100% water change good or bad?

[vaine111]

hi, new here, lurked some but not posted. after viewing this thread i don't know if i'll post much on MFK. you guys seem a lil vicious! lol.

one thing to consider is how long the fish have been in this dirty environment and if the tank has 'old tank syndrome'. if so, a 100% water change could essentially shock the fish and harm them, due to such a large change in the TDS and DOC levels.

i would bring the tank up to a cleaner standard slowly, over the course of at least a few days, by doing partial water changes each day, two per day if you think the fish can handle the change in parameters (TDS, DOC, etc).

(I patiently await the backlash i will receive for this post, as per the thread's common theme.......)

You are right no backlashing will come from this. It's good to get a good schedual going. Something the fish get used to. A sudden change can be stressful. The OP just needs to make sure he can keep up with a proper WC schedual. If he's really worried about the effects do 50% daily for the next 3-4 days then a good 50% weekly sounds good to me.

 

[BigFishMommy]

and increase the filtration on the tank. current setup is insufficient. add a third filter or upgrade to two filters where the rating altogether is at least well over double the tank volume. I know this has been said prior in the thread, but just reiterating so it's heard again.

 

[sonycrr]

if the new water going in has different parameters ....this can disturb and kill BB in the filtration system.

or if the old water has bad parameters that isnt promoting growth of BB..new water with better parameters will help BB grow.

hope im not adding any wrong information here..=/

 

[Natural_Born_Killer]

In my opinion - and just mine so no one yell at me please... I think doing a 100 % change is fine, but probably not worth the hassle that it will take you. I am not the most experienced person with fish keeping - but from what I've learned is that all the bacteria you need to keep your tank healthy is in your filter media + grave/sand + decor. So as many above have said - if you change the water but leave that alone then in theory it should be fine.

What I would most likely do is use that new gravel vac you got, get all the dirt out from the bottom (don't forget under decorations where it can lurk). Then I would do a 50% change then a couple of days later do another one.

As many others above have said your problem really does lie as well with your filtration.

I think what some above are trying to say is that doing a 100% change is fine, but its a lot more work than some of the other options that you have.

 

[Toby_H]

I find it somewhere between amusing and depressing how at the beginning of this thread everyone said “100% water changes are bad!”… then after one or two people explain the logic behind their challenge now most people are saying the opposite… I guess now I’m glad I stuck to my guns. It seems I helped a few people understand/accept the reality of water chemistry

I thoroughly agree with the repeated opinion that the OP has insufficient filtration… Increasing filtration will help things stay constantly acceptable as opposed to slowly becoming terrible and requiring such drastic measures…

There is TONS of inaccurate information in this thread. Anyone who has followed along or read the whole thread should be well aware of that and read every post here with a grain of salt.

Ensuring that PH is very close between tap water and tank water is important… high concentrations of organic materials (such as fish waste) can make the PH crash/drop. But a crashed/dropped PH shouldn’t be assumed when it is so simple to check/test for. Adding dechlorinator is, as always, very important when doing a huge (100%) water change… besides that disrupting the beneficial bacteria is of minimal concern.

If basic water parameters differ, then I agree smaller (50% or less) water changes will be much better for your fish… but explaining the reality of this is essential and assuming the readers are too stupid to understand this is ignorant/arrogant on the side of the poster.

I will admit that I have recently become very discouraged at the vast amount of inaccurate information I have seen suggested on MFK. It seems the vast majority of people are far more interested in seeing their opinion posted than they are at sharing a logical experience based perspective… I seem to feel this way frequently and therefore post in spurts on this forum. This thread has represented the frustration I often feel but at least in the end it seems the rational minds have spoken up and the speculative assumers have quieted down… I admit this sounds ‘harsh’ but lying to people just to see yourself post is far more harsh than me being honest…

...and NBK... no one is going to yell at you... your opinion is quite well thought...

 

[uting]

I used to do 100% water change until last year. now I do a 75 water change. I suggest you just get 6 over head filters like me even though it might cover the whole tank.

 

[SuperDave]

I find it somewhere between amusing and depressing how at the beginning of this thread everyone said “100% water changes are bad!”… then after one or two people explain the logic behind their challenge now most people are saying the opposite… I guess now I’m glad I stuck to my guns. It seems I helped a few people understand/accept the reality of water chemistry

I thoroughly agree with the repeated opinion that the OP has insufficient filtration… Increasing filtration will help things stay constantly acceptable as opposed to slowly becoming terrible and requiring such drastic measures…

There is TONS of inaccurate information in this thread. Anyone who has followed along or read the whole thread should be well aware of that and read every post here with a grain of salt.

Ensuring that PH is very close between tap water and tank water is important… high concentrations of organic materials (such as fish waste) can make the PH crash/drop. But a crashed/dropped PH shouldn’t be assumed when it is so simple to check/test for. Adding dechlorinator is, as always, very important when doing a huge (100%) water change… besides that disrupting the beneficial bacteria is of minimal concern.

If basic water parameters differ, then I agree smaller (50% or less) water changes will be much better for your fish… but explaining the reality of this is essential and assuming the readers are too stupid to understand this is ignorant/arrogant on the side of the poster.

I will admit that I have recently become very discouraged at the vast amount of inaccurate information I have seen suggested on MFK. It seems the vast majority of people are far more interested in seeing their opinion posted than they are at sharing a logical experience based perspective… I seem to feel this way frequently and therefore post in spurts on this forum. This thread has represented the frustration I often feel but at least in the end it seems the rational minds have spoken up and the speculative assumers have quieted down… I admit this sounds ‘harsh’ but lying to people just to see yourself post is far more harsh than me being honest…

...and NBK... no one is going to yell at you... your opinion is quite well thought...

I agree, and the thing is in your very first reply you explained what the OP should do. All in all you gave the most compete answer and covered everything.


Overall i hope people take away just a simple fact, doing a 100% water change imporoperly is wrong.

But you can do a 100% water change if you take the proper precautions as you stated.

After reading through the replies, there still seems to be people missing the overall point.

 

[Toby_H]

After reading through the replies, there still seems to be people missing the overall point.

I bet the majority of the people who eagerly posted their opinions in this thread never even read other peoples replies...

The funny part is several of the replies they were too good to read were directly explaining how ignorant their short thoughtless posts were

Again, I know that sounds harsh... but so is lying to a member who is asking a question... If you aren;t confident in what you have to say... don't say anything...

Hell, I betcha a dollar in the next 10 posts someone shares their speculative thoughts having not read this post, lol...

 

[Natural_Born_Killer]

I find it somewhere between amusing and depressing how at the beginning of this thread everyone said “100% water changes are bad!”… then after one or two people explain the logic behind their challenge now most people are saying the opposite… I guess now I’m glad I stuck to my guns. It seems I helped a few people understand/accept the reality of water chemistry

I thoroughly agree with the repeated opinion that the OP has insufficient filtration… Increasing filtration will help things stay constantly acceptable as opposed to slowly becoming terrible and requiring such drastic measures…

There is TONS of inaccurate information in this thread. Anyone who has followed along or read the whole thread should be well aware of that and read every post here with a grain of salt.

Ensuring that PH is very close between tap water and tank water is important… high concentrations of organic materials (such as fish waste) can make the PH crash/drop. But a crashed/dropped PH shouldn’t be assumed when it is so simple to check/test for. Adding dechlorinator is, as always, very important when doing a huge (100%) water change… besides that disrupting the beneficial bacteria is of minimal concern.

If basic water parameters differ, then I agree smaller (50% or less) water changes will be much better for your fish… but explaining the reality of this is essential and assuming the readers are too stupid to understand this is ignorant/arrogant on the side of the poster.

I will admit that I have recently become very discouraged at the vast amount of inaccurate information I have seen suggested on MFK. It seems the vast majority of people are far more interested in seeing their opinion posted than they are at sharing a logical experience based perspective… I seem to feel this way frequently and therefore post in spurts on this forum. This thread has represented the frustration I often feel but at least in the end it seems the rational minds have spoken up and the speculative assumers have quieted down… I admit this sounds ‘harsh’ but lying to people just to see yourself post is far more harsh than me being honest…

...and NBK... no one is going to yell at you... your opinion is quite well thought...

Thank you... its sometimes hard to want to give your thoughts on something as it seems that there are so many people ready to jump down your throat so quickly. I see so many threads at the moment where it goes from one person asking a question to suddenly a battle of egos often just to make a point. At the end the OP doesn't get an answer instead page after page of insults.

I think your posts from many of my threads, and others I've read have always given good balance answer's which in my time here on MFK has taught me alot.

So a comment like that means alot, thank you

To the OP -- good luck and I hope you have figured out what to do.

 

[FatButLazy]

as it seems that there are so many people ready to jump down your throat so quickly

Whilst I do not necessarily disagree with the bulk of what nc_nutcase initialy posted, several times he has straight out called members liars based on their posts. From what I've read across this forum, I tend to think that the majority of members do not lie. They may post an inaccuracy. They may even post an unpopular opinion. I do not believe anyone posts a lie.

Lie: to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive

I do not believe many members post with the intent to decieve.

Accompanied by more information, it may not even be wrong!

As nc_nutcase has eluded to with his comment on short posts, the simplistic "It's Bad" or "It's good" type of post, unaccompanied by more information, are both wrong and correct and, of course, all the varying degrees in between.

So, at first glance: useless, perhaps. Simplistic, certainly. At the time, however, it said all I wanted to say as effecienty as I could say it.