Water Changes

[sparky_555]

Hi, i was just thinking, instead of doing a 100% water change once a week, would it be ok to do a 1 litre (from a 1 litre jug) water change evry night? the tank is a 2.5 gallon, this would be more convenient for me as i am at college now and if i'm not doing work i'm pretty tired to do anything apart from collapse on the sofa B)

 

[Amerce]

Hi, i was just thinking, instead of doing a 100% water change once a week, would it be ok to do a 1 litre (from a 1 litre jug) water change evry night? the tank is a 2.5 gallon, this would be more convenient for me as i am at college now and if i'm not doing work i'm pretty tired to do anything apart from collapse on the sofa B)

It would be better to do small changes ... say 20% every other day and then a 100% every other week.

I'm presuming that you have a filter in there so you don't need to a 100% change every week and even if you don't have the fish is less stressed from doing a full change once a week.

 

[jollysue]

Yes, we need to know th set up. Do you have water test kits?

 

[sparky_555]

There isnt a filter as it is only 2.5 gallon, i have no test kit as i didnt see the point in spending £15 + to only change the water, so i thought if i do regular 100% water changes i wouldnt need one.

 

[jollysue]

You know, I see people talking about the fish being stressed, but I have found that the Bettas in the unfiltered tanks get used to the water changes, and seem to not be bothered. They like the fresh water, too, I think. The ones in the filtered tanks are mostly more of a hastle to change and the fish get a little rougher treatment. They are in the larger, harder to move around tanks, so get more jostled, therefore the changes are less frequent too.

When I have a Betta in a 2 usg critter keeper w/o a filter, I will often put a gallon of denatured water in the newly empty/cleaned tank. That is the amount I have denatured on hand. Then after a few days I add the second gallon giving fresh water. That seems to work alright, and I have not had any issues so far doing that. Of course my Bettas are smaller species. But this way I go a bit longer than a week to change the water. And a critter keeper has lots of surface area for oxygen exchange; the Betta has a shallow tank, but he doesn't mind the shallow part. Whatever good bacteria are preserved by using denatured water. Don't know if it really helps much, but it makes me feel better.