need advice/water changes for 400G

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
 
M.Carfi;3487087; said:
got a 400 gallon setup for about 2 weeks now, I took half the water from my 135 to fill, the rest was fresh from the tap.
I have:
fx5 uncycled fresh media
amiracle 400 twin tower sump cycled
and an eheim 2229 cycled

The ph sits around 7.5 to 8 consistently.
The water is about 85.F
There are 7, 8-10" fish in residence

When and how often should I change the water, and what % should be changed on a regular basis. Should I be vacuuming the accumulation on the bottom? or can I take the water from the sump to replace. There are 1" round river rocks as a substrate. 3 of the fish frequently feed from the bottom, and a 4th is a pleco.

Reason I'm asking is because the tank is so deep that I have to practically get in it to keep it as clean as my 135. It's a 2 man job now.
Click to expand...

Water changes are usually based on the nitrates. You need a freshwater master test kit such as API's. In a cycled tank, you will have ammonia and nitrite readings of 0 ppm. To keep nitrates low (many fishkeepers try to keep nitrates below 20 ppm) water changes are done. The only way to know the nitrate level is to test the water. How large and how frequently you do water changes will depend on how quickly the nitrates rise in your tank. In heavily stocked tanks, the nitrates will rise faster.

Frequent water testing will tell you how fast the nitrates rise. If nitrates rise at 20 ppm a week, and you did 50% water changes once a week, this will happen:

Week.............Nitrate
1...................20 (at the end of the water change it will be at 10ppm
2...................30
3...................35
So you can see that 50% once a week would not keep nitrates below 20 ppm.

Once you test your water, if your nitrates are sky high, you should do smaller frequent water changes to gradually bring down the nitrates.

If your tank is not cycled, or is in a minicycle and your tests show ammonia or nitrites, this is another time when water changes are indicated. Gross overfeeding, the presence or dead/decaying matter in the tank, or a power outage which kills off the beneficial bacteria in your filter could cause a minicycle where there is an ammonia or nitrite reading.
 
See.... this is what I'm talkin about....I need reinforcement in my knowledge about water chemistry.....not some 25....80% debate and other $h1++y opinions without factual information.....

BUT, by no means am I putting any opinions down, and GREATLY appreciate the participation... once again thankyou everybody.

PACU MOM..........will you be my MOM .....thankyou.

and by the way Pharoah..... Because of you I AM concerned about chlorine now... you are the MAN!
 
Don't worry....just prevent.:D
 
Not vacuuming out and removing the waste on the bottom will increase your nitrates.

The nitrogen cycle in a nutshell is: ammonia is generated by fish/food waste, respiration, decomposing organic matter, etc. The beneficial bacteria in your biological filter consume the ammonia and convert it into nitrites. Both ammonia and nitrites are toxic to your fish. Another group of beneficial bacteria convert the nitrites into nitrates. Being one of the end products in the nitrogen cycle, nitrates keep building up. While not as toxic as ammonia and nitrite, nitrates have been implicated in early death, failure to thrive, stunting, hole-in-the-head disease, etc. The old saying, "your fish will grow to the size of your tank" is probably stunting due to high nitrates. Pacus which can live 30+ years, seem to survive only about 2 years in a 75 gallon tank. The poor fish were living in water with horrible parameters.

The easiest way to lower nitrates is with a water change. There are other ways such as a heavily planted lightly stocked tank, algae scrubber, denitrater, etc. Many fishkeepers keep the nitrates below 20 ppm, others strive for 40 ppm. There are some people try to keep the nitrates below 10 ppm...it depends on the type of fish in the tank.

So get that API Freshwater Master Test Kit and test your water! One thing to note: The nitrate test is extremely technique sensitive. You must follow the directions explicitly, i.e., vigorously shake the bottles and tube the full time as directly. Any deviation will result in a false reading.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4345+4454&pcatid=4454

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...quariumpharmaceuticalsfreshwatermastertestkit

BTW, my fish love water changes. Here's an old clip taken a few years ago. Water is being pumped back into the tank (Reeflo Hammerhead pump) at the end of a water change. The fish love playing in the swift current. Tommy, the lutino oscar goes body surfing
http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/pacumom/tank/?action=view&current=WaterChangeTime.flv


Having spent over an hour a day vacuuming out feces and debris from the overcrowded 55 gal. tank our rescued fish came in, and doing 100% water changes 15 gallons at a time, we wanted a low maintenance tank. We went with a bare floor when we set up our 300 gallon tank. With extreme mechanical filtration, there has never been anything to vacuum out of our 300 gallon tank. We have two pipes placed 1/4" from the floor. Feces and debris quickly scuttle across the floor and is removed from the tank from our "poop" suckers. Our pacu have outgrown their 300 gallon tank, and their new tank has been ordered. Being 6 times as big, we anticipate an easier time in keeping nitrates low. We are definitely going bare floor on the new tank. There is no way I could vacuum out a 15' x 4' x4' tank. All the filtration/plumbing/pumps are being planned to minimize maintenance and make water changes as easy as possible. I'm considering a planted tank, hydroponic garden, algae scrubber or something in the old tank that lowers nitrates. We definitely want a 24/7 automatic water change system, and an easy way to do a large water change, should we need to. Keeping nitrates low is the ultimate goal for us.
 
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