How often to change water - Freshwater - Aquariums - Flippers 'n' Fins - Message Board - Yuku

RSS
Email

0 Kudo

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

How often to change water

Author	Comment
macmom	How often to change water	Lead	[-]
Posts: 25 (03/28/09 17:57:23) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Report Post	Tags : None Seems there are a lot of opinions on how often to change the water in your tank. We have several in the house. I have a 30 gal in my office and hubby has a 40 gal in the living room. I change out some of my water weekly - usually about 10 gals. He prefers to wait a little longer in between. What is the consensus here on how often to change the water?
pLaurent2007		#1	[-]
Posts: 3219 (03/28/09 18:31:26) Blue Eyed Beauty Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Report Post	I do approx. 25% WC each week. That can vary depending on what kind of fish you have and how many. A larger population and/messy fish might require larger or more frequent changes.
itsybelle		#2	[-]
Posts: 3403 (03/28/09 19:29:54) Gone Goldfishing! Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Report Post	I agree with PL! The easiest way to show hubby that more frequent water changes are necessary is to buy a reliable test kit (like the API master test tube kit) and test the nitrAtes and ph. Nitrates will increase over time and PH changes in water that sits versus straight from the tap. Changing out water weekly keeps nitrates low (at least below 20 or in some cases needing to be below 10) and frequent and small water changes allows for the fish to acclimate to changes like PH in a slow fashion, which is much better for them! Many people think that water should be changed monthly...or longer! While fish can probably survive this, their lives are shortened significantly and they are more prone to disease. A lady at work the other day told me that she was fine having her goldfish in a bowl because it doubled in size and it lived for a year. Little does she know how large they can get and how long they can truly live!
pegzee		#3	[-]
Posts: 750 (03/28/09 20:24:46) True-Blue LFS Extraordinaire Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Report Post	Hey all. Had a few minutes to check in. As Itsy mentioned, the key is a test kit. Your tank parameters are what determines w/cs. My 55 gallon tank right now is understocked so my nitrates have been almost nil. The need to do water changes depends solely on your tank and they type of water parameters that govern it. Ph will change over time but the biggest change you will see in a cycled tank is nitrates and they should never be above 10 in my opinion but certainly never, as Itsy said, above 20. Many people do the 25% weekly because that is what works for them. You will only know what works for you if you get a proper water testing kit. Good luck!
tetralina3		#4	[-]
Posts: 13951 (03/28/09 21:45:10) Mad Scientist Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Report Post	I agree with everyone. My view is that 25% is the minimum for a moderately-stocked tank. Overstocked tanks or very messy fish might require more and/or larger changes. t
Zaela Sedai		#5	[-]
Posts: 1547 (03/29/09 13:24:54) Red Sox Muggle Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Report Post	33% weekly for messy cichlid tanks
swimfeeshie		#6	[-]
Posts: 12 (03/29/09 21:00:14) Dedicated fishlover Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Report Post	I generally do 1/3 of whatever the tank is....
farid		#7	[-]
Posts: 88 (03/30/09 14:38:33) L SuperGuru Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Report Post	hi there, i do 60 to 80% weekly tanks with overstock or tanks i feed a lot (30 to 60 fry) i make up to three 80% changes in a week! farid
tetralina3		#8	[-]
Posts: 14007 (03/31/09 03:12:32) Mad Scientist Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Report Post	Everyone remember, though, that farid is a fish expert so newbies and intermediate maybe try to stock lower and do correspondingly smaller changes i.e avoid overstocking and big changes for now . . . t

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Quick Reply