how much water can i change w/o stressing the fish? i'm going to get a 29 gal for my oranda and i want to do a lot of water changes. (biowheel 330 or 2 biowheel 170)which is better? . would the power filters creat too much current for an oranda?
water change
- Thread starter hle_81
- Start date
Short of leaving your fish high and dry, as much as you want.
There are some considerations: you'll want the incoming water to be the same temp and pH as the outgoing water. You don't want to change water in such huge quantities and frequencies that you stress the fish, but a big part of that in the method, not the quantity. If you're chasing the fish around, or keeping it from getting to it's normal hiding spot, you'll stress it with even the smallest water change. Turning off the lights during the change will help reduce stress, too.
I would go with small changes every other day or three. This way, you can clean the substrate completely, regularly. Figure out how much water you take out to clean 1/3 of the substrate. On Mondays, clean the right 1/3, Wednesday the middle 1/3, and Fridays the left 1/3. Start over the next Monday. Or whichever days work fo ryou --just a thought.
Another option--look into reverse flow under gravel--this keep the substrate clean, and then you just need a good mechanical filter that is cleaned regularly.
There are some considerations: you'll want the incoming water to be the same temp and pH as the outgoing water. You don't want to change water in such huge quantities and frequencies that you stress the fish, but a big part of that in the method, not the quantity. If you're chasing the fish around, or keeping it from getting to it's normal hiding spot, you'll stress it with even the smallest water change. Turning off the lights during the change will help reduce stress, too.
I would go with small changes every other day or three. This way, you can clean the substrate completely, regularly. Figure out how much water you take out to clean 1/3 of the substrate. On Mondays, clean the right 1/3, Wednesday the middle 1/3, and Fridays the left 1/3. Start over the next Monday. Or whichever days work fo ryou --just a thought.
Another option--look into reverse flow under gravel--this keep the substrate clean, and then you just need a good mechanical filter that is cleaned regularly.