Water Changes how many do you do a week ??

[goodoo]

was wondering what everyones water change regime was like . I do 60 % once a week. Sometimes I will throw in a 2nd. And when I stuff around with the tank a complete change. Some answers would be great and thanks guys.

[ILLUSN]

when breeding 90% daily

display tank 30% every 48-72 hours.

if NO3 ever got to 20ppm or more 50% every 48hrs or 90% to bring it down first then 50% every 2 days with a filter clean.

discus LOVE good water, keep your water good and you'll never have any problems with your fish.

[Merrilyn]

In the ten foot tank containing 1500 lts, 30% twice a week and in the corner tanks which hold 250 lts, 50% twice a week. They carry a heavier fish load than the ten footer.

Breeding tanks 50% twice a day and fry tanks 50% three times a day.

Breeding tanks and fry tanks are fully sterilized, including filters then cycled using a fishless cycle before any fish are added.

I'm with Illusn. Pristine water is essential if you want to keep your fish in top health.

[lpiasente]

70-80 % twice a week and if can I get another one in I do. One of the kids said the other day mum you care more about your fish than us. :lol:

[Ghoti]

OK folks, excuse the newbie ignorance, but if the water parameters are OK, why change it?

Put another way, if PH is 6.5, KH 60ppm, GH 180ppm, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate <20ppm then why remove 1/2 or more only to replace it with water treatd to reach the same parameters?

Not wishing to be controversial. Just at face value for a newbie it seems like a change for changes' sake when stability seems to be another of the the over-riding principles of fish husbandary.

Cheers,
Scott

[ILLUSN]

fish produce many diffrent waste compounds, not just ammonia. Without a spectrophotometer or a GC it is impossible to test for these substances, the only end product we can test for is NO3, this is consumed by some bacterial species and plants as a result even if it is low (in some of my planted tanks it stays at 0) the water still contains compounds that adversly effect the fish. The only way to remove the un quantifiable substance is to do water changes.

Also, every water change you do reduces the "bacterial load" on the fish, that is organisums that the immune system of the fish has to battle constantly to maintain health, if these counts stay low then the fish spends more energy on growing and living then on holding back disease.

Your tank water should be the same as your source water, PERIOD. Most of the eastern states use rainwater to fill dams and domestic supply the water is relitivly constant, this is what determains your stability. If you choose to modify your source water you MUST conditiion all water that enters your systems.

To support 9 pairs of discus in 900L (total volume breeding tanks) of water I had 700L of water sitting in barrels for water changes, each had a heater, airstone and a box filter with a pouch of chemizorb, water was heated, airated, PH'd and conditioned to the parameters i wanted (ph 5.5 temp 28C kh~0 gh<80). my grow out tanks on town water (total volume 1400L) had the same water storage 700L but these were just heated and airated, no need to adjust the ph (ph 7.0-7.2 temp 28C kh ~3, gh 80-100ppm), these were always much more stable.

[goodoo]

This is good, thanks for the replies. Anyone else make water changes ? It would be good to get an Idea of how much water people change. Thanks again for the input.

[TW]

My planted tank only gets 50% once a week. My wild discus tank, with a white sand substrate, gets a poop patrol every day. To get out all the mess the discus & the BN leave on the white sand, this ends up in 60-80 litres being removed from that tank a day. On top of that, it gets a 50% once a week.

You would be surprised how much filth discus can make in one day on white sand. The tank would be pretty yucky looking in no time at all - not to mention unhealthy. Densley planted tanks use up some of this waste, but otherwise it just sits there. As discus like to feed from the bottom, if I leave the poop there, I hate the thought of how much poop they bite & spit out when eating their dinner.

[Mickey C]

On my two smaller tanks I'll vacuum twice a week and do a 25% change once a week on top of that. One is a quarantine tank and the other is a smaller display tank but will never house delicate fish.

My display tank is 10% a day, with a 25% change once a week. With all that said, I'm yet to get a water barrel :)

[Ghoti]

fish produce many diffrent waste compounds, not just ammonia. Without a spectrophotometer or a GC it is impossible to test for these substances, the only end product we can test for is NO3, this is consumed by some bacterial species and plants as a result even if it is low (in some of my planted tanks it stays at 0) the water still contains compounds that adversly effect the fish. The only way to remove the un quantifiable substance is to do water changes.

Also, every water change you do reduces the "bacterial load" on the fish, that is organisums that the immune system of the fish has to battle constantly to maintain health, if these counts stay low then the fish spends more energy on growing and living then on holding back disease.

Your tank water should be the same as your source water, PERIOD. Most of the eastern states use rainwater to fill dams and domestic supply the water is relitivly constant, this is what determains your stability. If you choose to modify your source water you MUST conditiion all water that enters your systems.

To support 9 pairs of discus in 900L (total volume breeding tanks) of water I had 700L of water sitting in barrels for water changes, each had a heater, airstone and a box filter with a pouch of chemizorb, water was heated, airated, PH'd and conditioned to the parameters i wanted (ph 5.5 temp 28C kh~0 gh<80). my grow out tanks on town water (total volume 1400L) had the same water storage 700L but these were just heated and airated, no need to adjust the ph (ph 7.0-7.2 temp 28C kh ~3, gh 80-100ppm), these were always much more stable.

"Ahhh I see said the blind man".

Thanks for that. I have been doing 20% weekly, though of late its been a little less frequently as I seemed to de dosing up water to meet the parameters of the water I was removing and consequently felt a little silly :oops:

My rainwater tank watwer is ph 6.5, GH ~0, KH~0 which I decant into a 200lt drum and dose up to KH ~ 3, GH ~ 8 and consequently ph 7.0.

Cheers,
Scott

[goodoo]

I like TW,s method Although Im a bit lazy. So daily siphons are a bit of a stretch. This is great guys thankyou for the input. Does anyone else do water changes Cos last time I checked this site had a few thousand members cmon guys I wont bite.

[goodoo]

Oh yeah ipiasente my girlfriend says "You love those stupid fish more than me" or "You look at the discus more than you look at me" She is beautifull. I told her when she can work out how to change colour like my discus do Ill look at her more

[Mickey C]

I told her when she can work out how to change colour like my discus do Ill look at her more

:lol:

[taksan]

1200 liters tank ... 50% x 3 weekly
Haven't missed a WC for 5 years either.

[goodoo]

no one else changes water in there tanks, Thats bad you people shouldnt keep fish.

[taksan]

Because 20ppm of Nitrates is far too high




Put another way, if PH is 6.5, KH 60ppm, GH 180ppm, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate <20ppm then why remove 1/2 or more only to replace it with water treatd to reach the same parameters?

[Tracey73]

450 litre display tank here & I do 50% water changes every 3rd day :)

[Tommo]

I change , out of 600 liters , 200 liters once every 2 weeks :)

It also depends on ,what you keep and what equipment you have.

[goodoo]

I wish I only had to change that much. I was talking about how much water you should be changing if your keeping babys, Juvies or adult Discus. :D

[Tommo]

Babies and juv's i would change daily for babies and every 3 day for juv's , but adults, it really all depends on your equipment and amount of fish.

[goodoo]

I have changed my routine In my main tank to 2 big changes a week about 60 70 % . Any senior members want to input here.

[ILLUSN]

sounds good just make sure you pre heat the water and add prime (or other decent ager)

[stevie]

Oh yeah ipiasente my girlfriend says "You love those stupid fish more than me" or "You look at the discus more than you look at me" She is beautifull. I told her when she can work out how to change colour like my discus do Ill look at her more

LOL

[goodoo]

When doing such large changes matching temp and prime is a must. I allways thought prime was to expensive untill I realised How much further it goes than all the other products. 6 mls does 240 litres.