Whats the deal with water changes?

Because we said so,
Bigger,
More often.

but seriously, by the process of living, your fish will produce waste, this will be processed by beneficial bacteria in your tank but ultimately needs to be removed so your fish aren't living in it; thus changing part of the water.

more frequent changes, of larger volume, will keep the water in your tank close to the water coming from your tap... so it's more constant and stable, and in case of emergency will be less of a shock to your fish if you have to change the majority of your water (say a whole carton of food is dumped in the tank)

dougall said:

Because we said so,
Bigger,
More often.

but seriously, by the process of living, your fish will produce waste, this will be processed by beneficial bacteria in your tank but ultimately needs to be removed so your fish aren't living in it; thus changing part of the water.

more frequent changes, of larger volume, will keep the water in your tank close to the water coming from your tap... so it's more constant and stable, and in case of emergency will be less of a shock to your fish if you have to change the majority of your water (say a whole carton of food is dumped in the tank)

Click to expand...

:thm:

Mark

I like to say these are freshwater fish, the keyword here is fresh which is what water changes do freshen the water.

With the stocking you have and size of your tank, I'd do around 50% of the volume a week. Remember, it's not necessary, barring a major catastrophe, to remove all the tank contents to do a partial water change. Don't laugh, I know people who thought they needed to do this. You simply syphon off about half of the tank volume while simultaneously vacuuming the mulm and debris out of the substrate. You can purchase a syphon hose (or python) with a flared plastic tube on the end for substrate cleaning. After removing the old water, replace it with new water along with dechlorinator (if needed).

Mark

I personally aim for weekly 50% changes.

things that will affect this would be stocking level (seems like you're not heavily stocked right now) and anything in the tank that would affect chemistry (reactive substrate, rocks, live plants that sort of thing)

you can get a decent guide by testing water, if you test and detect ammonia or nitrite then change as much water as you can as soon as you can. and try to keep nitrate below 20ppm (Note testing water out of the tap will be helpful, just in case there's a reading there, if there's 10ppm nitrate out of the tap, you won't get below 10ppm in your tank by water changes alone) changing half the water will halve the readings in most cases.

but... test water often and change water out of necessity or through routine. a water change is the simplest and easiest thing you can do for the health of your tank.

I to do 50% weekly on my tanks aside from my angel grow out tank which gets 50% daily. With your stocking I would say 50% weekly and your fishies will love you for it

As for water changes, what has been said is great advice for someone starting out. I would recommend however, getting at the very least a nitrate test kit. (or even better a master test kit they are about $30 and will last years) The main thing to test for will be nitrates. You can click on the link in my signature under cycling to better understand how fish waste is processed. If you allow a huge nitrate build up, then do massive water changes, it could be harmful to the fish. Testing your water quality will give you a better idea of how often and how much needs to be done.

As for the tank, I'm not a big fan of the colorful stuff, but with these fish I bet it looks fun Non adjustable heaters are ok, but adjustable ones are better. For example, treating Ich is much more effective with the heater turned up a bit. Also if you have a cold snap, you can cheat it up a little to account for the house being colder than usual.

I would look into something for the bottom part of your tank. Ottocinclus, or corries, something like that. Nothing that gets too big.