how often

[mickey]

ARE daily 30% water changes to much in small tanks like 5 and 10 gallon,this is how often my nephew changes the water in his tanks.
I told him i thought that every 2 or 3 days ,should suffice but thought i might check it out with you guys at AC first
many thanks,
Cheers.

 

[TKOS]

Seems like it would depend on what he has in those tanks.

 

[mickey]

5gallon
2GUPPIES
10 GUPPY FRY
SOME JAVA MOSS

10 gallon
6 tiger barbs
2 corys
a few plants

 

[TKOS]

Those tanks seem like they don't need a water change that often. Probably 30% a week would be cool, especially since they have plants in them as well. But I would guess that as long as the water params (pH, temp etc...) don't fluctuate too much then it isn't going to hurt, just means a lot of work that isn't necessary.

 

[Richer]

If your nephew is willing to do 30% water changes daily, all the more power to him. I don't see a major problem with it, assuming the water he puts into his tanks are free from chlorine/chloramin.
Doing frequent water changes usually means a more stable tank. The tank conditions will be much more simliar to your tap water, which can be a good thing. If for example, something bad happened to his tanks (ie. dropping a can of food into the tank by accident), he can do several very large water changes w/o incident since the water in his tanks is close to that of tap water.

HTH
-Richer

 

[thom336]

Why try and fix something that isn't broken?

If the hat fits, wear it.

Thom.

 

[RTR]

If I were willing and able to do the plumbing for it, all my tanks would be set for small daily changes, so I'm w/Richer on this. "Small" in this sense would be a bit more than the quantity required to keep the tank water identical to the tap parameters.

Meridian makes a good automatic changer which I've used and love.