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Water Changes

Started by Guest_Sombunya_* , Mar 30 2010 10:17 AM

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13 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Sombunya_*

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Posted 30 March 2010 - 10:17 AM

My tanks are well established and the water where I live uses free chlorine for disinfection. I use PRIME and treat the change water. I service the HOB filters using de-chlor'ed water every so often.

Also, I treated a wounded fish with Melafix in a 10 gallon tank doing 100% water changes every day on the advice of a member here. The fish is fine today.

In another forum a person was telling me that 50% water changes every two weeks is too much. I always thought that no amount of changing is too much if the temp and treatment are correct.

Is this true? Are too many changes stressful?

Edited by Sombunya, 30 March 2010 - 10:18 AM.

#2 Guest_joshuapope2001_*

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Posted 30 March 2010 - 11:26 AM

I strongly believe that water changes are a must. Water changes should be done according to your bio load. In my 125 Gallon tank, which houses several large messy fish, I do two 40%changes a week. This keeps my nitrates around 20ppm and no visible amount of ammonia or nitrite. Now in my 29 gallon I never show more than 15ppm of nitrite no matter how long I go without a water change. The longest I have gone is 6 months to see what the water would do in this tank. I still change out 25% every other week to keep things fresh. I find most natives are pretty hardy and can handle 50% once or twice a week as long as proper water change techniques are used.

#3 Guest_schambers_*

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Posted 30 March 2010 - 01:31 PM

In another forum a person was telling me that 50% water changes every two weeks is too much. I always thought that no amount of changing is too much if the temp and treatment are correct.

You are correct. That other person is either uninformed or has something wrong with their water.

#4 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 30 March 2010 - 02:19 PM

Large water changes would only be a problem if the new water is a lot different in temp or chemistry from the old water.

#5 Guest_Sombunya_*

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Posted 31 March 2010 - 10:53 PM

Thank you for the replies.

#6 Guest_sonix215_*

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Posted 01 April 2010 - 12:36 PM

Speaking of water changes. I have a 55gal Long current stock contains 5 green sunfish and a yellow bullhead and my pleco that i've had since i first had this tank. I have to HOB filters. one being a Penguin 350 bio-wheel and the other i think is a whisper? i bought it with the tank. both rated for 55+. My water seems to NEVER be clear. i do 25% water changes every weekend. and have some live plants. any reason? tank has been up for 9 months. if you need the chemistry let me know and I will do so when I get back from my doc appt.

#7 Guest_schambers_*

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Posted 01 April 2010 - 04:18 PM

Speaking of water changes. I have a 55gal Long current stock contains 5 green sunfish and a yellow bullhead and my pleco that i've had since i first had this tank. I have to HOB filters. one being a Penguin 350 bio-wheel and the other i think is a whisper? i bought it with the tank. both rated for 55+. My water seems to NEVER be clear. i do 25% water changes every weekend. and have some live plants. any reason? tank has been up for 9 months. if you need the chemistry let me know and I will do so when I get back from my doc appt.

You may be overfeeding.

#8 Guest_sonix215_*

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Posted 01 April 2010 - 06:30 PM

You may be overfeeding.

i dont think i feed them that much but i'll cut down. how often should i feed? i was feeding twice a day. when i leave for work and when i get home so around 5:30am and 5pm. sprinkle some bloodworms and pellets and then bottom feeder wafers for my corys and the bullhead

#9 Guest_schambers_*

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Posted 01 April 2010 - 08:25 PM

i dont think i feed them that much but i'll cut down. how often should i feed? i was feeding twice a day. when i leave for work and when i get home so around 5:30am and 5pm. sprinkle some bloodworms and pellets and then bottom feeder wafers for my corys and the bullhead

Try feeding once a day at night, until you figure out whether that's the problem. Or try varying the food you use, I quit using a couple after I discovered that they clouded the water.

Edited by schambers, 01 April 2010 - 08:27 PM.

#10 Guest_Gene2308_*

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Posted 11 April 2010 - 06:36 AM

I realize this thread is older but wanted to add a bit:

Nearly everyone overfeeds. If you dump food in your tank and even some of it is hitting the bottom (or floating around like crazy, getting sucked up into the filter, etc.) you are putting too much in IMO and IME. Try small amounts that are being eaten basically as soon as they hit the water. Try a bit more after that, and call it a feeding.

You can even limit feedings to every 2-3 days if you want. It is nearly impossible to "starve" a fish, but quite easy to overfeed them.

Whoever told you water changes are "too much" doesn't know their arse from their elbow. It's impossible. You water cannot be too diluted of waste products and too replenished of trace elements and minerals. That's a hold-over from the thinking in the 1970's where every drop of old tank water was cherished and preserved.

It is, however, possible to change water and fail to match the temperature of the new water to the old water, causing stress. It is also possible to have a tank with so much waste that performing a large water change can actually be detrimental to the fish, which have slowly adjusted to poor water quality (high nitrate, etc.).

Those are both separate issues, not related to the water change itself.

People rasising angels and discus in the tropical hobby sometimes perform daily 70-90% water changes. They don't do this to increase their water bill. They do it to maintain the highest level of water quality and get the best growth and coloration from their fish.

Here's a few breeders who do just that:

http://angelfishgardens.com/page2.html
http://aquafind.com/...ngAngelfish.php

And a similar thread:

http://www.monsterfi...p/t-294775.html

Edited by Gene2308, 11 April 2010 - 06:39 AM.

#11 Guest_az9_*

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Posted 19 April 2010 - 09:14 PM

Speaking of water changes do any of you use a drip or minute spray of fresh water into your tanks, run at a continuous rate? My 330 gallon system isn't really an aquarium as I'm actually attempting to grow fish vs. just keep them. Consequently my water quality is under more stress as I feed at least 3 times a day up to a thousand 2 to 3 inch bluegills. (They're growing about an inch a month)

Anyway, it was suggested I set up a continuous flow along with my biofilter and mechanical filter. To that end I have a garden hose connected to my well water distribution system under pressure with a garden hose nozzle on the terminal end. The hose is clamped to the side of the stock tank and I've turned the nozzle just enough to crates a continuous fine spray of fresh well water. The incoming water is significantly colder and has some iron in it, but the inflow is small enough for it to quickly warm up to the tank temp of 76. F., and the iron is quickly filtered out with my clarifier due to the low water volume.

Edited by az9, 19 April 2010 - 09:16 PM.

#12 Guest_gzeiger_*

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Posted 20 April 2010 - 09:51 AM

I've always thought a continuous flow-through as you describe would be the best setup, but my water has chloramine so I don't see any very practical way to do it.

The feeding issue becomes tricky when you have relatively inactive bottom-dwellers sharing a tank with aggressive feeders. I have a tank where a couple bullheads and sleeper gobies are sharing space with a number of assorted sunfish, so I have to add a bunch of food at once in order to get any at all down to the lazy ones. Feeding only every couple days does help ensure that all food is eaten, even if some of it does reach the bottom.

#13 Guest_az9_*

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Posted 21 April 2010 - 12:12 PM

I've always thought a continuous flow-through as you describe would be the best setup, but my water has chloramine so I don't see any very practical way to do it.

The feeding issue becomes tricky when you have relatively inactive bottom-dwellers sharing a tank with aggressive feeders. I have a tank where a couple bullheads and sleeper gobies are sharing space with a number of assorted sunfish, so I have to add a bunch of food at once in order to get any at all down to the lazy ones. Feeding only every couple days does help ensure that all food is eaten, even if some of it does reach the bottom.

Makes sense to me. I keep forgetting there are a lot of people out there with treated water. One more advantage for me living out of town. I love rural living so much i think I'd shoot myself if I had to live in town again.