Input on Water Change Frequency

[West1]

X2 on keeping your schedule going.
I do the same exact on a under stocked 300.... 50-60% every 5-6 days. (was doing it every 4 days)

Plus the water goes to the grass so they have to drink too

I have 6 fish (the list on my Sig) and I try my hardest to give them the best living conditions I can do (they depend on us to do that for us).
I wouldnt want to post a thread with my prize fishies gone..

Now my fgeeder tank is a lil different. As soon as my Orino gets a inch or 2 more, that thing will change from the same shedule to once every other week

 

[arkmann]

Thanks West. I used to do the same 50-60% water change every 5 days then I thought how big of a difference would two days do? I think its not that big because all my fish are fat and healthy.

I wish I could set up an auto water changer but I live in an apartment and even having a tank I believe is prohibited.

 

[dmopar74]

not to bust people's bubbles, but it doesnt matter if you have 1 filter or 1000 filters on a tank, the nitrate levels will rise at the same rate.

 

[vfc]

That bio-load is probably generating more than 10PPMs of nitrates per day.

 

[arkmann]

That bio-load is probably generating more than 10PPMs of nitrates per day.

10ppm per day? So in 7 days I would have 70ppm??? Even more???

I agree with dmopar on his last statement but I doubt it if my set-up generates 70ppm per week. Time to do some tests...

 

[Yota]

10ppm per day? So in 7 days I would have 70ppm??? Even more???

I agree with dmopar on his last statement but I doubt it if my set-up generates 70ppm per week. Time to do some tests...

I have a 125 with 2 Oscars . My nitrate creep is 5-6 ppm a day. So yes your stock in a 100g can be hitting 10+ ppm a day.

and filters HAVE nothing to do with nitrate creep.Your fish make it and WC's take it away. And I do 3 a week on 8 tanks. I like keeping my nitrates under 5ppm

 

[cichlid savage]

I currently bumped up my filtration and I currently have the following on my standard sized 100 gallon tank:
FX5
2 x AC 110
30 gallon wet dry

I have the following stock:
11" ST
8" NGT
2 x 7" NTT
7" IT
14" Fire Eel
12" Arowana
7" Ray

The tank is looking empty with those 8 fish.

I'm currently doing 50-60% weekly water changes. As we all know, we sometimes get lazy and doesn't keep up with it once in a while.

I was wondering if I should change my water change schedule to once every 10 days or once every two weeks. A respected member here already told me to stick to my current regimen.

What do you think?

Keep up your current schedule. about 2 years ago I was reading an article in TFH about water changes and the conclusion of the article was do more frequent larger water changes. Before that i was doing bi-weekly water changes after that I was doing weekly water changes of approx 60%-70% with no problems whatsoever. Keep in mine in a lake river or the ocean the water changes everyday as the water flows through an area. Just my .02

 

[dmopar74]

just see how your nitrates are rising, and do wc's when you feel comfortable with the nitrate levels. your goona get people that say anything over 10ppm is bad and some that say up too 100ppm is ok. to be honest if things are working good now keep it the same, and in time when your fish get bigger or you start feeding more then bump up the size or frequency of your wc's.

im shure i'll get some flameage for this but ive ran tanks over 100ppm and have grown some healthy fish out fast without overfeeding. i strive for better conditions now, but i think people tend to be a little "more sensitive" to nitrate reading than their own fish.

just strive to provide the best care that you can, thats all any of us can do for our finned friends.