water changes

We consider them expensive! but I feel sorry for you. Mine was about 1 3/4" when I bought him for $29.00 once they pass 3" they start getting pretty costly. a 12 incher will usually be between $150 and $200 if you can find one in this area. my little guy has passed the 3 inch mark already and considering the way he feeds, I imagine he'll be full grown in a less than a year.
Dave
 
Speaking of water changes, as my tank is starting its 3rd week, the water has gotten ridiculously cloudy. I've been told it's natural, part of the cycle, and having changed the water (10% (2.5 gals) 10 days ago and 20% (5 gals) today) I've received conflicting opinions-- changing the water will lengthen the cycle and make the cloudiness worse, and keep changing the water.

What's the right thing to do?

On a side note, the water change has not helped. The water clarified for a moment, but it's now back to the old situation. it's 13 inches or so deep, and i can't see the intake of the filter or the heater in the back!
 
liuj1,
Water changes have no real effect on the cycle assuming you don't introduce chlorine or something else that will actually kill the bacteria. The truly minute amounts of bacteria that you may remove are insignificant at best. the bacteria have to have a surface to cling to, so the percentages lean very heavily towards your filter media and decor. The cloudiness (if it's white) is a bacteria bloom and will take care of itself in time as the different bacteria in your tank balance out. the bacteria that cause the white cloudiness are not the same as the ones you are trying to estabilish for your bio-filter, but they are a very normal part of the whole aquarium picture. If it's green, turn off your light. algea likes ammonia and light, and green water isn't hard to create during cycling.

If you are doing a fishless cycle water changes are largely unnessesary during the cycle you just need to do a big one at the end to reduce the nitrates created during the fishless cycle. just watch your ph and Kh and if they start to drop add small amounts of baking soda to correct them.
 
I'm actually running a fishy cycle--

in regards to adding baking soda-- is there a guideline on how much to use?
 
Since you're doing a fishy cycle, you need to be changing the water constantly to keep the ammonia down as low as possible so as not to kill or seriously harm your fish. It may slow the cycling down some, but it may also save your fish, so it's worth it to have the cycling take a little longer. Ammonia is deadly to fish. That's what's so nice about fishless cycles- no fish to worry about.
 
Agreed that with a fishy cycle, you will want to do constant water changes. Either way it won't slow the cycle. But when the cycle is done you will have to add more fish very slowly. Also if there are fish in the tank, baking soda is something to be very careful with. However if you are doing water changes frequently you probably won't have to worry about kh drops unless your tapwater is very KH defecient to begin with. The concern for kh drop comes from the bio-acidification process eating up huge amounts of buffer during your fishless cycle. water cchanges and the fact that you are working with a far lower ammonia level should keep this from being an issue at all.
Dave
 
Well, the changes are going, but again, is there a guideline to adding baking soda to fishy cycle tanks? The pH is starting to get on the low side (6.8 thereabouts) and I'd like to raise it a little (along with the buffering capacity of the water) without resorting to other chemical treatments.
 
Essentially you want to maintain KH at 3 dkh or above IMO and IME. IF your tapwater is low or right at that number then the buffer gets eaten up and PH drops. I personally keep my change water at 4 dkh by adding 1 teaspoon of baking soda to every 30 gallons of water. That small amount of baking soda raises my ph from 7.6 to 8.0, thus it is critical to be very careful when adding it to a tank. my water starts out between 2-3 dkh. so it doesn't take much. If your tap is at or above 3 dkh, I'd go with a bag of crushed coral in your filter to counteract the buffer getting eaten up. Crushed coral is to slow to help with change water but helps immensly with maintaining a certain level in the tank. I'd start with about a tablespoon in a filter bag (or old clean pantyhose) and watch it for a couple of weeks. if you have too much it will very slowly creep up, if you don't have enough it will very slowly drop. either way crushed coral does things very slowly which allows you to minitor and fix before it causes problems. If your tap/ change water is below 3 then I'd add the baking soda enough to get it to that level or slightly higher.
 
If you're seeing dropping KH and/or pH during a fishy cycle, I'd say you're not changing enough water. In addition to stepping up your water change to keep ammonia below .5 ppm at all times, you drop into your filter a tablespoon or two of crushed coral, in a filter bag or nylon stocking. The coral will slowly dissolve, adding to KH and stabilizing pH. Most important, though, is to keep up the water changes.

HTH,
Jim
 
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