The Truth About Water Changes

[Marto666]

The truth about water changes.

I hear soo many different opinions on how often/how much should be done I am very confused.

How often and how much water should I be changing with a 350L tank and about 30 fish?

Thanks

 

[The Taffy Apple]

The truth about water changes.

I hear soo many different opinions on how often/how much should be done I am very confused.

How often and how much water should I be changing with a 350L tank and about 30 fish?

Thanks

I always do about 20% on my 110L weekly, i have no reasoning behind it, it's simply what i've read on here if i'm honest.

I went away for a couple of weeks at the end of last year and the amount of thick brown waste i hoovered out of the gravel in my 30L tank was enough to make me feel ill!

Regards,
Terry.

 

[coldcazzie]

The truth about water changes.

I hear soo many different opinions on how often/how much should be done I am very confused.

How often and how much water should I be changing with a 350L tank and about 30 fish?

Thanks

Depends. What filter do you have? What substrate? Do you have any plants? If so, how many? What fish are they? How hard is your water?

It's not just as simple as do x amount every x number of days!

 

[Marto666]

Thanks Terry

That sounds reasonable; its not too much effort so can be done quickly.

Do you know if using the siphon is an effective way of hooving all the mess out of sand or are there other products that can be used to clean the sand?

I know you can buy a gravel hoover but wondered what would be used for sand?

Cheers

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Thanks Terry

That sounds reasonable; its not too much effort so can be done quickly.

Do you know if using the siphon is an effective way of hooving all the mess out of sand or are there other products that can be used to clean the sand?

I know you can buy a gravel hoover but wondered what would be used for sand?

Cheers

I use a hoover for both my gravel substrate tank and my sand substrate tank. Cleaning the sand using a hoover takes a little getting used to, but i've found that doing it in little tiny circles about 1cm above the sand does the job just fine!

PS- if you haven't already, get some shrimp into your tank, they'll scavenge whatever food is not eaten by your fish.

 

[Marto666]

Caz

I have a Filstar xp filter, 4 plants, sand, fairly hard water and mainly penguin tetra size fish.

Cheers

Thanks Terry

That sounds reasonable; its not too much effort so can be done quickly.

Do you know if using the siphon is an effective way of hooving all the mess out of sand or are there other products that can be used to clean the sand?

I know you can buy a gravel hoover but wondered what would be used for sand?

Cheers

I use a hoover for both my gravel substrate tank and my sand substrate tank. Cleaning the sand using a hoover takes a little getting used to, but i've found that doing it in little tiny circles about 1cm above the sand does the job just fine!

PS- if you haven't already, get some shrimp into your tank, they'll scavenge whatever food is not eaten by your fish.

Thanks for the good advice Terry, I will give that a bash.

 

[coldcazzie]

Then yeah 20-30% weekly with poo removal would be sufficient in my opinion

 

[Marto666]

Then yeah 20-30% weekly with poo removal would be sufficient in my opinion

Thanks Caz.

Would you go with the gravel cleaner to clean the sand too?

 

[coldcazzie]

Gravel cleaners usually don't create a strong enough pull in my experience. A simple thin piece of hose/pipe would do. I detach the gravel cleaner bit off mine and just use the tubing.

 

[TwoTankAmin18]

As fish keepers there is not a lot we can do to keep our fish healthy and in a good environment. One of the things we can do it to provide them with clean water. To that end more water changes tend to better than fewer. Unless there are special considerations such as newborn fry or fish which need immaculate conditions like some discus, then doing weekly water changes of 30%-50% is a great idea. It is important that the new water going in has similar parameters to those of the water in the tank. As long as it is, there is no danger in doing weekly changes or evn more if the spirit moves you.

If you are the lazy and more technical type, then you can also test your water to determine the need to change it. The two things to monitor in this case would be nitrate levels and TDS. The latter will build up even if the nitrates don't. I have always found it a lot easier just to do the weekly changes without regard to the parameters. I would also note that I have yet to hear or read of any fish dying because the water it lived in was too clean.

 

[james_fish]

It should depend on how much nitrates have been built up during the week/fortnight.

James.

 

[Caprichoso]

I always do a 50% water change including a good gravel vac. For years, I only ever did about 30% and would occasionally run in to water quality issues. Since I've increased the amount of water I take out, I've had zero issues with ammonia, nitrates and unexpected fish loss. I used to think that 50% was too much but since I've had much success with my fish, I would never do anything less than 50% per week.

 

[blue acara]

The truth about water changes.

I hear soo many different opinions on how often/how much should be done I am very confused.

How often and how much water should I be changing with a 350L tank and about 30 fish?

Thanks

The truth about water changes is they are good for fish health and fish growth, but that you should try to keep the water changes as stress free as possible to the fish by using heated and treated water. I used to use cold water buckets of water years ago- stressful for fish and keeper.

For the average stocked tank I would change 50% water once per week. A gravel hoover is good but most fish waste is excreted via the gills as ammonia. The only way to remove this is through water changes.

 

[StandbySetting]

I do one every 3 months, but that's because my tank is pretty much self sustaining using the Walstad method, depends on the set up, there is no rule of thumb.

 

[elisew]

On my Tanganyikan setup and Malawi setup I do a minimum of 50% once a week and have done 2 water changes a week on occasion if I think the water still looks a bit hazy. Both tanks are 380L so it takes a while but the fish do look healthy so I'm happy to invest the time.
Depends on what time you have but a gravel/sand vac should be done at least once a week imo.

My fry tanks get a minimum of 50-60% daily water changes