Question about when is it time to change filter media
- Thread starter Finthusiast
- Start date
just want to be sure this is acceptable:
20-30% water change once a week, rinse filter media twice a week.
Since beginning of the tank I have done one water change per week usually between 20-30% (not sure exact amount of water thats in the tank but I do about 1.5-2 gallons in my ten gallon tank) and only rinse media if it gets real dirty.
Rinsing your mechanical filter media regular is good. As mentioned previously you don't want it clogging up and then dirty water going into your bio media.
Your water change schedule, and how much you change out, isn't governed by you just picking a number out of the air and saying, i'll do 10% or 30% or 80% this week.. Your nitrate level governs when you do your water change, and how much.
Do you test for nitrate? I don't know what your stock is but nitrate can build up pretty quick in a small tank.
Well I need to get a test kit of some sort in order to check that. Do you have any recommendations on this?
Every hobbyist should have the means to test their water. There are several types out there but the API liquid test kit is very popular on here. You can test for PH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
Here in Panama, I do water changes every day during the rainy season.
Back in the states my normal routine was 30-40% every other day, and on over 1000 gallons of tanks.
Beside diluting waste products like nitrate, fish produce hormones that may inhibit growth, and good health so (especially in small tanks where these by-products tend o build up quickly) that can't be filtered out, so changing lots of water soften, should be deemed common practice.
Ok thank you for that advice I will do a two time per week water change for now on with the ten gallon. I have heard bigger tanks need less water changes is this true and to what degree do they mean less like less amount of water per change or less frequent changes?
In a 75 youd still want to do 20-30%+ weekly if not twice weekly. Bigger banks are just more forgiving in the aspect that if you miss 1 water change it's less likely to be the end of the road for your fish.
