Daily wate rchanges

[EBJDguy]

Hey guys, I want your opinion on something I have started doing the past week. I normally did water changes once or twice a week of about 50%. My good friend Hans Koop of Discus Hans USA told me he does daily water changes (roughly 30%). The difference is that he does his water changes directly into his filtration system so the new water cycles into the tanks slowly. He says this keeps the fish stress free. I obviously do not have the kind of filtration system he does, but I do see the point in doing daily water changes.

Now here's my conundrum; I started doing daily water changes a little over a week ago to try and reduce the stress that a big WC can do. 50% WC once or twice a week-to a daily 10-15% with the exception of my 40g breeder tanks which i do a daily 25%. Will my fish get stressed out over the daily changes? I want to avoid a problem before it even arises. Also, which keeps better water quality? 1-2 times a week @ 50%? or daily 10-15%?

 

[duanes]

I do @ 30% water changes on my tanks every other day (in summer everyday, because they water my garden) and add new water to my sumps to avoid temp difference stress, and use a dechlorinator dosed for the amount of water changed.
I find it works great, and see no stress in my fish due to frequent water changes.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; My initial reaction to your question is to wonder how densly stocked your tanks may be and also if you have messy fish. You seem to be changing a lot of water in a short time peroid. I guess you have checked the water parameters and have found them to become marginal in a couple of days and thus need to change the water? If this volume of water change is necessary, then the daily changes should work and may be less stressful once you get it worked out.

There was a thread a while back in which a member posted about doing massive and frequent water changes. This member cited that in the wild the fish lived in huge volumes of water and that large and frequent changes might approach this quality of the water. My issue with this assumption is that the huge water volumes in the wild still have parameter levels based on what is in the water. There will likely be hundreds of miles of tributaries associated with any natural water body. These natural bodies of water pick up stuff from the environment as both a physical load and dissolved chemicals. Even tho the natural habitats can have millions of times more volumes of water, any particular portion of that water will likely have a set of parameters the fish are acclimated to.

I guess I tend to think of water changes in terms of maintaining healthy water quality more than how much or how often the water is changed.

 

[DREWSMITH]

I Change like crazy never seems like it's enough. LOL. Not daily just every three days or so 50% or more in most cases. Problem now is my water heater can't keep up! I plan on a drip system in the near future. Going to do 100% weekly on all of the tanks then.

Drew

 

[Jc1119]

I drip about 50% tank volume daily on my growout and fry tanks and the difference in growth is very noticeable. Nitrates stay > 10ppm and I can keep my water in the low 70's without a chiller here in Florida. Way cheaper to go daily than run a chiller in my case.

That being said, Im now doing bi monthly 75% changes on my main displays as my nitrates stay very low due to low stocking and lots of plants. This amount almost always seems to trigger spawning activity.

I think it really depends on the situation.


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[Amphilophus88]

I think it depends how much your tap paramaters match those in your tank.
And when you change daily the tap water paramaters could match those of the tank more closely then when you change 1 time a week.

I change a lot of water as well. Still not sure whether or not it is a good or a bad thing but never had any issues.

Bigger water changes have more effect.

For example 2x a 25% is the same as a 44% water change and not 50% even if that is what you may expect at first.
Because when nitrates in tap are 0 and in the tank 100 you get: 100 x 0.75 x 0.75 = 56ppm of nitrates.
After a 50% change the nitrates will be 100 x 0.5 = 50.
Not to mention that 1x 50% is a lot less work then 2x 25% or even 5x 10%.

 

[Reaper13]

Your fish get use to the changes so no worries. Discus are extremely finicky by my understanding & sensitive to even minor changes in water.

SA/CA cichlids are a lot more durable & tolerant within reason. Honestly you can change 75% of your water everyday if you want (if you tap parameters are close enough). Your fish get use to you changing the water & it won't stress them enough to even matter.

My schedule is 50% twice a week or 1x down to back of my fish a week. I also don't overstock or overfeed. I like to use ivy(pothos) hanging in the back & treat with rid-x(probiotics) once a month which gives me a slight buffer with a busy schedule. I've kept all kinds of sa/ca's with this over the years.

 

[EBJDguy]

I do @ 30% water changes on my tanks every other day (in summer everyday, because they water my garden) and add new water to my sumps to avoid temp difference stress, and use a dechlorinator dosed for the amount of water changed.
I find it works great, and see no stress in my fish due to frequent water changes.

That's why I ask if my fish would be stressed. You do a change into your sump which is what Hans does. I dont have a sump system. I have two hang ons and a canister so my water has to be dumped right in which may fluctuate the temp.

 

[EBJDguy]

Your fish get use to the changes so no worries. Discus are extremely finicky by my understanding & sensitive to even minor changes in water.

SA/CA cichlids are a lot more durable & tolerant within reason. Honestly you can change 75% of your water everyday if you want (if you tap parameters are close enough). Your fish get use to you changing the water & it won't stress them enough to even matter.

My schedule is 50% twice a week or 1x down to back of my fish a week. I also don't overstock or overfeed. I like to use ivy(pothos) hanging in the back & treat with rid-x(probiotics) once a month which gives me a slight buffer with a busy schedule. I've kept all kinds of sa/ca's with this over the years.

Yeah, discus are finicky. I am lucky though that I chose to go with Discus Hans discus because they are very sturdy fish. But with them i keep 5 rams, two synspilums, and three ebjd with 5 discus in my 110 gallon. Its moderately stocked but my water parameters stay good. The problem that i am perceiving is that Hans makes this fantastic food that makes the water dirty unfortunately.

 

[EBJDguy]

I think it depends how much your tap paramaters match those in your tank.
And when you change daily the tap water paramaters could match those of the tank more closely then when you change 1 time a week.

I change a lot of water as well. Still not sure whether or not it is a good or a bad thing but never had any issues.

Bigger water changes have more effect.

For example 2x a 25% is the same as a 44% water change and not 50% even if that is what you may expect at first.
Because when nitrates in tap are 0 and in the tank 100 you get: 100 x 0.75 x 0.75 = 56ppm of nitrates.
After a 50% change the nitrates will be 100 x 0.5 = 50.
Not to mention that 1x 50% is a lot less work then 2x 25% or even 5x 10%.

That makes sense, thank you for that information. But due to the sensitivity of discus, I have to keep ammonia nitrates and nitrites at 0ppm.