Water change frequency for Oscar in 75
- Thread starter breadhead
- Start date
Oscars are high waste, but any similarly sized cichlid isn’t far behind. If the Jack doesn’t kill the rest in 75, you’ll be dealing with even worse water issues than a single Oscar.
Ok well that is high. Are you sure? That seems unhealthy. Ours is .5 to 1ppm. I know it varies by region but that seems like untreated water
Are you in the US?
If so, unless you have a private well, Chlorine or Chloramine is used to make you water drinkable, by all water suppliers, and using a de-chlorinator is the norm for all aquarists.
Most aquarists use Safe, Prime or simple sodium thiosulfate to make water fish safe.
If your water supplier uses only Chlorine, putting a vessel full of water, and aerating it overnight will normally make the free chlorine off gas.
This does not work for Chloramine, because its a much more stable compound
When living in US I used sodium thiosulfate, because my supplier used Chloramine as a disinfectant
Shot above chlorine level of 1.26 ppm chloramine, below after a few drops of sodium thiosulfate.
I
As far as nitrate goes, the MCL (maximum contaminant level) allowed by the EPA for public water systems in the U.S. is 10ppm.
If so, unless you have a private well, Chlorine or Chloramine is used to make you water drinkable, by all water suppliers, and using a de-chlorinator is the norm for all aquarists.
Most aquarists use Safe, Prime or simple sodium thiosulfate to make water fish safe.
If your water supplier uses only Chlorine, putting a vessel full of water, and aerating it overnight will normally make the free chlorine off gas.
This does not work for Chloramine, because its a much more stable compound
When living in US I used sodium thiosulfate, because my supplier used Chloramine as a disinfectant
Shot above chlorine level of 1.26 ppm chloramine, below after a few drops of sodium thiosulfate.
I
As far as nitrate goes, the MCL (maximum contaminant level) allowed by the EPA for public water systems in the U.S. is 10ppm.
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If it was me having to do all this craziness to get water for water changes I would keep the tank way understocked so I can get away with one big change a week. I would go with a pair of some sort of smaller cichlids and a handful of appropriate dithers . The cichlids would depend on my water. If soft water and low PH I would go with Acara and tetras as dithers. If high PH hard water go with a pair from the Amatitlania family and some sort of live barer for dithers.
