or nitrate ion exchange resin.

thanks alot you guys.
 
Last edited:
You can change the water all day long if you want....

As long as you're not subjecting your livestock to drastic temperature or ph shifts, then there's no problem.....

Sure some fish are bothered by the splashing of new water being added and the extra activity introduced by your siphon and what not, but there are ways to keep that to a minimum.

I have heard that if the nitrates are very high, the fish could die from stress induced by the sudden drop in nitrate levels, so if you have extremely high nitrates, then maybe you should wait 24hrs between large water changes of at least 50%.

I do weekly 50% water changes on all of my tanks.

HTH
 
Thanks alot SoCalSunset very helpful.Your responce was so quick I will do a water change right now, since you did not give me a chance to get too lazy to do it today.
 
How bad are your nitrates? How big a tank?

If they're to high 50% pwcs are a bad idea, you'll shock the fish.

A better course of action would be 25% pwcs daily for 3 or 4 days then 50% pwcs till the proper level of nitrate is reached.

The reason for 25% pwcs is so the nitrates drop slowly and the fish can acclimate to them as they did while it was rising. To fast a drop would be no different than bringing fish home from the LFS and just dumping them into your tank.
 
SoCalSunset said:
You can change the water all day long if you want....

As long as you're not subjecting your livestock to drastic temperature or ph shifts, then there's no problem.....
Click to expand...
A change in pH isn't going to bother then unless it is drastic (from 6-9, for example) or accompanied by a change in the TDS. Temperature is more of a problem.

I have heard that if the nitrates are very high, the fish could die from stress induced by the sudden drop in nitrate levels, so if you have extremely high nitrates, then maybe you should wait 24hrs between large water changes of at least 50%.

I do weekly 50% water changes on all of my tanks.
Click to expand...
TDS, not nitrates. It's a sudden change in the total content of the dissolved solids in the tank that can send them into osmotic shock, not the nitrates themselves.

Roan
 
Yes, I guess the question should be how long since the last change. If it was very long (more than a few weeks) then I would say take it easy and do many small changes over the course of a few days before starting in on large changes.
 
Good catch IceH20, 25% is a lot better percentage to start off with when dealing with neglected tanks, if thats the case.

On a side note, how do you measure TDS?

I remember hearing about that from a board member named RTR, but I dont remember a way to measure it which makes it trivial to worry about IMO, since it gets taken care of with routine water changes anyways.
 
I think there are so many items that are involved in total dissolved solids,that one test based on one element would not be conclusive. Some testing methods can be done, but may be cost prohibitive for the average aquarist. I do not remember the exact test methods, but we used to measure the TDS on primary and secondary water in the power plants, but I am not an engineering laboratory technician.

The TDS is not trivial from a consistency standpoint and the regular water changes helps maintain conditions without the need for direct testing. Testing for nitrates is relatively easy and can be an indicator for other issues.

Hope I did not make a misleading statement.
 
SoCalSunset said:
On a side note, how do you measure TDS?
Click to expand...
With a TDS meter.

I remember hearing about that from a board member named RTR, but I dont remember a way to measure it which makes it trivial to worry about IMO, since it gets taken care of with routine water changes anyways.
Click to expand...
TDS is not a trival matter, however you are correct in that if proper maintenance is done and the tank is not subject to high stocking levels, then it is mostly likely not something you need to worry about.

Then again, I don't know anyone who overstocks their tank and doesn't do proper water changes, do you? And yes, considering the number of posts AC gets with people who do not do proper water changes and who do over stock their tanks, I'm being a tad sarcastic here.

Roan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom