It's awesome that you are building a 250gal. But if you don't have the time or water to do appropriate water changes on a 55gal., how are you going to maintain the 250? I honestly wish you the best with whatever you do. I just wondered if you had a different plan for the schedule on the much larger tank.apennell07;4605779;4605779 said:.. ive been keepin fish for like 10yrs.. obviously im not keeping them in a 55 foreverand i dont have the time or water to do weekly, i dont like putting the chemicals in the tap water..
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my jags are black?
- Thread starter apennell07
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yeah ive been looking into an RO unit. trying to find one that hooks up to a tap, bc im renting and cant run plumbing. and as far as everyone flaming me on my water changes, theres a much better way to express an opinion to someone. on this site u should be a little more friendly and informative. if someone actually explained why i should do more wc id be more likely to do it. its like if u only change your oil every 15k mi and your car still runs fine u wont see why u should do it every 3k. but if a mechanic explained why u should.... my view on dechlorinating chem. is u cant turn something into nothing. so what does it turn into? everyone does their wc diff, from daily to not at all. so how am i to know what is actually needed.
Well personally i dont think 25% water changes are enough every 2 weeks. Although depends on what levels your nitrates are at?
I do 10% every other day plus 40% each weekend for my 125g cichlid tanks and clean all 3 filters out every 2-3 weeks just to keep nitrates at 0 to make sure they live close or to their maximum lifespan, growth etc plus there are no nitrates in the wild.
I do 10% every other day plus 40% each weekend for my 125g cichlid tanks and clean all 3 filters out every 2-3 weeks just to keep nitrates at 0 to make sure they live close or to their maximum lifespan, growth etc plus there are no nitrates in the wild.
You need to test your Nitrates. That will tell you how much and how often you need to do water changes. Nitrates are not toxic at a low level, but are as they get higher. You want them to be under 40 PPM. As others said a 50% water change every week is usually required to get this.
There should be no problem using tap water and adding a good de-chlor like Prime.
Get a 50 foot hose and attach it to a faucet. Makes water changes very easy.
...Bill
There should be no problem using tap water and adding a good de-chlor like Prime.
Get a 50 foot hose and attach it to a faucet. Makes water changes very easy.
...Bill
All dechlorinators operate through a chemical process known as reduction. In this process, toxic dissolved chlorine gas (Cl2) is converted into non-toxic chloride ions (Cl-). The reduction process also breaks the bonds between chlorine and nitrogen atoms in the chloramine molecule (NH2Cl), freeing the chlorine atoms and replacing them with hydrogen (H) to create ammonia (NH3)...and yes, this is copy and pasteapennell07;4611615;4611615 said:
. Some dechlorinators do a little more than this. They may include aloe and other additives. I don't think anyone intended to come off rude in your thread. Everyone just understands the importance of water changes. Granted, some people may do them far more than needed. I'm sure you will notice a dramatic change in the health, growth rate, and activity of your fish with the appropriate water changes.
I do about 25% 2 or 3 times a week. But, I also let my nitrate dictate the frequency.
No matter what I change 25% all tanks Sunday. I also test on Wed and change where the nitrate is creeping up to 40-60 range.
I live in Nevada and the price of water is prohibitive but I guess this is just part of the hobby.
I think a whole house RO system may be in my future
have a lot of wood in that tank, probably helps with the nitrates. you could also add live plants to bring down the nitrates even more, and without additives, which would make so that you will have to make less modifications to your water change schedule.
i also found that there are freshwater clams that go down into your substrate and eat the waste and reduce the nitrates naturally. the trouble is that cichlids think they are tasty, but can't really get at them once they have burrowed down into the substrate.
i personally would change that 25% to weekly instead of bi-weekly.
i also found that there are freshwater clams that go down into your substrate and eat the waste and reduce the nitrates naturally. the trouble is that cichlids think they are tasty, but can't really get at them once they have burrowed down into the substrate.
i personally would change that 25% to weekly instead of bi-weekly.
Jayzao;4612929; said:I think a whole house RO system may be in my future
i found a 150 gpd R/O DI system on ebay, from Filter direct. i'm debating replacing the 100 gpd system that i have so that i can set up a drip system.
yeah thanks guys, ive looked into nitrates/nitrites and stuff and ill buy some more test kits next time i go to the city. it just cost like 5 times more to keep fish over here than in the us. i also thought i read somewhere that dechlorinated tap water is still bad bc the chlorines turned into something else and theres other stuff in the water or something. so i thought if im using pure 7.0ph rain water i could go longer with out changes. and i have java moss in all my other tanks but not this one yet bc it clogs filters. and im also very careful not to over feed. anyways i sold the smaller jag
just re read gruffs post and i see where it says it turns into ammonia, that must be what i read, but id still like an RO unit bc of the other stuff in tap water.
