Water Change Frequency

[Mako Man111]

I know a lot of people do partial water changes every week, but isn't this a bit overkill? I mean I just tested my cichlids tanks nitrate, a week after about a 20% percent water change and its only around 25-30ppm. Many people say its not even harmful until you get over 100ppm, especially for freshwater fish.

I personaly think it may be overkill, I mainly do it just to keep the gravel clean, I don't like looking at dibris.

How often do you guys do it? or think you should do it?

 

[Gatorbait]

It depends on the bioload and what you feed. ie. If there is food on the bottom afterwards.. There's no set in stone answer but more is better, imo.

I do a couple 10% and a 50% for one tank and 1 10% and a 50% a week for another. Sometimes my larger tank gets 2 or 3 50% wc's a week. Depends on my mood and time.

I would try to keep nitrates no more than 50ppm. 100ppm is pretty high and can do some damage if like that long term.

 

[Mako Man111]

It depends on the bioload and what you feed. ie. If there is food on the bottom afterwards.. There's no set in stone answer but more is better, imo.

I do a couple 10% and a 50% for one tank and 1 10% and a 50% a week for another. Sometimes my larger tank gets 2 or 3 50% wc's a week. Depends on my mood and time.

I would try to keep nitrates no more than 50ppm. 100ppm is pretty high and can do some damage if like that long term.

I think you guys really under estimate your fish sometimes, they are hardier than we sometimes claim. Ph shock I believe is the number one fish killer, along with the cycle killers, but nitrate really has no ill effects until you get over 100ppm. Andywg I think would agree with me.

 

[Gatorbait]

It depends on the bioload and what you feed. ie. If there is food on the bottom afterwards.. There's no set in stone answer but more is better, imo.

I do a couple 10% and a 50% for one tank and 1 10% and a 50% a week for another. Sometimes my larger tank gets 2 or 3 50% wc's a week. Depends on my mood and time.

I would try to keep nitrates no more than 50ppm. 100ppm is pretty high and can do some damage if like that long term.

I think you guys really under estimate your fish sometimes, they are hardier than we sometimes claim. Ph shock I believe is the number one fish killer, along with the cycle killers, but nitrate really has no ill effects until you get over 100ppm. Andywg I think would agree with me.

That's cool if Andy would agree with you. You asked and I gave you my opinion and my opinion is less than 50ppm nitrates is better than 100ppm. Just sharing my thoughts with you is all. I like my fish as healthy as can be.

 

[LiveLifeGoJump]

I do 10 - 15% each week, Regardless of nitrate levels. I think the water looks cleaner & seems 'fresher'.

I think the fish are entitled to a clean, fresh environment as in the wild they have a water change every second of the day (in rivers), perhaps not as often in lakes but as there is almost always a good flow in & out the water is constantly being changed.

Would you like to sit in the stiinig room all day every day with the heater of and all doors & windows closed. You would be able to breath but just opening the window for a bit fresh air would feel really nice after a few days.

Since changing to sand I don't have to clean it so on that basis could leave it for weeks but won't as it would not be fair on the fish.

Do others aggree?

 

[Mako Man111]

Oh no I agree, less is better and more water changes certainly don't hurt at all. I was just expressing my opinion that with most fish, they do just fine with higher levels.

 

[xJake]

I've cut my water changes down to 10% twice a week. I was doing 30% water changes twice a week because I was having nitrate problems until I finally removed my undergravel filter and put in sand. My nitrate level only flucuates between 10-15ppm now; it was up to almost 100ppm with the ugf.

 

[Gatorbait]

Oh no I agree, less is better and more water changes certainly don't hurt at all. I was just expressing my opinion that with most fish, they do just fine with higher levels.

Yea, no problems. No harm done nor meant.

I've known people that keep nitrates higher than I and have perfectly healthy fish. It's a personal opinion of mine that if kept at 100ppm that it could be bad over years. That's the beauty of forums, we can all ask questions and learn from one another. What we may think now may change after reading others opinions and learning others ideas.

 

[Mako Man111]

Oh no I agree, less is better and more water changes certainly don't hurt at all. I was just expressing my opinion that with most fish, they do just fine with higher levels.

Yea, no problems. No harm done nor meant.

I've known people that keep nitrates higher than I and have perfectly healthy fish. It's a personal opinion of mine that if kept at 100ppm that it could be bad over years. That's the beauty of forums, we can all ask questions and learn from one another. What we may think now may change after reading others opinions and learning others ideas.

Yeah, that was the point of me starting this thread, I wanted to start a good discussion.

 

[nuttsaboutfish]

i would do a water change every week for my tropicals, i wouldn't like to live in my own keek.
i replaced my undergravel filter with a new fluval3+ and found my ammonia go up to .25ppm for near 2 weeks so did a 10% water change every 2 days till it came back to 0.
everyone seems happy now!

 

[Tolak]

Fresh water is the best preventave medicine there is. I've heard about the 100ppm nitrate deal. I change 50% weekly on most tanks, but my situation is not the usual one, it's beyond overstocked in most cases.

I've found I can control growth rate to some extent by increasing or decreasing water changes. More frequent water changes, warmer temps, and heavy feeding increase growth rate. I've tried it with just water change frequency, and it does have a significant effect. Knowing this helps with market fluctuations.

In the past few weeks I moved every tank I own except one, rearranging the fishroom. Many tanks got around a 90% water change, several got 100%. Everything is spawning, including some corys & plecs. It's generally accepted that spawning fish are happy fish, and large water changes, especially with cooler water, are a common technique used.

 

[deni]

I have a 20 gallon (100l) tank and take out two bucketfuls (not sure what percentage that is!) once a fortnight. How much and how often you do a water change I suppose depends on what size tank and what fish you have, and how messy they are.
Where I live the water is quite hard and I get a slight nitrate reading just from the tap water. All my fish I bought locally so I think they would be acclimatised to the kind of water I have. And I wouldn't buy fish that need to live in very soft water!

 

[nuttsaboutfish]

my nitrate level stays around 40ppm evry time i do a water change, should i try and get this down further and what is the best way?

 

[jayjay]

Depends on my mood, normally 30% a week at least, once a month or so 70% changes and some 100% changes. Depending on the tank and the fish.

 

[scott rich]

as this is my first tank i have only been doing 30% evry week....
and add tape safe and some stress coat.... the water and stones look clean and fresh....