100% water changes
- Thread starter xander
- Start date
I'd say your best bet for a really in-depth look at what happens with fish/how their body reacts to water params, check out a biology book from your library or buy a cheap one online.. I know my old bio book had info in it about that. I never got to read it before I re-sold it, but looked interesting.
I have done 3 back-to-back 50's when there was a toxin introduced and it saved the fish. You should be replacing water of the same temperature anyway, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Unless you are keeping particularly fussy fish like discus, it is best to acclimate your fish to the water that comes out of the tap, or RO with a very specific recipe of supplementation. That way, if you have to change 100% you won't be screwed. Very few fish require a specific pH, most can and should be acclimated to what you have readily available. It's the gH and kH along with other dissolved solids that can cause osmotic shock with big water changes if you are addicted to additives. The best thing to do is wean yourself down to just water and Prime if you have freshwater fish. You will always be prepared, and you won't have "accidents." I don't know much of anything about marine fish, so I can't comment on that.
Many breeders do 100% every day. You will have pristine water that way. The majority of your biofilter is living in your filter, and the rest in the gravel. There is almost NO nitrifying bacteria in the water column itself. When breeding some fish, it is a good idea to do 50% twice a day. I have done twice-daily 50% changes for periods of several weeks with no ill effects on fish or biofilter.
Unless you are keeping particularly fussy fish like discus, it is best to acclimate your fish to the water that comes out of the tap, or RO with a very specific recipe of supplementation. That way, if you have to change 100% you won't be screwed. Very few fish require a specific pH, most can and should be acclimated to what you have readily available. It's the gH and kH along with other dissolved solids that can cause osmotic shock with big water changes if you are addicted to additives. The best thing to do is wean yourself down to just water and Prime if you have freshwater fish. You will always be prepared, and you won't have "accidents." I don't know much of anything about marine fish, so I can't comment on that.
Many breeders do 100% every day. You will have pristine water that way. The majority of your biofilter is living in your filter, and the rest in the gravel. There is almost NO nitrifying bacteria in the water column itself. When breeding some fish, it is a good idea to do 50% twice a day. I have done twice-daily 50% changes for periods of several weeks with no ill effects on fish or biofilter.
Water changes should not destroy your beneficial bacteria. If your filter media is kept in tank water and not allowed to dry out, you are not going to lose your bacteria. We sometimes do the equivalent or more of 100% water changes by changing out 60+% of the water in back to back water changes. We cannot change out more than 200 gallons at a time from our 300 gallon tank, as the pacu start swimming on their sides with just 100 gallons left in the tank. The primary reason we change out the water is to get the nitrates below 20 ppm. We usually do 66% changes on two consecutive days each week.xander13;1811147; said:
We can do two back to back changes (changing out 400 gallons from our 300 gallon tank) because we never let the nitrates get sky high. The problem with doing large, massive water changes occurs when the nitrates have been sky high for a long time. A condition called "old tank syndrome" can occur. In the nitrogen cycle, the end product is nitrate and hydrogen ions. When the buffering capacity of the old water is completely tied up, the pH lowers. The water can get very acidic. Some fish are very hardy and can tolerate this. However, if you should do a large massive water change on such a tank, there will be a radical change in the pH when you add the new water. This would be extremely shocking and stressful to your fish, even though the water you added was at the same temperature as the water you removed. What can also happen in Old Tank Syndrome, is the nasty water can kill of the beneficial bacteria. The end result is that you can have ammonia building up in the tank, too.
The best thing you can do is use a Freshwater Master Test Kit and routinely test your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. In a cycled tank, there will never be an ammonia or nitrite reading. If you keep nitrates below 20ppm, you will have a great environment for most fish. How frequent and how much water you change out, will depend on your nitrate reading. You should change out as much water as frequently as necessary to keep the nitrates below 20ppm. We came up with our water change scheme, because if we do two water changes, we get the nitrates super low and don't have to do another change for a week. We usually do them on two consecutive days, because at 200 gallons, we are out of hot water, so we either wait until we have more hot water, or we do the second one the next day.
The best thing is to never let your nitrates get too high. You can safely change out as much water as you want then.
I regularly do 90% water changes, I see no reason not to, since I use a python. SOmetimes I do back to back 90% changes if its been a while. My fish actually eat while doing these changes, they learn that it is normal, and it does not stress them out.
As others have said above, the bacteria lives attacked to a substrate, be it in the filter, or in the gravel, or on ornaments. If a water change affects your cycle, you arn't doing them frequently enough, or are not adding proper dechlorinator.
As others have said above, the bacteria lives attacked to a substrate, be it in the filter, or in the gravel, or on ornaments. If a water change affects your cycle, you arn't doing them frequently enough, or are not adding proper dechlorinator.
Our fish love water change time. They especially love the turbulent action when we rapidly pump in the last 100 gallons of water.
Tommy, our lutino oscar goes body surfing on his side, as he catches the last of the "big wave" action during tank filling time.
Tommy, our lutino oscar goes body surfing on his side, as he catches the last of the "big wave" action during tank filling time.
I do 90% weekly wqater changes on my discus tank every week. The way breeders do 100-200% water changess daily, is with an automatic water changer, which is adding & draining water all the time. There is nothing at all shocking about huge water changes, as long as it is done on a regular (weekly, minimum) basis.
think of it this way,if i were to take you from a warm country like this and put you in a cold country and then put you back,how would you feel.
or if i gave you your favourite food,take it away and give you food you hate the most.
or if i gave you your favourite food,take it away and give you food you hate the most.
channarox;1814253; said:
hmmm that is really detailed!!! thanks!!!
to those that gave detailer ans, thanks, but i still didn't get what i was looking for.
all i really want to know is WHY 100% water changes are bad. i don't need to know what YOU do with yr tanks. sorry if im sounding naggy but some posters on here are merely dropping by to piss n the thread.
