Too many water changes?

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Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 5, 2008
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Is there such a thing? I have been really keen on maintenance for my 125 gallon central american cichlid tank lately. My fish are still juveniles so I have been feeding 3x daily. I have also been increasing my water change maintenance accordingly. I do 50% water changes ever 4-5 days and siphon the sand every day replacing bout 5 gallons every/every other day. Will this have a negative affect on my tank? Is it possible to do too many water changes?

My stock includes...

1 pair of midas(male 6" female 5")
3 young cuban cichlids(between 2-3")
6 silver dollars(2.5-3")

filtration
xp2 canister
aquaclear 110
emperor 400(aquaclear 110 to replace this one in the mail)
aquatop cf-500uv
 
If you're up to it, cool. After all, if you stand in a stream in only 1 foot of water, you quickly realize that we'll never change the water as much as nature does. The sticking point though, with some species, is that our water changes don't bring them water identical to what they were just in 30 seconds ago.

Some fish are more sensitive to differences in ph or temperature. For those species there can be too many water changes based on their inability to handle rapid environmental changes. Aside from those circumstances, change away! :)
 
I prefer smaller more frequent water changes than one big one once a week. I believe it to be less stressful to my fish IMO.
 
Some cichlid people change out 100% of the water daily...I know that I have with large freshwater fish.

The key is to always keep h2o quality good, and consistent. If the water you replace it with doesnt shock them ph, or temperature wise...I think that you are fine. As far as your stocking is concerned the one thing I would be worried about are the dollars, they are known to be touchy fish, especially when it comes to pH, so just watch out for them.

Also make sure that you arent overly stressing your animals...sometimes keeping your hands out of the tank is the best thing you can do.
 
crisper said:
I prefer smaller more frequent water changes than one big one once a week. I believe it to be less stressful to my fish IMO.
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I agree, I trickle 1 gallon per hour 24/7. The fish seem to love it.
Jc1119 said:
You could change 100% daily and skip the filter altogether.

I don't think any amount is too much as long as it doesn't harm the fish
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Large water changes seem to freak out my fish but the more the better. I just extend the large water change over a 24 hour period.
 
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