I find the need to ask a newbie question of the group; I'm currently doing weekly PWCs of approx 65% and a couple days after the CLs act skittish and reclusive, am I doing too large a WC? Perhaps since I removed the juvenile Oscar a bi-weekly at 25% may be less evasive?
How often should I be doing water changes with 7 CLs?
- Thread starter TUCCI
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I would at least double that to 2 or more 65% replacements a week. NO3 shouldn't be more than 5 mg/l, and that's especially important for fish as sensitive as clown loaches.
Do you have your dither fish yet? If you do not, lack of dither fish may be making them skittish instead of water replacements.
Do you have your dither fish yet? If you do not, lack of dither fish may be making them skittish instead of water replacements.
For many people, a 10ppm nitrate concentration may be fine.
I prefer mine to be below 5ppm, or as close to non-detectable as possible, so I do 30-40% every other day, when possible.
Because i live in Panama where my fish come from I check the nitrate levels in their natural waters, and nitrates are almost always non-existent,
Above, The results the last time I checked the nitrate on my tank.
Some breeders do 90% every day, to get maximum growth, so the idea of too large a water change, is somewhat odd to me, in nature fish are in almost constant water changes.
As long as you match temp, and dechlorinate they should not harm fish.
The only other problem is if your water parameters are drastically different from one water change to the next .
And this is usually an indication that that the frequency of water changes, which keep water parameters stable, is not often enough.
An example of this, might be if pH dropped from 7.5 to 6 between the last change, this would indicate too much time has elapsed between water changes, and allowed the tank to become more acidic.
Water changes are not only effected by time, but the alkalinity (buffering capacity) of your make up water.
If tap water has a low alkalinity, more frequent water changes may need to be done, than if tap water has a high alkalinity.
Low alkalinity water is less able to neutralize the acids produced in fish waste.
I prefer mine to be below 5ppm, or as close to non-detectable as possible, so I do 30-40% every other day, when possible.
Because i live in Panama where my fish come from I check the nitrate levels in their natural waters, and nitrates are almost always non-existent,
Above, The results the last time I checked the nitrate on my tank.
Some breeders do 90% every day, to get maximum growth, so the idea of too large a water change, is somewhat odd to me, in nature fish are in almost constant water changes.
As long as you match temp, and dechlorinate they should not harm fish.
The only other problem is if your water parameters are drastically different from one water change to the next .
And this is usually an indication that that the frequency of water changes, which keep water parameters stable, is not often enough.
An example of this, might be if pH dropped from 7.5 to 6 between the last change, this would indicate too much time has elapsed between water changes, and allowed the tank to become more acidic.
Water changes are not only effected by time, but the alkalinity (buffering capacity) of your make up water.
If tap water has a low alkalinity, more frequent water changes may need to be done, than if tap water has a high alkalinity.
Low alkalinity water is less able to neutralize the acids produced in fish waste.
Not yet and I was wondering about that. I wanted to calm everything down from the Oscar removal.
There is no right or wrong answer on that question.
Go into a reputable LFS and talk as though your thinking of starting up and I bet even the good ones tell you as little as 10% per week. In fact, I am sure out of the 20 some years of practical fishkeeping magazines I have stacked up here I bet I can point to a dozen answered questions on exactly that particular topic saying all sorts of different answers.
it depends on your water chemistry, your temperature, your decor, your biotope, your stocking, your planting, your filtration, your replacement water, your feeding regime, your tank size, even the location your tank is sited.
The best keepers will find a regime that works for each tank and each type of fish over time, but to help speed that up, then my advice would be, try it at 25% every two weeks. And if after 2 weeks the chemistry or nitrates have changed significantly, try 25% every week, and if they still change significantly, try 40% a week. Etc etc. at some point you will find a level your happy to perform that keeps the tanks at a level your happy with and that the fish are healthy and happy with.
For some that’s as close to nature as they can get …………. which SHOULD be all our goals, but is not always that simple or easy to achieve.
on a side note however, even in nature there are often cases where fish are living in extreme conditions (easy example is drying muddy pools with hundreds of fish, soaring temperatures and little oxygen, let alone nitrate through the roof) where our tanks are far less extreme even when not 100% perfect.
just remember the golden rules when testing nitrates.
Use a liquid solution test AND follow the instructions.
And that means shaking bottle 2 for the required amount of time, shaking the full mix for the required amount of time and then leaving the whole thing to Color up for five minutes.
I have met so many folks who thought their nitrates were low only to find they were actually really high and they were not testing correctly. (Not that that’s anyone on here cos we mention this a lot!)
Go into a reputable LFS and talk as though your thinking of starting up and I bet even the good ones tell you as little as 10% per week. In fact, I am sure out of the 20 some years of practical fishkeeping magazines I have stacked up here I bet I can point to a dozen answered questions on exactly that particular topic saying all sorts of different answers.
it depends on your water chemistry, your temperature, your decor, your biotope, your stocking, your planting, your filtration, your replacement water, your feeding regime, your tank size, even the location your tank is sited.
The best keepers will find a regime that works for each tank and each type of fish over time, but to help speed that up, then my advice would be, try it at 25% every two weeks. And if after 2 weeks the chemistry or nitrates have changed significantly, try 25% every week, and if they still change significantly, try 40% a week. Etc etc. at some point you will find a level your happy to perform that keeps the tanks at a level your happy with and that the fish are healthy and happy with.
For some that’s as close to nature as they can get …………. which SHOULD be all our goals, but is not always that simple or easy to achieve.
on a side note however, even in nature there are often cases where fish are living in extreme conditions (easy example is drying muddy pools with hundreds of fish, soaring temperatures and little oxygen, let alone nitrate through the roof) where our tanks are far less extreme even when not 100% perfect.
just remember the golden rules when testing nitrates.
Use a liquid solution test AND follow the instructions.
And that means shaking bottle 2 for the required amount of time, shaking the full mix for the required amount of time and then leaving the whole thing to Color up for five minutes.
I have met so many folks who thought their nitrates were low only to find they were actually really high and they were not testing correctly. (Not that that’s anyone on here cos we mention this a lot!)
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