Unnecessary arbitrary water changes?

[groovitudedude]

i change water every other day in my ray tanks

And yes, that does sound excessive. I would not want to keep fish if I had to dedicate several hours (or at least a lot of time) to doing WCs every other day.

 

[BushFishRox]

And yes, that does sound excessive. I would not want to keep fish if I had to dedicate several hours (or at least a lot of time) to doing WCs every other day.

That is why you buy a big tank just for the rays with a heavy duty filtration system... or you setup a drip system if it is heavily stocked.

 

[groovitudedude]

That is why you buy a big tank just for the rays with a heavy duty filtration system... or you setup a drip system if it is heavily stocked.

Exactly, so you don't have to do that many WCs.

 

[spiff]

It's not that hard.. esp. the basic chlorine system..






Second paragraph: This is Monsterfishkeepers. I'm saying this to brag it up but most of us have a sick devotion to this hobby. This site doesn't just have large predatory fish keepers on it. It has a majority of members who eat sleep and breath fishkeeping. It is the core of this site probably. It's about taking things to the next level. Not just a hobby like the people at petco see it. An obession. Some of us are massivly overstocked. Others just prefer to keep as far away as possible from high nitrates and other bad things.

And I appreciate this... trust me, I can fully appreciate getting into a hobby 110% as I do the same. I was just hoping to get some valid data.
If I had a dog, I wouldn't feed it prime rib just because I could or could afford it. If a cheap chow came out that sounded viable, I would ask the same questions about it.

 

[Nic]

and to be technical there is no Unnecessary water changes..... nature keeps water very clean and we have to duplicate that in our homes...

 

[Miguel]

I do a 25% to 30% a week, regardless...

 

[drb]

Common sense if you are waiting for a test to show the parameters are off its already to late! So again common sense everyone wants to change their water more frequently and avoid any change in quality.

 

[spiff]

Common sense if you are waiting for a test to show the parameters are off its already to late! So again common sense everyone wants to change their water more frequently and avoid any change in quality.

Really? So a test will never show that your parameters are just fine and you don't need a change? I think you should never use the term "common sense"..

 

[oscarluvr]

i do 40% every week, after all even with filters, fish are still living where they go potty

 

[DigThemLows]

Really? So a test will never show that your parameters are just fine and you don't need a change? I think you should never use the term "common sense"..

No it wont, test's don't measure everything (waste, organic material, etc.) in the water column, do you think ammonia is the only thing harmful to fish? And do you think a threshold of "x" is when you change it? 20ppm is on the verge of too much right? So you want to constantly bring the fish to the verge of too much, and then clean it over and over again, or is it better to keep it as low as possible all the time? We're not trying to keep our fish barely alive, we're trying to keep them healthy on a constant basis..........