Water changes

geese · #1 ,

How often do you all do you water changes. Because when I bought my first tank the guy told me once a month but ive been hearing of once a week.

Bernie · #2 ,

You can get away with doing p.w.changes once a month & some people may do it only monthly - it can also depend on the size of the tank & filtration. The larger the tank is, the more stabilised/balanced water chemistry wise it is, plus less evaporation may occur. If there is a problem with the any parameters in the water, it will take longer for the problem to arise/get noticed in a larger tank.

Doing monthly p.w.changes means that a larger amount of water is often changed, which is stressful to the fish. Smaller more frequent changes are better IMO, as it doesn't cause major fluctuations in the water chemistry/temperature & it doesn't shock the fish as much.

10-20% weekly is often the best (even smaller changes done twice weekly is good if there is time) Doing weekly changes will also help avoid any problems arising in the first place. It can also depend on the type of fish in the tank, more sensitive fish require more frequent w.changes.

Also fish excrete a growth inhibiting hormone (in order to slow done the growth of other fish-so they will be the strongest/biggest (survival of the fittest I guess) & you need to do regular p.w.changes to remove the hormones.

fishead · #3 ,

With my 12 gallon tank, I try to do them weekly...about 20%

Dano · #4 ,

Water changing is a topic of much debate. Every body has a different approach to this subject. It seems to be somewhat a common conscensus that a 25% once a month is reasonable in a medium loaded tank. Too many large w/cs too often can be counter productive to the bio-system. Frequent w/cs should only be used to control water problems that are affecting fish. (one or more per week) Me and most of the people I associate with do around 25% per month and use activated carbon when we can't. You have to find what ever level of tank maintenance is best for the conditions you have. TOO MUCH IS BAD AND TOO LITTLE IS WORSE!! This does not include water replacement from vacuuming and or evaporation.

lemuelpr · #5 ,

I try to replace water evaporated and dont count it as water changes. I try to do 20% every 2-3 weeks. If something happens that 4 weeks pass I do a bit more. But frequent water changes might kill beneficila bacteria, thats why sometimes you see the water turn a bit "white" and eventually clear by its own. I think that at the begining w/c should be less frequently until tank is fully cycled, then do more frequent smaller changes. But as someone said, we all have our opinions on the matter and it can also depend on the fish you keep. All my tanks are kept differently. I refer to my "main tank", the 55 gal with Discus and Tetras. The others have w/c less frequently. My Killis dont like w/c for example. Mostly I replace evaporated water and only clean it like every 3 months. Thats the only way I have been able to reproduced them, as all the people I know here told me to do so and it worked. So I think it will depend mostly of what fish you have....

NewGuy · #6 ,

I do 30% a week, but i was experiancing a huge brown algea growth so i thought there was a nitrogen problem. I will be going down to 15%-20% a week once the algea is taken care of. The reason is, the fish i keep need good qater quality and i will be pushing my limit soon. I also only do 10% right now, and 5% once the algea is gone, every time i change or clean the filter. Also, when i clean the rocks, i dont change the water, just full it back up.

fishead · #7 ,

The size tank comes into it as well; smaller tanks have less 'room for error' as it were.

Sharon · #8 ,

I do a 20-25% change on all my tanks, and a gravel vac. once a week. I like to keep nitrates below10...........

suppleupagus · #9 ,

I've always gone with a 25% water change once a month, suctioning the water out from the bottom with a gravel cleaner . If the tank is overloaded, then I do it more often, if there are only a few fish I can stretch it out longer .

Evad · #10 ,

I have had tanks everywhere from 10gal to 200gal, and my water changes are usually ever other week - 50%.

If you have fish that you want to really grow big (like angels) then big water changes help a lot.

If you don't want to grow your fish a ton, or your tap water is dramatically different from your tankwater, or you have a heavily planted tank, then it better to do smaller water changes more often

I have yet to ever kill a fish from too many water changes.

My humble opinion.