constant trickle water changer vs big % water changes - help feedback experience pls!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
H

henward

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 25, 2008
1,260
1
0
Auckland, New Zealand
Ok, just a little background on what i do and what about my country. I am from New Zealand.
The tap water here is very clean. right now one of my arowana tanks as an experiment and test subject i decided to put straight tap water with no dechlorinator or ager, all i put is abit of tonic salt during water changes. This after it was suggested by another hobbyist that NZ water is clean enough and pure enough to put straight in with no chemicals needed.

So i triedit, and its fine.
I am also thinking of stopping the salt as a trial but the salt is just a tonic salt good for the fish general health apparently and its cheap so its ok. no ill health, appetite is good on the jardinii and other fish. 5 to 6 months now i have been doing this.

My questions are below:

I want to set up a system to make water changing extremely easy or redundant.

1) constant trickle water changes
OR
2) normal 50% to 70% water chanes as i am doing now.

Right now my 3 arowana tanks, i do 50% water changes twice weekly in the winter, and 2x 70% water changes in the summer to avoid temp drops. Tank temps are between 28c to 30c.

Here is my dillema.

What is better?

A constant water changer, say... a system that trickles water into the tank 24/7 - say 10% a day - making that total of 70% water change weekly over 7 days?

OR

Making a system that just makes my water changing easy - pump water in and water comes out but doing a less frequent water change but more at one time?

Any feedback on the above would be good all aspects of it.... temp drops, effectiveness of the different methods. Heating efficiency...etc

My thoughts: Please tell me if i am mistaken or comments or slight changes to what i am thinking.

Method 1: Constant water trickle changer
If i change water say 10% to 15% a day - over 7 days thast 70 to 100% water turn over meaning the entire tank will have its water replaced over a week period. Not much different to what im doing now changing the water 50% wice weekly.
this is good cos of gradual temp drops. really the temp wont drop much and will be unnoticeable.
If you start with pure water, no waste products in there.... and you change the water 10% a day, in theory, you willa lawys have ZERO waste because as the waste get in the water, you are effectively removing it or diluting it straight away.or at the very least, have very low waste levels in the water at all times.

Method 2: Normal large ratio water changes lesser frequent
doing 1 or 2 large ratio water changes, this drops temps way down, so the fish will have to adjust and re adjust again as the temp drops and raises.
I think this is not as good because you are waiting for the waste such as nitrate to increase to a higher level before lowering it. so its like a person stepping in and out of the smokers room in a restaurant.

(Heating efficiency - I am not a scientist, but it takes the same amount of energyt o heat water regardless if you heat 500 litres at a time or 1 litre at a time.... so i think this is irrelevant but please do correct me if i am wrong)

I prefer the constant trickle, but i am wondering who else has tried this in a country that requires heating and things like that. Are my theories above true? opr false? am i misguided?

thanks
 
Constant water change is not going to reduce wastes to zero. You'll maintain consistent levels, but it'll never be zero.

Weekly water changes will bring nitrates to higher levels, but nitrates are really nothing to worry about as long as you keep them in check - below around 40-50. They're not particularly toxic.

You can use warm water to avoid temperature drops during large changes. I always use water slightly warmer than my tank water.
 
Nirates contribute to slowing growth on fish and even stunting it ,also it can shorten their life span , 15-20ppm is considered high and anything above will have a detrimental effect on your fish. You will be better off haveing the 24/7 system as it will keep nirates low all the time and prevent spiking.

As for using warm water, check and see what pipes are plumbed in your house, if they are copper it is not advisable to use hot from them.
 
i will still have a filter. filtration will not change, this is merely for a water changing.

filtration is more than sufficient to remove ammonia and nitrites as it is currentl.
my main problem is water changing.

if you change once or twice a week. the day after your water change the waer will be pristine. then the day before the water change will be at its worst.
meaning you get SPIKING
i am trying to hit two birds with one stone. avoid spiking and avoid work :)

the water temp isnt a big deal. my aro tanks are in 28 tlo 30 degrees celcius. so even at 50% water change, the water only gts to about 26 or so.

so at 10 to 15% water wc daily over 24 hours..... the fish should not notice the water temp change at all.
but i am trying to see, what is better in theory

nitrate is responsible for stunting and shortening life span - this is a fact, keeping it low or almost 0 due to constant water change should be good....?
 
If the water is pure enough and the temp of it is consistent I would go with a drip system. I've seen it used in fish stores, both retail and wholesale only, in the U.S. and parts of Asia.
 
IDK what to tell you about whether to do a drip system or keep doing water changes, BUT....

Yes, no matter how much water you have, it takes one calorie to heat one gram of water one degree Celsius. That is a constant.
 
jux! awesome
thats what i wanted to know, so regardles what temp you start off with, heating water will take same energy in terms of per ML and per KW of energy.

thats awesome

yeah, the water temp is consistent, but the amounts im changing a day is small enough for the heater to do its job with out impacting the temps maintenance.

on a 1000 litre tank, i will change say 150 per day. making that 1000 litres per week.
thats only 6 litres an hour. per day. i think thats very small amounts of water.

the water is definately pure enough. many people here dont use chemicals or agers just straight tap water. advantage of being in new zealand lol.
 
"but it takes the same amount of energy to heat water regardless if you heat 500 litres at a time or 1 litre at a time.... so i think this is irrelevant but please do correct me if i am wrong"

This works for me...

1 litre raised by 1 degree C takes 1 Watt...or sumfink.
 
More smaller changes versus less bigger changes.....?
No brainer on this one---More is better---
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom