Sponge Filter How Offen Do U Do A Water Changes

[seanie112]

i do a water changes every wk in my tanks
but when i use sponge filters witch i have now started do in 2 of my tanks to get the elec bill down a little
done a test them on sunday as the sponge filter have been in there for 4 days done a water change before i put in the sponge filters test was all good
anyway when i tested the water on sunday the tested was as follows

test kit used was a nutrafin test kit
3ft tank divided in to two
3ft tankhave 2x bristlenose trio's in and shrimp abt 5adults and load of fry
2ft tank has bristlenose trio's and abt 50 fry shrimp
i feed pellet food & cucomber my fish three days awk
ph 7.0 / 7.5
ammonia 0.0
niterite 0.8
nitrate 20

other tank was around the same

on my other two tanks i am still using ex filter so they are all good



so do i do water changes more offen like 2 times a wk or no and do bigger water changes i done a 30% water change last nite (sunday)

am i doing something wrong !!!!!!!
any help on this be good thx

 

[saz326]

NitrAte at 20ppm is fine... (I assume the numbers you are quoting are in ppm)

NitrIte at 0.8 is not bad, but a little higher than it should be in the long run.

The good thing is that the ammonia level is at 0. so the ammonia has been converted into nitrite successfully.


As the sponge fitler is new - just keep an eye on the numbers. Concern should be only at testing the nitrIte and ammonia numbers to watch the filter settle.

Feed the bristlenoses sparingly while the filter matures, the shrimp will find food no matter what you feed the fish. (Algae, scraps etc)

But I cant see why you cant eventually do a 30% waterchange on a weekly basis - just to knock the NitrAte levels down and keep the water fresh.

It would help if you add some live plants to the tank. (you may have some already - but havent said)
Live plants will suck up some of the nitrates and help to provide food for the shrimp when you reduce the amount you feed to the bristlenoses. Its good housekeeping to every now and then stop feeding (or greatly reduce) the food in the tank just to allow excess scraps etc to be eaten and give the filter a chance to catch up.

Every week I do a half dose of floating food, and a non-feeding day of sinking pellets. The faster fish then get the food they need to keep healthy (floating flakes), and the algae eaters (bristlenoses/shrimps) have to search for their food which is good exercise and keeps the tank cleaner.

 

[seanie112]

ill put some plants in there now i do feed them little food plus i have 6 defi pellets to feed them so i mix it i only feed them cumcumber once or two times a wk when i havent feed them pellet food

i done 25% water change last nite plus i lostthe xl male found him dead this morning

i amy put them all (bristlenose from the 3ft tank ) in my big tank as i have sold some other bristlenose plus sold the other ones in the 2ft tank getting picked up 2mrw so only thing be in the 3ft tank and 2ft will be shrimp
ill keep i eye on the reading ill do another test on weds nite ill post the reading then thx the your info