Monthly Water Chanes???
- Thread starter fishieperson321
- Start date
I change 50% weekly on my planted tanks since I'm adding nitrate phosphorus and potassium to the water during the week. I'm also adding trace minerals in there as well. I don't want the levels of nutrients to reach inhibiting levels so I need to regularly change some water. The fish always seem to appreciate the waterchanges.
IMO you can't do to many waterchanges, wear yourself out possibly but there are ways of getting around that. I know of at least one US fish breeding establishment that does up to a full replacement waterchange each day, they have new water comeing in and old draining all the time.
The other end of the spectrum is the method of husbandry Diana Walstad developed. Almost no waterchanges, very light stocking, let the plants in the tanks get natural light
IMO you can't do to many waterchanges, wear yourself out possibly but there are ways of getting around that. I know of at least one US fish breeding establishment that does up to a full replacement waterchange each day, they have new water comeing in and old draining all the time.
The other end of the spectrum is the method of husbandry Diana Walstad developed. Almost no waterchanges, very light stocking, let the plants in the tanks get natural light
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So will it hurt if I do it once a month? I would only change 25-45% at a time and 2 weeks later, change may cartridge. Do I have to change the cartridge once a month or can it wait 2-6 months? My filter is an Elite Hush 20 on a 10 gallon fantail goldfish tank. I plan to upgrade tanks soon, and I don't have undergravel filtration. How often should I clean the filter tubes and how far should it be from the gravel?? I know someone who has went a year without a water change or gravel cleaning. Is this safe? I wouldn't let it get no farther than 30 days, but will probably do it every 21 days or 4 weeks.
Fishie, buy a test kit and just keep testing your water. If you keep it lightly stocked, you may be able to get away with it. Just MAKE SURE you test the water, if anything starts to go above zero, do a water change. If your fish start looking sick, do a water change, but if it were me, I would just do it every 2 weeks. It really isnt that hard and if you are really not wanting to do water changes, aquarium keeping is not for you. If you are planning on doing it once a month, it will probably end up being every 6 weeks, then every 2 months, and so on...... just do what is right for you and your tank. Everyone is different.
Hmm... I know goldfish are pretty messy little dudes, so I don't think it would be wise to do water changes so infrequently [Personally, I do a minimum 50% water change twice (or even thrice) every week, but my tanks are overstocked atm]. Going a full year without changing water isn't great. Sure, some things can survive, but it's really tempting fate to run a tank like that-- if anything should happen that would require a large water change all of a sudden, like a well-meaning child dumping an entire container of food in the tank, you're pretty well SOL due to the dreaded old tank syndrome.
As for changing cartridges, just give them a good swish in the old tank water after every water change. You don't really need to replace them as frequently as the companies that make them would like you to believe in most cases.
I change mine when they're starting to look especially ratty, which seems to be around 6 months or so.
As for changing cartridges, just give them a good swish in the old tank water after every water change. You don't really need to replace them as frequently as the companies that make them would like you to believe in most cases.
I change mine when they're starting to look especially ratty, which seems to be around 6 months or so.
mandimoron said:As for changing cartridges, just give them a good swish in the old tank water after every water change. You don't really need to replace them as frequently as the companies that make them would like you to believe in most cases.
I tried swishing them today, and when I put it back in the filter, the red insert clog indicator was raised, so I took it outside and sprayed it really good with a jet of water from the waterhose. It got clean that way. I just checked it a second ago, and it was a light green tint, but not full. Water was freely passing through the media. Won't the carbon release everything it caught after a couple of months? I have foam in front of the cartridge for my bio media.
