Water changes
- Thread starter Xingu piranha 2022
- Start date
Using a liquid nitrate test, test for nitrates from your tap water and your tank. The tap water will show you how low you can keep nitrates in your tank. If the tank nitrates are at 20ppm, then do a minimum of a 50% water change. The lower you can keep the nitrates the better. Test nitrates everyday for about 2 weeks because you need to see how long it takes to get to 20 ppm (or start to change from orange to orange-red).
Yes start to test your water habitually and get a feel for how quickly nutrients and waste builds up. 20ppm nitrate is a good place to start in terms of threshold for water change and you should be targeting less than 10ppm after you've completed a routine water change, work it lower and augment your maintenance routine as you progress.
Other things to consider are your feeding routines and fishes growth. More feeding and bigger fish will obviously yield more waste so if you're feeding heavier your maintenance routine should reflect that as well.
Other things to consider are your feeding routines and fishes growth. More feeding and bigger fish will obviously yield more waste so if you're feeding heavier your maintenance routine should reflect that as well.
filter
plants
wood decor
types of rocks
filter media
biomedia
water conditioners
size of fish
food type
plants
wood decor
types of rocks
filter media
biomedia
water conditioners
size of fish
food type
There is a term we use in the hobby. That term is "bio load", i'm sure you've heard it. It is your tanks bio load which determines your water change schedule. To answer your question by way of giving you a schedule is impossible because we simply do not know what the bio load is on your tank....only you can find that out!
In simple terms most of us wait for the nitrate to reach about 20ppm, orange on the test chart, and then do our water changes, usually big ones too. Then you simply monitor the nitrate "creep" to determine how long it takes to reach 20ppm again, when you'd do another water change. Simple as that really.
After a while, as you become more confident, you'll get into a routine and you'll just know what your nitrate is, or there abouts, without even testing!!
In simple terms most of us wait for the nitrate to reach about 20ppm, orange on the test chart, and then do our water changes, usually big ones too. Then you simply monitor the nitrate "creep" to determine how long it takes to reach 20ppm again, when you'd do another water change. Simple as that really.
After a while, as you become more confident, you'll get into a routine and you'll just know what your nitrate is, or there abouts, without even testing!!
also depending on amount of food fed to the fish, type of substrate, actual amount of bio media
and probably the type of bacteria the aquarium is cycled with
and probably the type of bacteria the aquarium is cycled with
Depending on tank size if it's large enough you don't need to do that often maybe once a month as there are only two other fish, in my opinion.
No one can give you an answer without knowing tank size, fish size and nitrate buildup.
If you have a small tank, and large fish, you will probably need to do more water changes than a large tank, because nitrate will always build up faster in a small tank.
My goal is to provide water parameters close to what the fish live in, in nature (they are wild caught, near where I live).
For me that means as close to 0.00 ppm nitrate as possible, because when I test the water in the river where my fish were caught, nitrate is undetectable.
And for me to consistently achieve something close to that 0.00ppm level, I do 30-40% of my tanks water every other day.
If you have a small tank, and large fish, you will probably need to do more water changes than a large tank, because nitrate will always build up faster in a small tank.
My goal is to provide water parameters close to what the fish live in, in nature (they are wild caught, near where I live).
For me that means as close to 0.00 ppm nitrate as possible, because when I test the water in the river where my fish were caught, nitrate is undetectable.
And for me to consistently achieve something close to that 0.00ppm level, I do 30-40% of my tanks water every other day.
Whilst I would definitely agree, I would also add that you need to know the nitrate levels of your change water too. If your exchange water is 20 ppm then changing water when your tank is at 20 is going to do nothing. If your change water is 0 then it will.
Unfortunately my water straight out of the tap is almost 20ppm so even mixing with RO water still gets me >>0 change water and on a large tank using ro is impractical.
there’s lots to consider but all only stuff you can work out.
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