The truth must come out

[dalto]

Everthing your saying makes alot of sense to me but my question is this dont you take out alot of the benificial bacteria when you do water changes 2 times a week like some of you and it seems like your taking our 30-50% of it wouldent it be like starting the tank all over again

No, the bacteria is not in the water. The bacteria is in the filter media, the gravel and on everything else in your tank. (But mostly in the filter media)

Cycle is crap, I have used it and it plain does not work. If you need a bacteria starter try bio-spira. It DOES work.

I would recommend weekly water changes of 25-35%. Also, remember, the more frequently you do water changes the larger percent should be safe to change all else being equal. The opposite is also true, if you do water changes less frequently you should not change as much of the water at a time. Because of this, when you do infrequent water changes you not only have built up nitrates in the water but can take less away with each water change.

 

[orangeguppies]

i have a 40 gallon tank filttered and filled with fish and some plants and never change my water and i never have problems and the quality is alsways right. adding fish is simple enough just let the fish sit in the bags in the aquaium water for 30min and before releaseing put food in the tank to prevent other fish from being in the way.

 

[khombre]

Everthing your saying makes alot of sense to me but my question is this dont you take out alot of the benificial bacteria when you do water changes 2 times a week like some of you and it seems like your taking our 30-50% of it wouldent it be like starting the tank all over again

Not really. Most of your beneficial bacteria will be attached to surfaces in the tank like substrate, decor, and your filter media as well. Only a small and almost negligible portion of your beneficial bacteria will be with the water you are taking out.

 

[mandimoron]

There is a reason why everyone's tank maintenance procedures are different, and that is simply because no two tanks are alike. That's why there are so many different answers to seemingly simple questions, I think.

1) Depends on a lot of factors, such as the number of fish per gallon of water, and as such, no one answer will be applicable to all tanks in the history of aquaria. I think in most circumstances, though, water changes should be at least 30% of your tank's volume, and should be done at least once a week. But, as I said, there are exceptions to this rule. The actual size of the tank in question is, as someone already stated, irrelevant.

2) Again, there is no one specific answer that can be applied across the board in all cases. The best way to acclimate a new fish will depend on the kind of fish, and probably on differences in water conditions as well. Therefore, it is likely best to ask about the individual fish.

 

[sirasoni]

i have a 40 gallon tank filttered and filled with fish and some plants and never change my water and i never have problems and the quality is alsways right. adding fish is simple enough just let the fish sit in the bags in the aquaium water for 30min and before releaseing put food in the tank to prevent other fish from being in the way.

:thud:

 

[plah831]

Newbie101, Cycle and the other bacterial additive products (StressZyme, TheraP to name a couple more) are not the right kind of bacteria for freshwater tanks. Most of them contain Nitrosomas and Nitrobacter whch are effective in saltwater, but not FW. I recently went to the Marineland Bio-Spira webpage and they list their bacteria as Nitrospira, Nitrosomonas, and Nitrosospira. I then looked up the inventor's name on an academic server and found that he has published scientific papers in the past 10 years stating his discovery. For many years, people assumed that the same species of bacteria were doing the same thing in SW and FW situations, but he has disproven this.

Don't worry, I used to use StressZyme, Cycle, and TheraP myself. Another thing that tipped me off that they were no good is that they sit on the shelf for years (StressZyme has an expiration date of 5 years from now!) without any food. How can a living thing survive for years in a bottle without food? It just doesn't make sense. Bio-Spira must be handled very carefully and kept in a refridgerator or else the bacteria die and become useless, and the container says so. That tips me off that it is a legit product.

Hope that helps instead of being overwhelming! I'm glad you're asking these questions directly, instead of trying to gather that info from random threads This way you'll get direct answers, eh? You'll graduate from "Newbie" to "Expert101Balla" soon enough!

 

[dorkfish]

i have a 40 gallon tank filttered and filled with fish and some plants and never change my water and i never have problems and the quality is alsways right.

Lets see you keep this tank up for 8-10 years... and keep fish living in the tank. Water changes is the only way you can maitntain live fish in a tank for a large period of time. How long have you had your tank up anyway?

 

[Newbie101balla]

this is great stuff guys so most of the bacteria from wut i understood is on the filter media decor gravel etc so i'm guessing you couldent do something like put in a new filter media and do a big water change afterwords at the same time bc that would be taking to much of the benificial bacteria away. Am i getting this write?

Besides keeping the amonia down wut else do water changes help with that make the tank so healthy

 

[Hereford]

It's like riding a bicycle. You watch others, decide who does it best and try to emulate them. You might fall down. You then ponder whether it was something you did wrong or some unknown influence. Watch, listen, learn, then try again.

I change about 20-40% every week or so. Pre-change nitrate is near 40ppm and around 20ppm afterwards. This works for me and apparently the fish too. I haven't looked at ammonia or nitrite for ages; they are never there. I'm as much concerned about the condition of the filter. I change the lint bag whenever there is a substantial bypass. Algae buildup is a minor issue in my HOB. I no longer dread the thought of destroying the beneficial bacteria there. I hose out the filter body with tap water (actually the garden hose has a more powerful stream). When the bio-filter screen looks "gooey" I bang it on the fence and rinse it in tap water. You can bet I was concerned at first that this would damage the health of the tank but it hasn't yet.

 

[dalto]

this is great stuff guys so most of the bacteria from wut i understood is on the filter media decor gravel etc so i'm guessing you couldent do something like put in a new filter media and do a big water change afterwords at the same time bc that would be taking to much of the benificial bacteria away. Am i getting this write?

Sort of, you can do water changes as often as you want regardless of what else you are doing becuase almost NONE of the bacteria is in the water. The only time you want to be careful with water changes is when your tank is still cycling. This is because when the bacteria colonies are still growing, if you take the chemicals in the water away you will slow down your cycle. That being said, during a fishy cycle you still have to do water changes if ammonia or nitrite get above safe levels because it is better to slow you cycle slightly than have dead fish. The morale of this story is during a new cycle test you water every day and once your tank is cycled, frequent water changes are better.

Besides keeping the amonia down wut else do water changes help with that make the tank so healthy

Once your tank is cycled you should not have any ammonia in your tank. The water changes remove nitrates and reduce the amount of dissolved solids in your tank. Also, the more frequently you do water changes, the closer your tap water is to the consistency of the water in your tank. This means the water changes are less shocking to your fish.