210 Water Changes

[skjl47]

What did you cycle the tank with? You might need to add more B.B. in the bottle. I personally like stability and use it for all my new tanks. Also I would cut way down on the water changes until you sure your reading a measurable amount on your test strips

Hello; It is not clear, at least to me, that the OP made any attempt to cycle the tank being discussed. I asked if he has access to a different already established tank from which to take bb loaded material, but no response as yet.

A problem with cutting "way down" on WC now is that he already has two fish in the tank. Fewer WC now means the ammonia first and later nitrites will affect those fish by the time they reach measureable levels. One of the fish is an aro and I suspect the OP did not intend to use it as a sacrifice fish in order to cycle the tank.
The Op has a dilemma; either do many WC so to keep the ammonia levels more safe for the fish and prolong the cycle process or fewer WC so the bb can become established but at the same time exposing the fish to some level of toxins.

 

[TheWolfman]

Cutting back on the water changes will give the B.B. a chance to establish itself. Witch is why the need closely monitor the parameters. Without some sort of ammonia spike you won’t be able to see nitrite. There are products like prime that can aid in “fish in cycling”.

 

[tarheel96]

There are products like prime that can aid in “fish in cycling”.

How do you mean? By adding prime daily to detoxify the ammonia? That's something the OP could do ... especially at that pH. Any ammonia will be extremely toxic at pH 8.2. 1 cap of prime netralizes about 0.75 - 1 ppm total ammonia if I recall correctly (per 50 gallons) for about 24 hours.

I would use Aquarium salt (sodium chloride) to protect against nitrite. Prime does not detoxify nitrite the way it says it does on the bottle. Prime also also claims to detoxify nitrate.

 

[TheWolfman]

Tarheel there’s a lot of assumptions going on here. The op asked a question about his water change schedule and people began to assume that his tank is not cycled. I offered my opinion as a option. I don’t see any problem with his current ammonia levels and suggested to tone back his water changes.I also suggested a way to help his tank cycle if it hasn’t allready. He allready has fish in the tank hence the suggestion to use prime if needed. The op came here for assistance and not to be chastised.

 

[tarheel96]

I agree the OP asked for questions regarding water changes, hence my response in post #20:

To answer your question about water changes. Large water changes performed less frequently remove far more toxins than smaller water changes performed more frequently.

Assume a weekly nitrate accumulation of 20 ppm for each example below.

A 25% weekly WC results in 60 ppm nitrate after each WC, 80 ppm before each WC, 70 ppm average.
A 50% weekly WC results in 20 ppm nitrate after each WC, 40 ppm before each WC, 30 ppm average.

A 50% WC every 2 weeks results in 40 ppm nitrate after each WC, 80 ppm before each WC, 60 ppm average.
A 75% WC every 2 weeks results in 13 ppm nitrate after each WC, 53 ppm before each WC, 33 ppm average.

Note that 50% every 2 weeks beats out 25% once a week.

https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/EffectOfWaterChanges.php

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TheWolfman - I'm sorry, but it can be easy to misread what I meant. I meant to say that I believe using prime to detoxify ammonia is a good idea. I wanted to point out that its effects are temporary and it needs to be redosed. The emoticon is joking about prime's label which claims to detoxify nitrate.