water changes...how often

Yep anything more than a few degrees under what you run at is too much of a shock to the fish, it will be a rapid temp drop especially if your doing 50% change. If you have a spare heater I would. I dont so I try and get it right at the tap and dechlorinate in the buckets. I dont know if the hot water from the hot water tank absorbs anything from the tank or element so I am unsure if this is the normal practice for other people. I dont see much other choice. What do others do? Anyone?
 
Dunluce2 said:
Hey Kym, thanks for the goods on that website. I'm in shock. Are they Aust $ prices cause if thats correct i can cerianly see why your shopping online. Like you said all that gear would cost 600% more in a pet store. Thats makes a better system sooooo much more attainable. I'd spread that word to all fish folk in Australia. Thank again
Dunluce
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Sorry taken me so long to reply, had a busy week... yup all prices are in AUD and include GST, its the real deal. I was questioning it the first time i ordered some stuff but i had the gear at my door in less than a week... FYI i'm currently setting up a 680 litre tank so yeah every dollar i save makes things a little easier... For the record setting up a tank of that size is NOT cheap... In regards to adelaide, its a country town compaired to sydney but its nice and relaxing, can actually chill (takes me 12min to drive from home to the centre of the city) plus there are god knows how many specialist aquarium stores here...

Kym
 
Dunluce2 said:
Yep anything more than a few degrees under what you run at is too much of a shock to the fish, it will be a rapid temp drop especially if your doing 50% change. If you have a spare heater I would. I dont so I try and get it right at the tap and dechlorinate in the buckets. I dont know if the hot water from the hot water tank absorbs anything from the tank or element so I am unsure if this is the normal practice for other people. I dont see much other choice. What do others do? Anyone?
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In my tanks i have never had a problem with the temp of the tap water. The MAX it ever drops with a 50% change is like 1.5 degrees c, (my cichlid tank drops a little more cos that ones sittin at about 27 degrees) I just stick the bucket under the RO tap and tip it into the tank slowly, never had a problem.
 
Really, Fair dinkum. Straight from the tap. Summer no worries but winter here the water can be 18-20 degrees celcius. Surely the water temp would drop more than a few degree with a 50% water change. I get as close to 24 degrees as i can. I never worried with the goldfish, they seemed enticed by it. They started to chased each other in mock spawn runs. Quite amusing. Adelaide I would have thought was the same. You are at the same latitude i think. We get your weather anyway. Latitude is east/west isnt it. { thats sad, a 33 year old asking that sort of question!!} Anyway you get the drift. Yeah the new tanks a back burner dream but i can start to piece stuff together in anticipation. As a whole daunting but in pieces achievable. Says me , the man without the rudimentry test kits. lol. they are on order.

Dunluce
 
My water change advice seems odd.

Hi People,

I have been going to a very well-respected LFS whose owner, Justin, told me that my pair of checkerboard cichlids died from ph shock because I changed about 30% of their water.

I have a 20 long tank, it is cycled, 0 nitrites, low nitrates, no ammonia. I have three juvenile laetacara curviceps.

Is ph shock really the answer? Justin sold me a rainbow shark who chased the fish and my hunch is that the shark did more damage than the water change.

He says I must not add any fish for two weeks. This is fine with me, but...why?

THANKS for any help I hated losing those lovely checkerboards. Rainbow shark has been rehomed.
 
It depends on the stocking level and frequency of water changes. I do weekly water changes of ~75% on all of my tanks (stock lists in my sig) with no ill effects; quite the opposite, in fact.

However, if you were to go a month or more without a water change, the bacteria which break down ammonia and nitrite will consume other chemicals from your water that will, over time, lower the pH. This isn't an issue if you do regular partial water changes, though.
 
I do regular partial water changes. During cycling, every three days, now, about every ten days.

I wish I knew what to do! My curviceps are still hiding.
 
Stop respecting "Justin". Did he have some kind of test results pre/post water change that led him to believe there was a large ph gradient? I would be worried about shopping at a lfs that thinks a 30% water change could kill your fish. LFS tanks (with thier stocking levels) should all be recieving at least 30% changes weekly.

I do 40-50% weekly and have nothing but healthy, fast growing fish, and low aglea growth to show for it. As for your dwarfs, is there anything else in there with them? A water column with no other fish in it is taken as a cue to keep hidden by many dwarfs, because in nature this means there is a predator about. Add some pencil fish. that will draw them out.

Edit: Just re-read your post plum. Some dwarfs are pretty intolerant of other cichlid species in their tank. Not only did "Justin" sell you a shark to go in with dwarfs, he also sold you too many dwarfs for a 20g long.
 
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I CHANGE THE WATER 50% EVERY WEEK AND VACUUM THE GRAVEL EVERY OTHER WEEK. I DONT USE A HEATER FOR THE BUCKETS OF WATER I LET SIT INSIDE MY ROOM BEFORE THE WATER CHANGE AND ALL THOUGH THE WATER DROPS A FEW DEGREES, THE HEATER BRINGS IT BACK UP IN NO TIME. MY FISH DO NOT SEEM TO BE AFFECTED BY THE 2 DEGREES DROP THAT ONLY LASTS FOR ABOUT AN HOUR.
 
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Thanks for the help, Mooman et al. Your feedback is heartening, because I'd also come to the conclusion to stop trusting this lfs guy. My dwarf flags are not hiding as much, in fact they seem downright jaunty now that they're the only fish in the tank.

What's a water column?

Again, thanks!
 
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