Water Changes

[Szar]

They might breed for awhile, but not long. Much of the trouble with early fishkeepers was the thinking that aged water was necessary and best. But as your nitrAtes rocket past the 100ppm mark and on up through the 200ppm mark, you'll notice your fish stop growing or breeding. You are wrong to think everything is okay. You are setting yourself up for catastrophe. Your pH is dropping, dropping fast and your TDS is rising very quickly putting osmotic stress on your fish. Their kidneys will eventually give up and you'll try to help them with a big water change. As the new water raises the pH and lowers the osmotic tension, their bodies will undergo horrid experiences not unlike the bends.

I get what your saying and i know you are right, except nothing is rising at all in my tank. Given the amount of plant i stuffed in to the tank, nitrates just skyrocketing might be a bit less likely then a all rock tank overstocked with cichlids. Ph has been stable since i set up the tank, the only time it changed was with a water change and it affected the ebjd negatively.

I did the reg water changes with ebjd and it did not work, i found what works with these pain in the ass fish. Why mess with what works ? They are growing fast eat everything.

If you have a perfect fish keepers guide to ebjd please share. But i found that very constant water changes they don't like.

 

[knifegill]

It's great that you've got it planted well and you are right to think that the lower nitrAtes mean you can go a little longer without water changes. The plants themselves also act to buffer your water and help stabilize the pH. I see where you're coming from, but remember that when you put matter into the tank, it stays in the tank. Our test kits don't test for everything and along with TDS creep, you also have mineral depletion to battle. So with the worst of the worst under control, you are right to think that a little less maintenance would be alright. But even so, it will eventually go unstable on you if you go too long without water changes.

The least I've ever done was once every two weeks and I could see the fish stressed out because of it so I went back to weekly.

Best of luck making the best decision for you and your fish.

 

[Szar]

It's great that you've got it planted well and you are right to think that the lower nitrAtes mean you can go a little longer without water changes. The plants themselves also act to buffer your water and help stabilize the pH. I see where you're coming from, but remember that when you put matter into the tank, it stays in the tank. Our test kits don't test for everything and along with TDS creep, you also have mineral depletion to battle. So with the worst of the worst under control, you are right to think that a little less maintenance would be alright. But even so, it will eventually go unstable on you if you go too long without water changes.

The least I've ever done was once every two weeks and I could see the fish stressed out because of it so I went back to weekly.

Best of luck making the best decision for you and your fish.

Thanks dude and i appreciate your knowledge.

I kept ebjd before using standart school of though and it did not work out, you know how touchy feely these fish are. This just happen to work for me. There is evaporation so of course i add new water.

But see i saw the fish stressed out more when i changed water to often........ and these were minimal changes. And when i stopped they got better more active and are feeding well.

I don't overfeed am not over stocked i clean the substrate, things thank god are working for em.

 

[importracer]

Is it safe to do a big water change every week dont want to take the nutrients ouut that they have goign on in there

DOing 50% water changes every week is healthy...........

 

[kdrun76]

Szar, in addition to your TDS skyrocketing you are also facing grossly elevated DOC's (Dissolved Organic compounds). Because of the huge variation in each of the different DOC's that are released by both the fish and the plants, there is not a single test to measure them. It takes upwards of a few dozen tests and for that reason they are not measured, but do need to be controlled. It is generally presumed that DOC's rise at about the same rate as nitrates.Because nitrates are so easily tested for they are used to indicate the levels of DOC's. However that only works in non planted tanks. In planted tanks where the nitrates are reduced by plants, it is still necessary to reduce DOC's through water changes.

I strongly disagree with your fish keeping practices and wish both you and your fish the best of luck. I think you have a time bomb ticking.

 

[Smitty0044]

Szar, in addition to your TDS skyrocketing you are also facing grossly elevated DOC's (Dissolved Organic compounds). Because of the huge variation in each of the different DOC's that are released by both the fish and the plants, there is not a single test to measure them. It takes upwards of a few dozen tests and for that reason they are not measured, but do need to be controlled. It is generally presumed that DOC's rise at about the same rate as nitrates.Because nitrates are so easily tested for they are used to indicate the levels of DOC's. However that only works in non planted tanks. In planted tanks where the nitrates are reduced by plants, it is still necessary to reduce DOC's through water changes.

I strongly disagree with your fish keeping practices and wish both you and your fish the best of luck. I think you have a time bomb ticking.

Sorry this might sound pre school but im starting to get the hang of it... When you change the water what chemicals do you put back into the water and do i have to do it by a five gallon bucket or can i poor the stress coat in to the tank and then fill it up or vis versa and do you put in PH stuff every water change or the fish get used to the PH of the tap water never been lower than 7 or higher thn 7.4 i was told in between there is safe for my fish at the LFS i have some crushed coral that i bought LFS does that keep the PH the same just a little confused on the chemistry part
lol dont rag me to bad lol
Thanks Smitty

If i left anything else out pls correct me just trying to have the best care for my fish would hate to loose them

 

[knifegill]

Smitty, do a forum search for "how to do a water change" or similar wordings and you'll find many threads dedicated to this question.