Frequent Water changes

[midasman714]

I know most of you do either a 40% weekly change or 2 smaller changes twice per week....

has anyone ever done very small 5% changes every day? pretty much a quick gravel vac... any thoughts on this?

 

[ECarbonel]

i wouldnt see why not. couldnt hurt

 

[packer43064]

I wouldn't just because it might stress out the fish. Some fish already freak out enough with a weekly 50% water change. Doing it daily, might have your fish in a stressed state alot.

 

[Dr Joe]

If your fish are that messy it's fine. Better to get the garbage.

Just pre-treat the replacement water.

Dr Joe

.

 

[midasman714]

If your fish are that messy it's fine. Better to get the garbage.

Just pre-treat the replacement water.

Dr Joe

.

yea he IS that messy plus this way its easier for me to treat the water evenly (as opposed to eyeballing treatment when i fill it up during a larger wc). and he doesn't get stressed out during the wc.

i'll try to do this for awhile and see how it goes.

 

[packer43064]

Wouldn't you waste water conditioner though. I mean with Prime unless you use a bucket your suppose to dose for the whole tank.

I have a 125 so, If i did 5% everyday, then I would use 125x7(days a week)=875. That's just for 1 tank, I also have a 55,56,29,20. I would run out of Prime in a week or so. That might be another problem IMO.

 

[brianp]

If your intention is to reduce nitrate and phosphate, then several small wcs over the course of several days does not have the same dilution effect as one large wc. On the other hand, IMO, daily siphoning off of debris and feces will reduce the rate at which at least phosphates accumulate. My personal wc regimen consists of siphoning off the debris approx. every other day and then performing one large wc once per week. The small wcs are intended solely to reduce the discharge of contaminants into the water by decaying fecal matter and uneaten food.

 

[cambo01]

yeh but 5% on a 125 is about 6 gal and my buckets are 3.5 gal so just treat 2 buckets full that would hardly use any conditioner

 

[Redtailcatfishkeeper88]

I do a quick cleaning everyday. Nothing huge about a 10 gallon cleaning. My RTC can be kind of messy sometimes. I have no substrate in my tank. So you tend to notice all that crud and it makes me uncomfortable with it in there. So I do a quick sweep everyday. I just use water treatment and try to get the water temps about exact. Doesn't seem to bother him at all. He is used to my hand though. And usually just swims around and rubs up against my hand. So I really don't see a problem with it.

 

[midasman714]

Wouldn't you waste water conditioner though. I mean with Prime unless you use a bucket your suppose to dose for the whole tank.

I have a 125 so, If i did 5% everyday, then I would use 125x7(days a week)=875. That's just for 1 tank, I also have a 55,56,29,20. I would run out of Prime in a week or so. That might be another problem IMO.

i have 75G and i'm only doing about 2 large buckets worth (i'm just guessing its 5%, maybe less tho) so i just condition those two buckets.

as i said, i'll see how this works out... i'm trying to keep the water clean and stable.