water change in over filter tank

[giar]

hi folks..

first of all, happy new year to everyone

Secondly, I ended up buying 3 fluval fx6 for my tank afyer asking questions in several forums..

the tank is goin to be placed in my office, and i am goin to put one super red arowana, with no gravels, no sands, no decorations and no other fishes.

the tank dimension is decided to be 210cm L x 90cm W x 60cm H, and i am just goin to fill the tank 50cm (water lvl), leaving 10cm space to avoid water spills or any unexpected events.. so the volume of water is more or less 220gal.
the tank will have the hood so i dont need to worry my aro ends up on the floor.

now it comes to the very basic question, water change..

since i literally have over filter system (flowrate fx6 : 563gph/fx6 unit x 3 units = total of 1,683 GPH), wich circulate my tank 7.6x in one hour, and i am only going to put one fish in the tank which shouldnt produce massive waste, my question is

given all the above information, how many times do i need to do water change? once a week or once in two weeks, and how much water?

additional information : i am going to use drinking water (brand : Aqua) for the water change.. so no tap water. i know it is goin to cost me fortune to do the routine water change but it is all good.

thank you and have a good day!!

 

[freak78]

I would still do it once a week at least 50%.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; first let me bring up the question about the effect of a filter system. I have kept fish a long time starting with tanks having no filters at all and moving up to power filters over decades. My take on power filters has been that they can provide good mechanical filtration, good water flow and aeration and additional surfaces for the beneficial bacteria (bb) to colonize. It is also my take that beyond a certain point having additional power filtration may be redundant and may not give additional benefits. Once you have enough mechanical filtration, then adding more does little for a setup.

Beyond mechanical filtration there is the biological process of a cycled tank. The bb are big players in this and in a mature fully cycled tank a balance between fish byproducts (ammonia and such) and the total population of bb will be established. With one fish the size of the bb population will adjust to handle the waste products of that fish and perhaps some decay byproducts from the uneaten bits of food. The bb colonies will become established on many tank surfaces including, but not limited to the filter media. If one power filter has enough surfaces ( along with the other surfaces in the tank) to house all the bb needed, then other power filters may not be needed.

Perhaps a better way to determine the amount and frequency of water changes (WC) may be to test the water parameters with a test kit and adjust the WC routine by the results. likely folks who have kept the same fish can get you in the ball park. As far as WC options go this area of fish keeping has advocates at each extreme. You may get opinions based more on a persons belief system rather than what is practical or necessary. I have not kept such a fish so cannot give any suggestions from experience.

Good luck

 

[celebrist]

I agree with the other posters, filtration does not remove nitrates water changes do. Considering the amount of water you will be changing an RO/DO will pay for itself compared to using commercial drinking water. Why don't you want to use your local water?

 

[giar]

Perhaps a better way to determine the amount and frequency of water changes (WC) may be to test the water parameters with a test kit and adjust the WC routine by the results.

Thank you so much for the brief explanation.. i appreciate it a lot =)
so perhaps for my situation, i test the water parameter first, and do like 10% WC and see how it goes, and then go from there for the routine WC?.. because i suppose different tank requires different care?.

i am new to this hobby, so please pardon my stupidity.. xD
The only and main reason why i use 3 FX6 is because, to be frank, i am a lazy ass, sort of lol...

my expectation by having 3 FX6 is that i wont need to do much water change.. perhaps once in a month or perhaps once in two weeks... but sometimes expectation is not the same as reality, especially with very few experiences involved here... hence it's important to ask experienced people with regards to this matter before i screw things up.. hehehe...

 

[giar]

I agree with the other posters, filtration does not remove nitrates water changes do. Considering the amount of water you will be changing an RO/DO will pay for itself compared to using commercial drinking water. Why don't you want to use your local water?

pardon me, but what is RO/DO?..

the reason why i need to use drinking water is because the tap water where i live is really bad.. from my understanding, people who live in let say U.S.A where the tap water is save to drink, is not even save for the fish... let alone the tap water quality where i live, where you could possibly get diarrhea if you drink it.. clean water is a big issue in where i live (Riau province, Indonesia).

settling the water for 24hours and add water conditioner before adding it to the tank could save me some fortune, but it wont be a really good option for me TBH.

 

[celebrist]

pardon me, but what is RO/DO?..

the reason why i need to use drinking water is because the tap water where i live is really bad.. from my understanding, people who live in let say U.S.A where the tap water is save to drink, is not even save for the fish... let alone the tap water quality where i live, where you could possibly get diarrhea if you drink it.. clean water is a big issue in where i live (Riau province, Indonesia).

settling the water for 24hours and add water conditioner before adding it to the tank could save me some fortune, but it wont be a really good option for me TBH.

Reverse osmosis and de ionization

 

[Hendre]

Thank you so much for the brief explanation.. i appreciate it a lot =)
so perhaps for my situation, i test the water parameter first, and do like 10% WC and see how it goes, and then go from there for the routine WC?.. because i suppose different tank requires different care?.

i am new to this hobby, so please pardon my stupidity.. xD
The only and main reason why i use 3 FX6 is because, to be frank, i am a lazy ass, sort of lol...

my expectation by having 3 FX6 is that i wont need to do much water change.. perhaps once in a month or perhaps once in two weeks... but sometimes expectation is not the same as reality, especially with very few experiences involved here... hence it's important to ask experienced people with regards to this matter before i screw things up.. hehehe...

The filters deal with Ammonia and nitrite, the primary danger compounds in an aquarium. The final product is nitrates, not so deadly but need to be kept down for the health of fish. This is only really removed by waterchanges, thats the only way.

50% Minimum is what I would recommend, especially with a large fish such as an arowana. Is there no way to use regular tap water for waterchanges? Using only that water, if it is completely pure will lead to PH crashes and a dead fish

 

[Hendre]

pardon me, but what is RO/DO?..

the reason why i need to use drinking water is because the tap water where i live is really bad.. from my understanding, people who live in let say U.S.A where the tap water is save to drink, is not even save for the fish... let alone the tap water quality where i live, where you could possibly get diarrhea if you drink it.. clean water is a big issue in where i live (Riau province, Indonesia).

settling the water for 24hours and add water conditioner before adding it to the tank could save me some fortune, but it wont be a really good option for me TBH.

Can you test your water parameters from tap? Maybe running chlorine in a seperate container then dechlorinating it to clear it of anything nasty

 

[giar]

Using only that water, if it is completely pure will lead to PH crashes and a dead fish

you mean only using pure drinking water is not a good option when doing WC?..

i did a quick google search about the Aqua mineral water..
"Danone Aqua Mountain Spring Water: Nitrites/Nitrates 0, pH 7.0, Carbonate Hardness 0, General Hardness 0"..

any comments?.. thank you so much..