Fishy cycle water changes

nerdyguy83

nerdyguy83

AC Members
May 11, 2006
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Erie, PA, US
Is there such as thing as too many water changes during a fishy cycle? I have (I think) bacteria colonies started from cultured gravel from my lfs. I am a week into a fishy cycle and I am still showing a high ammonia count without nitrites and with few (<5mg/L) nitrates. Is there a limit to the water changes I should do? I have been doing 25% daily, but because of the lack of progress I am thinking of doubling that to 2 25%s per day or even more. What is the maximum I should do? Should I do 75% changes? Should I do 2 or 3 25%s at a time (refilling and then doing another change)? What is the best course of action here?
 
What you are doing right now is sufficient. I would only recommend increasing the water changes if your levels get too high. Cycling a tank can take anywhere from 4-8 weeks and you will just have to wait it out. Your tank is trying to form beneficial bacteria so sometimes it is better to do less and let the tank settle down. Patience really is a virtue in this hobby. Good luck with your new tank. I hope this helps.

Marinemom
 
You shoudl do as many water changes as you need to keep your fish healthy. If ammonia shows at 1ppm or higher then change enoguh water to get it down. That may be 20% or 50%. If nitrites get above 0.25 ppm then same thing.

You really can't do too many water changes as far as fish are concerned. Water changes will not hurt the growth of bacteria as you are just removing the available food (ammonia and nitrite) that are in excess of what the current bacteria can consume. And that bacteria can only grow at a certain rate. MOre food doesn't mean faster growth.

Patience is a good thing, but hard work is in store as well. With a bacterial seed things should be sped up. Good luck.
 
Cycle Time

Most of the time the cycle takes 4 to 8 weeks, but I have seen it take as long as 12 weeks once. Very large water changes will not hurt your fish provided your not drasticly changing the temperature or other water parameters. I would suggest that you change enough to maintain a low, but still detectable amount of ammonia. The only reason for maintaining a detectable amount is so that you can monitor things. The water changes won't effect your cycle, because there will always be some ammonia in the water for the bacteria to feed on. Just don't let the filter or gravel dry out or let the fish get stuck high and dry, guess that would be the upper limit for percent water changed. :) The reason for keeping the level of ammonia as low as possible is to minimize stress on the fish.

The only reason that people generally recommend smaller more frequent water changes is because smaller amounts are harder to screw up, or do less damage when you do.
 
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