Water Changes

[bigfish]

I have 3 tanks

coldwater 60 litres
tropical 43 litres
rearing tank 20 litres

Just wanted to know how often i need to do water changes and how much water i need to change?, all tanks are cycled

 

[Fishsmurf]

Big Fish,

I think it's a fairly personal thing and most people aim to keep Nitrates below 40ppm. Some people aim lower but [ersonally I think under 40 is good, but obviously this depends on the species your are keeping as well. In one my tanks I keep discus which are pretty fussy about their water conditions and in that tank I do 50 - 60% weekly and some have read of some breeders actually recommending changing 100% up to twice a week. I'm not trying to breed them so I find 50 - 60% works ok.

Depending on bio-load most people seem to find anything from 10 to 25% weekly works to keep the NitrAtes low enough.

I suppose the best advice is to keep testing your nitrAtes prior to and after water changes until you get an idea of what percentage water changes work for your tanks.

Hope thats of some help.....

 

[bigfish]

Thanks fishsmurf thats really helped me, at the moment i change about 50% in my goldfish tank, 25% in tropical as i have platies and guppies (seem to like a weekly water change as it helps them breed) and my rearing tank has to be change 3 times a week coz it dont have a filter as yet but i just bought a bio foam filter today.