A question re: filtration, water changes, and Tropheus sp.

BrownBullhead · Dec 30, 2005

A question re: filtration, water changes, and Tropheus sp.

I feel a li'l sheepish, dumb, whatever, in asking this question, but I am quite curious to see the opinions I will receive, so here goes.

For an "established" (running longer than 6 months) aquarium, 150-gallon, filtered by a Rena Filstar xP3 w/ 2 of 6 basket trays filled with biological media, and also filtered by 3 x Hydro-Sponge #3 sponge filters, my question relates to water changes...

Is it required to maintain 50% weekly water changes in a tank this size (75 gallons per week) when only 16 Tropheus Moorii Nkonde of 3.5" to 4.0" inhabit the setup?

I would like to think I could cheat a little because of the sheer volume of water versus the amount of waste produced by 16 fish. What do you people think?

ashdavid · Dec 30, 2005

Yes it is neccesary, I have a 1850g and do weekly and sometimes bi-weekly 60% water changes, that is about 2000g a week just on that tank. There are things in the water that your average filter can not take out, so it is nessecary to do those water changes.

liv2padl · Dec 30, 2005

opinions

ok, here's mine. you certainly have great filtration but bear in mind that what your biofilter is removing is ammonia, nitrite and 'some' debris. the purpose of water changes is to remove/dilute the nitrate biproduct resulting from your biofilter and the many dissolved organic materials - proteins, amino acids, phenolic compounds, pheromones and other metabolic byproducts that a biofilter does not act upon. so in my opinion, i'd continue with the 50 percent water changes. Tropheus are expensive ... why take a chance. as an aside, i change 50-65% of the water in all my cichlid tanks (cichlids are all i keep) on a weekly basis.


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A question re: filtration, water changes, and Tropheus sp.

BrownBullhead

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ashdavid

In Search Of Better Water Quality

liv2padl

cichlidophile