What are the benefits of extra water change?

[MonsterMinis]

Can I do I water change whenever I feel like it? Like i could do it once a week and it could vary from a couple days to a week, would that work?


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depends on how your water is generally. tds, which coerelates to the above mentioned "fw protein skimmer" is where water changes can get challengeing. ime to much fluxuation in TDS more sometimes then PH can cause severe shock or death, and is often ime mistaken for ph shock. which is why regular water changes should be regular, imo a few days isnt going to make a big difference depending on a few things, stocking, feeding, additives ect. if you have a heavily stocked tank thats fed 3x a day or more it may make a big difference. the lighter the stock, the less feeding the more leway your going to have generally.

love the setup duanes. ive used similar set ups as well as algae scrubber types for nitrate/green water control for ponds before.

 

[petspoiler]

......after bio the agitated water creates foam, that is composed of bacteria, dissolved organics, parasite cysts, algal cells, etc, the foam spills out the opening allowing polished water to return to the pond...............

...I analyzed waste in the lab and found micro-organism concentration to be between 8-10 higher per 100mL than tank water, which included and not limited to,nematodes, ciliates and many other protozoans.
I also dried, and weighed the waste and fond it 10 times heavier tha normal tank water.
the waste had to be diluted to pass thru the weighing filters

sorry if I rambled

FAR from rambling... That is very impressive information! A concrete illustration of the [normally unseen] reasons for water changes.
(Permanent sticky material?)

but I lack your brain. can you give any input about what would, or would not, be removed with SeaChem Purigen? I'm generally curious, it doesn't have to be an extensive answer.
Thanks.

I think this still ties in to water changes, so hope it's OK asking.

 

[duanes]

Thanks MonsterMinus, I also use planted sumps, and allow excessive algae to grow, but I am a retired microbiologist/chemist so I'm a bit anal about water quality.

Plants and algae also add DOC, which I feel is necessary to remove.

and petspoiler I don't know anything about Purigen, so I have no basis for comment.
I have researched fractionation/protein skimming and find it an amazing chemical filtration technique for ridding ponds and tanks of everything from free floating algae and DOC, to parasites.
I was amazed at the high concentration removal of microorganisms such as nematodes, in skimmate as opposed to normal tank water populations. This convinced me of its worth.

 

[eklikewhoa]

duanes, Thanks for posting the link!
Went searching and found some very helpful threads but all are used in ponds, I am trying to implement this fractionation into a tank that is running a sump but would be worried about flooding the house with the foam. Would the opening for the phoam still work as designed if there was a reducer added to it to be dumped into a rubbermaid tub?

 

[petspoiler]

Thanks MonsterMinus, I also use planted sumps, and allow excessive algae to grow, but I am a retired microbiologist/chemist so I'm a bit anal about water quality.

Plants and algae also add DOC, which I feel is necessary to remove.

and petspoiler I don't know anything about Purigen, so I have no basis for comment.
I have researched fractionation/protein skimming and find it an amazing chemical filtration technique for ridding ponds and tanks of everything from free floating algae and DOC, to parasites.
I was amazed at the high concentration removal of microorganisms such as nematodes, in skimmate as opposed to normal tank water populations....

duanes, where can I place an order?
;-)
There are DIY-impaired people out here...

 

[duanes]

The fractionator I'm building for inside, is smaller (4" diameter bio tower)(4' tall)and come from an overflow and will drain into a sump, and the foam release hole will be 1" in diameter, and drain into a bucket. i will post when up and running.

 

[petspoiler]

The fractionator I'm building for inside, is smaller (4" diameter bio tower)(4' tall)and come from an overflow and will drain into a sump, and the foam release hole will be 1" in diameter, and drain into a bucket. i will post when up and running.

That'll be interesting.
You'll post it in the DIY section?

 

[ultimatejay]

I think you guys are going way overboard here. I've been in the hobby for over 25 years and have had tanks as large as 750 gallons. I never have done more than 50% water changes a week, never used any water fractioning stuff or anything fancy and all my fish have thrived. Just use common sense and don't overstock your tanks, don't overfeed like 99% of fish hobbiest do, and make sure you have a killer filtration system. It's that simple!


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[eklikewhoa]

The fractionator I'm building for inside, is smaller (4" diameter bio tower)(4' tall)and come from an overflow and will drain into a sump, and the foam release hole will be 1" in diameter, and drain into a bucket. i will post when up and running.

Please do!

 

[eklikewhoa]

I think you guys are going way overboard here. I've been in the hobby for over 25 years and have had tanks as large as 750 gallons. I never have done more than 50% water changes a week, never used any water fractioning stuff or anything fancy and all my fish have thrived. Just use common sense and don't overstock your tanks, don't overfeed like 99% of fish hobbiest do, and make sure you have a killer filtration system. It's that simple!


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Some settle and with some enough isn't quite enough