How would you like to have 75% of your entire life style changed all at once, every week? I would think it would be stressful. Very stressful. How bout you?HELP UMBEE SICK :(
- Thread starter BayArea_510
- Start date
How would you like to have 75% of your entire life style changed all at once, every week? I would think it would be stressful. Very stressful. How bout you?thats why I do a drip, best way to go............ but yea 50 is different than 75, I would suggest doing 2 a week at smaller amounts if anything.
if you did twice 35% instead of once 75% change the water will be much more stable instead of having a drastic change once a week in water perams and your still using a comperable amount of water. i do 3-4 changes a week on my tanks to keep the conditions as stable as possible to eliminate build up of ammonia and nitrates to not stress out my fish.
I think that Jason summed things up best in the initial comment in this thread when he stated, your eyes are bigger than your stomach. While your stocking levels and/or bio load do not currently seem high to me in your 180, that is going to change as all of those fish gain some size to them. Add to that elevated aggression levels & it's a sure fire recipe for disaster.
IMO your problem isn't large water changes, it's the constant adding & subtracting of fish. It seems like you add new fish (without proper quarantine) on almost a weekly basis - and you wonder why you have health issues in some of your fish? Doh!
Below is a recent comment that you posted .....
If that's the case, then keep a few of the tank mates that he gets along with (at least for now), and sell the rest off. The last thing I'd worry about causing stress would be large water changes, the stress in your tank is from aggro males that are aggressive by nature.
The sooner you face that reality & begin to understand your limitations the better off you & your fish will be.
Discus keepers perform large water changes, but they do this every few days, some every day, so water parameters are always pretty constant. I perform large weekly water changes, as much as 75% at times, but my bio load is very small compared to the water volume, so my parameters are always constant, even when performing massive weekly water changes.
The only person that can say with any certainty how stable your water is between water changes is you. Buy a quality test kit & check some of the various values just before & shortly after your 75% water change. If there's a shift in pH values, etc, then try doing smaller changes twice a week as suggested. If the values aren't bouncing all over the place, then I wouldn't worry about it.
What I would worry about is the amount and types of fish that you are forcing to co-exist in a 180 gallon glass box.
IMO your problem isn't large water changes, it's the constant adding & subtracting of fish. It seems like you add new fish (without proper quarantine) on almost a weekly basis - and you wonder why you have health issues in some of your fish? Doh!
Below is a recent comment that you posted .....
If that's the case, then keep a few of the tank mates that he gets along with (at least for now), and sell the rest off. The last thing I'd worry about causing stress would be large water changes, the stress in your tank is from aggro males that are aggressive by nature.
The sooner you face that reality & begin to understand your limitations the better off you & your fish will be.
Discus keepers perform large water changes, but they do this every few days, some every day, so water parameters are always pretty constant. I perform large weekly water changes, as much as 75% at times, but my bio load is very small compared to the water volume, so my parameters are always constant, even when performing massive weekly water changes.
The only person that can say with any certainty how stable your water is between water changes is you. Buy a quality test kit & check some of the various values just before & shortly after your 75% water change. If there's a shift in pH values, etc, then try doing smaller changes twice a week as suggested. If the values aren't bouncing all over the place, then I wouldn't worry about it.
What I would worry about is the amount and types of fish that you are forcing to co-exist in a 180 gallon glass box.
ok well ima post my ammonia levels after i come back from my lfs im going to get my furan 2 and test my water there i will keep u guys posted and thanks for the help
In a properly balanced system, the ammonia level should always be 0.0
Mardel sells a very accurate sensor that will allow you to monitor free ammonia at all times.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753388&cp=2767036.2769160
It's other things that need to be considered when it comes to water changes, such as pH, GH, KH, TDS, DOC's, etc. Think osmoregulatory stress, having an isotonic balance from one week to the next...... not ima post my ammonia levels after i come back from my lfs.
Perhaps instead of spending so much effort & time on purchasing every CA species out there, focus more time on learning & understanding some of the basics.
Mardel sells a very accurate sensor that will allow you to monitor free ammonia at all times.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753388&cp=2767036.2769160
It's other things that need to be considered when it comes to water changes, such as pH, GH, KH, TDS, DOC's, etc. Think osmoregulatory stress, having an isotonic balance from one week to the next...... not ima post my ammonia levels after i come back from my lfs.
Perhaps instead of spending so much effort & time on purchasing every CA species out there, focus more time on learning & understanding some of the basics.
