I need help ending a debate on water changes!

How often do you do water changes?

  • More than once per week

    Votes: 32 13.1%
  • Once per week

    Votes: 130 53.1%
  • Bi-weekly

    Votes: 59 24.1%
  • Once per month

    Votes: 21 8.6%
  • Less than once per month

    Votes: 8 3.3%
  • And how much at once? 10-20%

    Votes: 35 14.3%
  • 20-30%

    Votes: 49 20.0%
  • 30-50%

    Votes: 53 21.6%

  • Total voters
    245
It is because they do it infrequently and do not match the temps correctly and shock the fish. I have gone 3 weeks without a water change and no nitrates so far.
 
I am not an advocate of using nitrates to judge if the TDS is high..I prefer planted tanks and try to get my tanks to the heavily plantedside. when this happens the nitrates can quickly go to 0 and nitrogen (nitrates ) need to be added..with planted tanks I try to maintain the nitrates btwn 10-20..lucky me the nitrates out of the tap is 20...some say high but in reality the tds is low..I do fairly large changes on all my tanks 30-40% 2-3 X per week..some say too much..

I've been chastised by some on other forums for doing this many large changes as it is stressful on the fish..of course this raises ??? from me..especially in discus tanks where a good water change schedule benefit the discus..of course I usually consider the source (this person raises discus and does 30-40 % once every 7-10 days) . I know from experience that clean water helps the fish..so I'll continue to do 30-40% changes 2-3 X week
 
water changes

I do a 10 gallon once a week on my 50 and 15 gallons once a month and rinse out my fluval. I clean gravel in different areas each week. Water changes is basically a fishes best friend. Those who say they do a water change once a month and say their fish are fine. The fish basically get accusted to bad water quality .
 
Thanks for the input, but this thread is over 2 yrs old....:)
 
AquariaCentral.com