I Know I'm Bad But....

[Dextersmummy]

Hi I know this is bad but in my whole
Life

 

[Dextersmummy]

I Hadnt finished stupid iPod so sorry as I was saying ..... In my whole life of keeping fish I've never really tested my water unless things seemed a little off or a fish was poorly. Plus I was always told not to do a water change every week if it ain't broke don't fix it and that I can do more damage this way? Its confusIng when u get told one thing for years then I went on another forum and was told to do a 50% change weekly. I clean every month and check the filter etc basically when things aren't as crystal I take out water and clean. What is the best way or is everyone different with opinions? X

Not all th water I take Out around half when I clean x

 

[fenny666]

Without doubt everyone has different opinion on this.
My opinion on the size and frequency of water changes is down to the individual system.I can't understand how people can advise someone on a hard and fast rule without knowing how the keepers system behaves.
Assuming your ammonia and nitrite level are good ,monitor your nitrate level and change the water accordingly to maintain a desirable level.
For me this would be below 25ppm.I also favour lower volume but higher frequency changes.

 

[Dextersmummy]

thank you, Its so hard to know what to do, I have a 190 litre fluval venzia corner with a fluval 206 ive never had a external filter before so im even more worried!

 

[fluttermoth]

Water changes are a good thing. It replenishes all sorts of trace minerals and removes by products of the biological filtration system, like nitrate.

It's virtually impossible to do too many water changes, unless you're talking about tanks that have been neglected for a long time.

Weekly water changes are best for most tanks, but you might be able to let that go to ten days, or even two weeks, in very understocked or very highly planted tanks. If your tank is heavily stocked you might need to do more, and/or larger changes.

All my tanks get 50% weekly, and they're stocked to a 'standard' sort of level.

The type/level of filter present doesn't really make any difference to the amount of water changes, that's more to do with the conversion of ammonia and nitrite to nitrate.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

I refer you to this thread...
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/397437-how-are-they-still-alive/