Water changes???
- Thread starter simtu
- Start date
c:
Yes it should be same temp and done once a week and as Flyfly said usually 50% is good. Also if you can age the water in a drum or bucket or something for a few days, a dechlorinater is not needed unless you have chloramines in your tap water which will mean you will need to treat it with something.
This is my change water holding tank.Click here , And here
This is my change water holding tank.Click here , And here
I third 50% or more, once a week. I Python is also a good tool when doing a water change. It connects the sink to the tank. So water changes and re fills are easy. It can be found at: www.bigalsonline.com just search "Python".
I will also agree on the weekly 50%+ water changes. Personally I do ~80% once a week.
It's hard to get into the routine, but after a few weeks of doing it it becomes second nature.
A python will also make it much more enjoyable. Do yourself a favor and invest in one today.
It's hard to get into the routine, but after a few weeks of doing it it becomes second nature.
A python will also make it much more enjoyable. Do yourself a favor and invest in one today.
Unless you have very fragile fish don't worry too much about getting a perfect temp match. Getting very close should be fine. If you are concerned about water being too cold consider doing more smaller water changes. 2 30% changes are roughly equal to 1 50% in the amount of waste the remove and a 30% will cause less shift in temp if things aren't equal.
Of course with many of my fish I use cold water to cause breeding reactions and this has recently led to my first baby cory catfish.
Of course with many of my fish I use cold water to cause breeding reactions and this has recently led to my first baby cory catfish.
Personally, I don't like rules of thumb about how much to change. Water quality is too much tied to things like stocking levels, feeding regimen, amount of mechanical filtration and how often it's cleaned/changed.
A lightly stocked tank with fish that are fed sparingly could get by with 10% changes every other week. A heavily stocked tank of the same size, with messy fish like cichlids or goldfish would require much more frequent and larger changes.
Many of us use nitrate levels in the tank to dictate water change schedules. Keeping nitrates below 40 ppm is good, under 20 is better. Nitrate tests don't cost too much and give you a much better indicator of water quality. (If the tank is heavily planted, nitrates are less useful as a measure.)
It almost always is better to change too much water than not enough. Fish will thrive in super clean water, but polluted, nasty water will affect growth rates, overall health, susceptibility to disease, and ability to breed.
HTH,
JIm
A lightly stocked tank with fish that are fed sparingly could get by with 10% changes every other week. A heavily stocked tank of the same size, with messy fish like cichlids or goldfish would require much more frequent and larger changes.
Many of us use nitrate levels in the tank to dictate water change schedules. Keeping nitrates below 40 ppm is good, under 20 is better. Nitrate tests don't cost too much and give you a much better indicator of water quality. (If the tank is heavily planted, nitrates are less useful as a measure.)
It almost always is better to change too much water than not enough. Fish will thrive in super clean water, but polluted, nasty water will affect growth rates, overall health, susceptibility to disease, and ability to breed.
HTH,
JIm
One thing I have found through online research and bulletin board lurking is that water change amount and frequency is one topic on which you will see the most widely divergent opinions.
Adding water that is as close to the same temp as your tank as possible, and using something to remove chloramines if they are present in your tap water (they probably are) are the two things that are universal.
As far as amount and frequency...
The "average" advice I have seen overall is somewhere between 10% and 25% per week.
At one extreme, I see most of the other people replying to your post telling you to change 50% once or even twice per week. At the other extreme end, I have a friend here at work who changes 10% once per month and has had no fish disease or death in years of doing that.
His argument is that stability is the best thing; on the other end, people who recommend more frequent and bigger changes tend to argue that water quality deteriorates rapidly in an enclosed, artificial habitat. I am sure that both arguments are right in their own way.
Since people in all camps seem to have healthy fish, I assume that to a certain degree the requirements will be based on what your water is like, how much you feed the fish, how messy the fish are, how many plants you have, and numerous other factors that all affect how rapidly your water quality changes.
My personal recommendation would be to monitor PH and Nitrates closely. See how long it generally takes for nitrates to rise over about 20 ppm or for the PH to change, and perform your changes as necessary to keep the ratings as stable as possible.
I have been performing monthly changes of about 35% for the past few months, and things seem to be going fine, but your tank conditions may call for something different.
The main point I want to make is the amount and frequency are not set in stone, experiment some and find the routine that works for you and your fish.
Adding water that is as close to the same temp as your tank as possible, and using something to remove chloramines if they are present in your tap water (they probably are) are the two things that are universal.
As far as amount and frequency...
The "average" advice I have seen overall is somewhere between 10% and 25% per week.
At one extreme, I see most of the other people replying to your post telling you to change 50% once or even twice per week. At the other extreme end, I have a friend here at work who changes 10% once per month and has had no fish disease or death in years of doing that.
His argument is that stability is the best thing; on the other end, people who recommend more frequent and bigger changes tend to argue that water quality deteriorates rapidly in an enclosed, artificial habitat. I am sure that both arguments are right in their own way.
Since people in all camps seem to have healthy fish, I assume that to a certain degree the requirements will be based on what your water is like, how much you feed the fish, how messy the fish are, how many plants you have, and numerous other factors that all affect how rapidly your water quality changes.
My personal recommendation would be to monitor PH and Nitrates closely. See how long it generally takes for nitrates to rise over about 20 ppm or for the PH to change, and perform your changes as necessary to keep the ratings as stable as possible.
I have been performing monthly changes of about 35% for the past few months, and things seem to be going fine, but your tank conditions may call for something different.
The main point I want to make is the amount and frequency are not set in stone, experiment some and find the routine that works for you and your fish.
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Every case is looked upon as a totaly new person, and we all look at the facts and give our best advise. So there is no "adverage" that applies to EVERY single person here. Me and others here change the water every week or two, for many reasons. Just not to keep nitrate leves down. An example of this is that fish release hormons into the water that should be removed.