Water Change Frequency

[chipper_222]

Hey All,

I have had my fish in for just over 6 weeks now, cycle completed 2 weeks ago. Water parameters as follow;

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 2ppm
pH: 7.0

It has been 3 weeks since I did a 25% water change and was wondering whether it is necessary to do another one now considering my water quality is still good. Fish are healthy and active and showing no signs of distress. There is a little bit of brown algae growing on glass, which I cleaned off last week.

Is the adage 'if it isn't broke don't fix it' true in this situation.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Merry Xmas to All

Chip

 

[Amunet]

I'd probably do a small water change just to get up any excess waste... clean the gravel and all that. But if you don't feel like it, I don't see the harm in waiting another week to do a water change. Your nitrates are low and I don't think any of the fish in your tank (the one in the sig) are really heavy waste producers so you should be ok to wait a lil bit longer.
I'm pretty sure some people here do water changes every other week, while some do water changes multiple times a week.

I'm not entirely sure on why you should do water changes other than to decrease nitrate and to get excess waste out. I've heard people talk about old water or something... I'm sure someone will come along and have better info and advice than me lol.

I personally do water changes every week. I like that my fish get some fresh water to replace old stuff... if that makes any sense heh.

 

[Tolak]

There is also total dissolved solids to be concerned about, this is a sort of increase in hardness, which can affect fish. Fresh water is the best preventave medicine there is, you are removing waste products, and repleniching minerals that may be depleted over time. I would do a water change.

 

[vinylman]

Absolutely; regular water changes is the best way of keeping everything healthy. Keep good water and you should rarely have any problems. If you ever find yourself thinking ''should I do a water change?'', the answer is ''yes''.

 

[shang hi]

If you ever find yourself thinking ''should I do a water change?'', the answer is ''yes''.

lol i think should i do a water change all the time, im already doing 25% weekly water changes and about 10% on the odd day. i think i just like doing a water change, its somewhat relaxing to me.

and yes water changes are the best prevention around, also if you only top up your tank to refill evaporated water toxic metals will build up and they are potentialy faital to fish so a water change helps dilute these toxic metals.