Water Change Frequency

[garrym1983]

hi, im 12 days into a fish in cycle.

wanted to know, how often is best to perform water changes?? i test everyday with API kit. Do i only perform changes when there is a registering of a toxin, do i change everyday regardless or do i leave it until toxins reach a certain level? (im aware ammonia and Nitrite are poisons to fish)

Thanks

 

[fluttermoth]

Your aim with a fish in cycle is to prevent both ammonia and nitrite from ever going above 0.25ppm.

In practice, this means that you'll probably need to do a water change any time your tests register any level of those two, as, if left they'll only rise before your next test or water change and could well go above the 0.25ppm.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[garrym1983]

Yes it does thank you

ive never let my readings go above the first greeny coloured reading on the test chart which is .25, what percent water change then is adequate, ive been doing quite big ones, in the region of 60- 70 litres in a 98litre tank. Is that too much?

 

[KittyKat]

I consider the aim to be to keep ammonia and nitrite as close to 0 ppm as possible and never letting them reach 0.25 ppm.

If there is any potential for ammonia or nitrite in the water, I'd consider it *best* to do water changes every day if you know that the new water contains 0 ppm of both.

In practice, a water change the day before you expect to see ammonia or nitrite, based on previous readings, should still be good enough.

If you're not seeing one or the other every day, then is your tank very large or particularly low-stocked, even for a cycle?

 

[garrym1983]

all i do then is add prime to the capacity of the tank

There are 13 fish altogether in a 98 litre tank.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

all i do then is add prime to the capacity of the tank

There are 13 fish altogether in a 98 litre tank.

13 Mollies would produce alot more than 13 Chilli Rasboa, say. If you have relatively big fish then you may need more frequent water changes.. but your test kit will tell how much and when

Terry.

 

[garrym1983]

ive got 6 zebra danios 3 albino cory and 4 neon tetras, been told the latter two shouldnt be in at this stage and prob wont survive, but im hoping they will. its a 98 litre tank, been told on another forum that i should be looking to do 10% daily water changes.

 

[fluttermoth]

It's impossible to say how large your water changes should be; that depends on what your test results are.

For example, if you had an ammonia level of 1ppm, a 10% water change would only reduce that to 0.9, still far too high. In that instance you'd want to be doing a change of more like 90%.

We can't know exactly how much ammonia your fish are producing, so can't predict how high the ammonia might rise and therefore how big your water changes might need to be.