Big tanks, water changes?
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It depends on the fish and fish load. Many discus keepers change 100% daily. They drain it until the fish are lying on the bottom of the tank, then refill it. Doesn't hurt the fish at all. I don't go to that extreme, but I do change 50% weekly, in addition to 2 gal. per hour drip change on my 240 gal. discus tank. Discus need clean water at all times to grow properly. So, it depends on the fish you keep. For discus, 50% water changes, or whatever it takes, are necessary. In fact, always having clean water will benefit any type of fish. It will prevent many problems. It's such a habit, that all 10 of my tanks get large weekly water changes, regardless of the species. 
I'm doing between 25%-50% DAILY on my 150G stocked with 1 large JAG.
The fish really perks up and his colors look great, it makes a big difference, my water is FREE in my apartment, if I were paying for it, I would prob be doing the same water change, but only every 2 days.
I also change 25% DAILY on my 22-gallon cardinal tank.
The fish really perks up and his colors look great, it makes a big difference, my water is FREE in my apartment, if I were paying for it, I would prob be doing the same water change, but only every 2 days.
I also change 25% DAILY on my 22-gallon cardinal tank.
if your water prams are good then there is not a need for massive water changes . if you do to large water changes you will starve your biofilter and with the trend for massive areas of bio it is a large waist .if you are doing 50% a day then you may aswell just have a few large airstones and no filter.
20 -30% weekly is perfect. Not to much work and no fear of big temp. swings. Bio-load will pay a huge factor in actual percentage changed though.
selki;2151409;2151409 said:
youre just throwing out numbers left and right with nothing to back it up. first it was 30, then 40, now its 50%. unless the water youre putting in is freezing cold or the ph is totally out of whack, youre not gonna stress your fish outWhy water changes important ?
CARBONATE HARDNESS.
Carbonate hardness is the ability for your tank to maintain PH. Every water have them.
The problem is that our biological benefical bacteria also feeds off of it.
So the higher bio load, the more carbonate hardness that our bio bacteria consume thus your tank's ability to maintain PH is decreasing.
Haveyou ever measure your PH level after water changes ? it's usually higher than normal. As time goes along, it usually decreases until the next water changes.
Baking soda, crushed coral, holley rock and other carbonated base stuff that we put in the tank is just a temporary solutions/band aid.
I did this on my 240, I am running 50 gallon per day drip. One week I had to order a new oring for dosmatic injector and during that week, my PH drops to 6.0 from 6.8-7.0 that I constantly keep them at. My fish's appetite decreases, tank water looks a little cloudy and overall mood of the fish were out of whack.
Once I started the drip system again within 3-4 days, everything was back to normal. I feed my fish daily, I know when something is up. My tank is also overstock as well.
Another thing to consider, suppose you keep a river based fish. River flows from the mountain glacier to the ocean. Again river FLOWSSSSS...bring constant supply of freshwater at every second..
stan
CARBONATE HARDNESS.
Carbonate hardness is the ability for your tank to maintain PH. Every water have them.
The problem is that our biological benefical bacteria also feeds off of it.
So the higher bio load, the more carbonate hardness that our bio bacteria consume thus your tank's ability to maintain PH is decreasing.
Haveyou ever measure your PH level after water changes ? it's usually higher than normal. As time goes along, it usually decreases until the next water changes.
Baking soda, crushed coral, holley rock and other carbonated base stuff that we put in the tank is just a temporary solutions/band aid.
I did this on my 240, I am running 50 gallon per day drip. One week I had to order a new oring for dosmatic injector and during that week, my PH drops to 6.0 from 6.8-7.0 that I constantly keep them at. My fish's appetite decreases, tank water looks a little cloudy and overall mood of the fish were out of whack.
Once I started the drip system again within 3-4 days, everything was back to normal. I feed my fish daily, I know when something is up. My tank is also overstock as well.
Another thing to consider, suppose you keep a river based fish. River flows from the mountain glacier to the ocean. Again river FLOWSSSSS...bring constant supply of freshwater at every second..
stan
