7% bidaily - Testing the Water Change theory... please give this judgment

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landmineyouth

landmineyouth

Gambusia
MFK Member
Sep 3, 2005
486
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16
North Miami
www.djrobriggs.com
Okay guys. Heres the deal. I have read countless arguments of people doing water changes too few, too frequent, etc. etc. 50% changes being too much to do all at once, or not enough, there just seem to be so many contrary beliefes on it all, in the end I think it boils down to whats best for the fish and how your water quaility is thriving, and what provides the least *shock* when changing water. Heres my preposed theory...

I have a 75 gallon. I had been doing near 50% water changes once a month, but I got inspired to try something new.

I am going to be doing 5 gallon (7% roughly) water changes every other day. Monday, wednesday, friday, sunday, etc... Over the course of a 30 day month, this roughly equals 75 new gallons of water, so a 100% change... the only difference is that the 100% is not all at once, its gradual. All the water I pump back into my tank is stored in a 5 gallon container 24 to 48 hours prior to being poured into the tank, has the same ammount of conditioner/chemical/ph-down added into it.

Does anyone see a flaw in this system? I think it will make my tanks overall cleanliness a LOT better, seeing as how im gravel vaccuming the water out during changes and removing lots of crap/debris/detrius.

Comments an suggestions are welcome, thanks.
 
In my opinion i'd think this would be healthy for the biological filitration. Because you are changing a smaller percentage at a time but yet you are still changing a large amount of water i believe the bacteria would be more stable. Open to ideas but to me this seems like if you can keep it up it would work very well based on an idea of biological filtration.
 
seems like a good idea to me
 
landmineyouth said:
Okay guys. Heres the deal. I have read countless arguments of people doing water changes too few, too frequent, etc. etc. 50% changes being too much to do all at once, or not enough, there just seem to be so many contrary beliefes on it all, in the end I think it boils down to whats best for the fish and how your water quaility is thriving, and what provides the least *shock* when changing water. Heres my preposed theory...

I have a 75 gallon. I had been doing near 50% water changes once a month, but I got inspired to try something new.

I am going to be doing 5 gallon (7% roughly) water changes every other day. Monday, wednesday, friday, sunday, etc... Over the course of a 30 day month, this roughly equals 75 new gallons of water, so a 100% change... the only difference is that the 100% is not all at once, its gradual. All the water I pump back into my tank is stored in a 5 gallon container 24 to 48 hours prior to being poured into the tank, has the same ammount of conditioner/chemical/ph-down added into it.

Does anyone see a flaw in this system? I think it will make my tanks overall cleanliness a LOT better, seeing as how im gravel vaccuming the water out during changes and removing lots of crap/debris/detrius.

Comments an suggestions are welcome, thanks.
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I tink if u can change 5 gals Y not go for 10 gals???. Its not the amount of water to be changed dat is a chore. Its the dam set up proceedure!!! Which is the same if u do 1 gal or 100 gal. I use a Python so it's not like i'm straining. But dam i hate gettin it out etc etc etc!!!
 
ChickenTeeth said:
I tink if u can change 5 gals Y not go for 10 gals???. Its not the amount of water to be changed dat is a chore. Its the dam set up proceedure!!! Which is the same if u do 1 gal or 100 gal. I use a Python so it's not like i'm straining. But dam i hate gettin it out etc etc etc!!!
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Oh if u change more water more times Ur fish will be HUGE cuz u decrease Nitrate but most importantly any growth inhibitor substances produced by ur FisHy. I say try changing 20% water every other day and C if ur fishY don't become MOnsters!!!
 
thefishofdoom said:
seems like a good idea to me
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Oh if u gonna vaccum after each water change, vaccum only one side of aquarium each time, do other side next-time. Ders a good reason to dis I forget the argument now.
 
landmineyouth said:
Okay guys. Heres the deal. I have read countless arguments of people doing water changes too few, too frequent, etc. etc. 50% changes being too much to do all at once, or not enough, there just seem to be so many contrary beliefes on it all, in the end I think it boils down to whats best for the fish and how your water quaility is thriving, and what provides the least *shock* when changing water. Heres my preposed theory...

I have a 75 gallon. I had been doing near 50% water changes once a month, but I got inspired to try something new.

I am going to be doing 5 gallon (7% roughly) water changes every other day. Monday, wednesday, friday, sunday, etc... Over the course of a 30 day month, this roughly equals 75 new gallons of water, so a 100% change... the only difference is that the 100% is not all at once, its gradual. All the water I pump back into my tank is stored in a 5 gallon container 24 to 48 hours prior to being poured into the tank, has the same ammount of conditioner/chemical/ph-down added into it.

Does anyone see a flaw in this system? I think it will make my tanks overall cleanliness a LOT better, seeing as how im gravel vaccuming the water out during changes and removing lots of crap/debris/detrius.

Comments an suggestions are welcome, thanks.
Click to expand...
I have a few grow out tanks from 150 to 300 gals ( rubbermaid feed troughs) and the water is controlled by an automatic drop system. The water turnover is about 4 to 6 times per day. Dat is a water change of at least 600 gals/day. The water comes in through the mains and has to pass a declorinator carbon filter into a water container and plumbed into the tanks. With fresh nitrate and growth inhibitor free water Frys grow like crazy!!!
 
Your theory is a good one (landmineyouth). It is allways better to do frequent small water changes versus infrequent large water changes. I head the argument all the time of "what's the differance between doing one 50% water change versus 2 25% water changes" or simalar arguments. There are several differances. THe biggest differances are 1st, instead of letting fish waste and other organice decay and go thru the entire braking down cycle, you are removing waste products before and during the braking down process. THis is a much less taxing practice on your aquarium. 2nd, doing frequent small water changes and gravel vacuuming is less stressful to the fish and to the benificial bacteria. YOu system will be more stable this way.

Now, as to the argumant as to how much water changes and how often. The only thing that will tell you if your doing enough is a good quality aquarium water test kit. No one here or any where elce can tell you how much you need to be doing, it can radically depend from one tank to another. If you got big slobs living in your tank, you need to do more water changes, larger and more often than a lightly stocked aquarium might. I test my aquariums weekly to bi weekly the first several few months to determine how large and how often I need to to water changes on my system. After a couple months of testing, I have a pretty good feel for what I need to do to keep it the way I want. After that I test monthly or so just to double check I'm ok.

Hope this helps....Joel
 
It would work fine small water changes frequently is actually a better idea.The only problem is devoting the time every other day to do it,fine for one or two tanks but most people who get obseesed with fish end up with more tanks.
 
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