wow!!!! i change 40 to 50 % every week this week more due to outbreak of algae in my 150, i would rather do water changes to deal with the algae, than use chemicals. filters do not remove all the urine, feces, or ammonia, water changes do in my humble opinion, i have only been keeping fish for just 35 years, so i am not an authority
How Often do you water change>?
- Thread starter SteveR
- Start date
i think more is needed when you have algae or illness etc. but on a regular basis that seems like a big change for the fish to do weekly.
i suppose in a 150 it's not as drastic as a 50 would be. idk, i guess it's a bit debatable with a difference give or take 100-20 percent, more based on tank health
i suppose in a 150 it's not as drastic as a 50 would be. idk, i guess it's a bit debatable with a difference give or take 100-20 percent, more based on tank health
20-30 gallons once a day, sometimes once every two.
It's just to easy and hands free with a python.
It's just to easy and hands free with a python.
i change many many gallons every three days,mostly because i have many rays and love to feed my fish.Oh i also do not pay a water bill:}
bigspizz;1964628; said:
Generally, yes, but specific tanks' bioloads can definately throw that rule out the window.
a 55 with a few mollies is probably gonna be a more stable environment than a 150 with three Oscars.
at the moment as i have 3 fish 1 x 10'' 1 x 5'' and 1 x 3'' in my 180 gal i do a 50% every 2 weeks.
when i set up my other tank with fish properly in the very near future i will go back to 50% once per week.
when i set up my other tank with fish properly in the very near future i will go back to 50% once per week.
Ratio of bio load to total volume will determine how often you need to change your water. Most of us don't like to keep one six inch fish, by itself, in a 300 gallon tank, and therefore need to perform regular, large volume, partial water changes.
Think of yourself as the final step in the nitrogen cycle. In your biological filtration lives bacteria that eats the ammonia and gives off waste in the form of nitrite. Then there is even more bacteria that consumes the nitrite and gives of waste in the form of nitrate. So, think of yourself as bacteria that need to take out the nitrate in order to keep the cycle going.
...and Dixon gives a perfect example of this in his post above!
Think of yourself as the final step in the nitrogen cycle. In your biological filtration lives bacteria that eats the ammonia and gives off waste in the form of nitrite. Then there is even more bacteria that consumes the nitrite and gives of waste in the form of nitrate. So, think of yourself as bacteria that need to take out the nitrate in order to keep the cycle going.
...and Dixon gives a perfect example of this in his post above!
In alphabetical order a good list:
Aluminium, antimony, barium, beryllium, bismuth, boron, bromine, cadmium, calcium, cerium, caesium, chromium, chloride, cobalt, dysprosium, erbium, europium, fluorine, gadolinium, gallium, germanium, gold, hafnium, holmium, indium, iodine, iridium, iron, lanthanum, lithium, lutetium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, neodymium, nickel, niobium, osmium, palladium, phosphorus, platinum, potassium, praseodymium, rhodium, rubidium, ruthenium, rhenium, samarium, selenium, silicon, silver, sodium, strontium, sulphur, tantalum, tellurium, terbium, thallium, thorium, thulium, tin, titanium, tungsten, vanadium, ytterbium, yttrium, zinc, zirconium.
THe chemicals added to tap water such as flouride, chlorine and chloramine remove these elements or convert them. The natural processes going on in your tank lead to the development of said elements and minerals. In the wild these elements are leached from clay and rock and natural mineral deposits. Answer enough? Test your tap water for those elements with the same kit I got from my university and tell me how it comes up.
While Im sure a few members do age water and pre-mix and heat the water up to the temperature of the tank I doubt that the vast majority do so. Rainfall also has a negligible effect on the temperature of a large body of water. Do you have any idea how hard it is to change the temperature of a large body of water by even one degree? The only time rainfall changes temperature is during deluge seasons such as those in the amazon.
The magical alternative would be testing your water when you do your changes to see that even changing less water you will still keep your toxicity levels at 0ppm. Im not proposing that people not do water changes, just that 50% is excessive.
Here you are correct. You will dillute the water on the first water change and thus will remove slightly less of whatever particular you are trying to get rid of. That said, the difference is negligible and if you still can't get it with 2 x 25% 2x 30% is still preferable to 50%.
Bigspizz, my opinions, which I made clear time and again were just MY opinions are not based on 0 fact. They are based on extensive consultation with the zoology department at my former university and experience I've picked up over time. I never dismissed constant drip as a bad system, I merely couldn't understand your reference to it since changing water by constant drip is not nearly the same thing as doing 50% water changes.
And like you, I don't care what you think about my fish. Believe that I havent lost them or believe that I have all that matters is the truth. Ive not lost a fish to random death to date and Im certain that if I continue as I have it will remain that way. All of those fish were sold off months and months ago and as I stated at the time I only kept them because they paid the water and electricity bills associated with my tanks. Ive since found other fish I could sell just as easily and for more money so I got rid of the livebearers.
At any rate, I think Im quite through debating with an adolescent who has offerred no conjecture but rather just a constant stream of insults.
