Can I do a complete water change of my arowana tank???!!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
My water change doesn't bother my Aro in the least, he is actually well behaved too.

drain tank to half
refill
drain again half of what I drained previously
fill again
do again the following week

It's basically two water changes in one.
 
If the fish are use to large waterchanges than I do it. Although I would not do this with all fish. My aro gets at least 50 percent a week. But usually 50 percent twice
 
yeah i usually do two 25% changes a week for my aro so 50% a week what are you water perimeters? personally i wouldnt recommend going past 75 unless you have a major problem with the water just my opinion
 
No, not with an arowana that small. Water parameters can change over a months time compared to the original water used to fill the tank. Personally I wouldn't do it unless you can match the pH and temp of the water.

I raised baby arowana in a 55g tank with about 40g of water. I had to change about 10g of water weekly to keep the nitrates under 10ppm, can't see where you would need to do much different. Buy a test kit and test your water. Change enough water weekly so that you keep the nitrates under 10ppm and you'll be fine.
 
Only time I do a 100% on any tank is contamination, nitrates of 150ppm+ or something like that. Even then I wouldn't do it with an Aro tank.
 
My water change doesn't bother my Aro in the least, he is actually well behaved too.

drain tank to half
refill
drain again half of what I drained previously
fill again
do again the following week

It's basically two water changes in one.

You are wasting some good water in this method, aren't you?
 
The aro is one of the most well behaved, fastest growing fish I have ever seen. I sense a real intelligence about it. When I have the lids off, I know it can jump out anytime and I sense that it too knows as well, but it never does, it's weird. It knows ahead of time when I'm about to put my hand or arm in the water and it will move to the other side of the tank just to give me space. It will even wait for me to submerge my hand fully before gliding past. During water changes it will politely sit at the bottom until I am finished. Definitely one of my favorites.
 
You are wasting some good water in this method, aren't you?

Probably, I read the idea somewhere where it said even if you do a big water change you really didn't get much of the nitrates. It made sense at the time, so your saying if I do one big pwc it will have the same effect ? I don't think I could achieve the same effect with one larger pwc due to the restriction of depth I can drain to. So by filling it back up and draining again, it covers a larger body of water. Am I wrong ?
 
Probably, I read the idea somewhere where it said even if you do a big water change you really didn't get much of the nitrates. It made sense at the time, so your saying if I do one big pwc it will have the same effect ? I don't think I could achieve the same effect with one larger pwc due to the restriction of depth I can drain to. So by filling it back up and draining again, it covers a larger body of water. Am I wrong ?

You are correct if there is a limitation in the depth you can drain. Nothing wrong in the method you are doing, I was just wondering even that bit of fresh water you are pumping out can be used by the fish.
In your method you are removing 50% of old water. Refilling which makes old water concentration to 50% and then do a 25% water change (in the second step you are removing 25% of 50% which is 12.5%). So in effect you are removing 62.5% of old water.
If you straight away drained 50%+25%, you'll be removing 75% of old water.

Anyway, I guess there is no absolute right or wrong. Our hobby is there for us to enjoy it the way we want. :)
 
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