When do I do a water change

[adamber]

Hi me again,

I have been reading loads of web sites to get info on how to manage my new tank...

There are loads of different view on IF you should change the water, WHEN to change it, HOW MUCH to change...

Can anyone tell me what is the best plan of how much to change and how often?

Cheers

 

[Snake Eyez]

I think that will vary depending on your specific tank. Specs on your tank may give everyone a better idea on when to change your water.

Size of tank
fish number, size, type
planted or non-planted
water parameters
etc.

 

[adamber]

Ok... tank is 5g, I have 7 Red eyed tetra, 5 neons & 4 ghost shrimp... 2 live plants.

Not sure what water parameters are... still learning!!

Thanks

 

[TKOS]

Okay that tank is heavily stocked to overstocked. I would really suggest you get a bigger tank soon. As it stands I would personally be doing a 50% water change twice a week on that tank. If it is newly setup then I would be doing taht daily as the ammonia and nitrite levels will sky rocket and you will end up loosing most of the fish.

I would read the stickies on the newbie forum page. That is some good advice.

 

[anonapersona]

Tap water parameters?

We will also want to know about you tap water, the pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phophate levels. And the pH of the tank.

If there is much nitrate and phosphate in the tap water, you may not be improving the tank by doing large and frequent water changes. In parts of the UK where these are very high, water changes should be less and you will want to concentrate on having very healthy plants which will clean these things from the water.

 

[daveedka]

After you get things settled out and can do testing, I generally target my water changes to keep nitrates at or below 20 ppm in a non or lightly planted tanks. This usually equates to 30% weekly on a lightly stocked tank like my 115, and closer to 60% weekly (2 x 30%) an a heavily stocked tank. Nitrates will tell you roughly what the pollutant level is in the tank, just remember that there are many things building up that are harder to test for so nitrate is merely the indicator.
In a planted tank, Plants consume some or all of the nitrate thus leaving no indicator test. in these tanks most of the folks I have heard from just estabilish a routine that is guesstimated at slightly more than enough (overkill is better) I'm still learning a lot when it comes to the planted tanks.