Water Changes

Subject: Water Changes Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:17 pm

How often do you do water changes?

Rank2 Member Age : 33 Joined : 20 Jan 2008 Posts : 63

Once every couple weeks, 30%water change seems to work for me.

Subject: Re: Water Changes Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:12 pm

Once a week for me, helps keep your tank healthy.

Subject: Re: Water Changes Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:20 pm

I change my Angelfish/Discus tank every three days, it keeps them in their best shape. I change all my other tanks every 1-2 weeks
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I have been keeping aquariums most of my life. I have kept both fresh and salt water, cichlids, catfish, loaches, clownfish, wrasses, and everything in between. Feel free to ask me any questions!

Visit my blog at http://fgaquarium.blogspot.com/

Subject: Re: Water Changes Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:08 pm

I add water every couple of weeks, and I do a 30% water change every month to month and a half. I have 4-5 times the filtration needed and I have very large power-heads pulling water through 3-5 inches of gravel in my under gravel filters as well. I also have lots of plants in all my aquariums except for the feeder fish tank so I don't think I need to change it so much. My tap water is very alkaline and has high phosphate levels so I need to put phosphate absorbent material into my canister filters.

Subject: Re: Water Changes Tue Feb 05, 2008 6:35 pm

Garman do plants help out that much in your tank? And if yes it does it have to be a lot of plants or only a few? I know the extra filtering makes a difference just never really thought plants helped out more than just making your tank look nicer.

Subject: Re: Water Changes Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:34 pm

Yes, plants help out alot. You see, plants breathe in CO2, and exhale oxogen. So, when fish breathe in oxogen, they emit CO2, which the plants breathe in. Plants also emit more oxogen than normal, so it helps out with the filtration. See? It is like a circle constantly repeating itself. You don't need too many, though, just enough to be placed around your tank.
_________________
I have been keeping aquariums most of my life. I have kept both fresh and salt water, cichlids, catfish, loaches, clownfish, wrasses, and everything in between. Feel free to ask me any questions!

Visit my blog at http://fgaquarium.blogspot.com/

Subject: Re: Water Changes Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:42 pm

Maybe I should do water changes more often but I'm a basically lazy person and rarely have any problems with water chemistry or fish deaths. My tanks have mainly Anubis barteri, Anubis Nana, Java moss and Java fern, and in my 100 gallon tank I have a huge Amazon sword. I have plenty of plants and I have to thin them out on occasion and most of the logs/wood are covered with Java moss. When the Java moss gets rangy I just tear it shorter, and since it's well rooted to the wood plenty remains to keep growing. My biggest hassle is that I need to buy new bulbs and that costs a fortune!

Subject: Re: Water Changes Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:31 pm

Hahaha! garman, I know what you mean about your bulbs! They always are costing me a bunch because my creeping burr head loves those T5 and VHO bulbs!
_________________
I have been keeping aquariums most of my life. I have kept both fresh and salt water, cichlids, catfish, loaches, clownfish, wrasses, and everything in between. Feel free to ask me any questions!

Visit my blog at http://fgaquarium.blogspot.com/

Subject: Re: Water Changes Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:52 pm

i usually do a monthly water change of 20%. but i test my water weekly and always have some ready for a change if anything is out of whack. This last month i had to do weekly because something interfered with my beneficial bacteria and i had to recycle the tank. But all fixed now.

Subject: Re: Water Changes Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:01 pm

As municipal water supplies, at least in the USA, put chlorine, and other substances to bond with toxic things in the water, what are we putting in our tanks when we do water changes? I read an article that said that low pH, which is what my tap water has, is bad for plants because it somehow causes the CO2 to not be avaliable for the plants, but they also said that putting pH balancing substances don't fix the problem with the water. Does anyone know about the toxic products besides chlorine and chloramine or chloralamine tap water has in it and how to treat it? I use a water conditioner that takes care of the chlorine related stuff, and I have Phoscheck to reduce phosphates, but what else is in there that makes the water "hard", and supposedly bad for plants? OK so I've read that it would be best to dilute "tap" water which is hard with distilled water that contains no hardness, minerals, or to use rain water for part of the water you put in your tank. Any ideas on this? Should I host another new post for this?

Subject: Re: Water Changes Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:14 pm

I have read some on this and figured that if I'm not loosing fish and all my water test are good than I have nothing to worry about. I have hard water and do nothing but add water conditioner to it, maybe if my fish could talk they would say that it sucks.
Sometimes I think some of this stuff about water and other thing dealing with fish keeping are started by manufactures of aquarium products. They get people discussing a subject and in the end we go out and buy product that we may not need. Water conditioner is a must, I would never tell someone not to use it. There are also other helpful products out there , but for every good product there is a bad one. Back on the main subject the only things I can think of that are in our water are chlorine and chloramine and some minerals.
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Subject: Re: Water Changes Fri May 23, 2008 12:38 am

Well my 30 gallon that i have my parona in i've maybe done one water change this year, my guppy tanks all get a 10% weekly cange a 50% monthly water change. My betta tanks as well as any breeding tank or raising tank get 5-20% water changes every day. My 60 gallon salt-water tank (and i can't figure it out) I haven't done a water change even add salt in about 10 months and it's crystal clear no smell ( smells fresh) and all test are perfect. I think that once a tank is estabilished depending on whats in side water changes can make or break the life cycle in your tank, also what kind of water you use makes a differance even filter bioaligy. I have found if it smells like fish change it, if it dosn't don't.

Subject: Re: Water Changes Fri May 23, 2008 1:31 am

I-also-don't-do-water-changes-very-often-on-some-of-my-tanks-but-most-of-my-tanks-have-at-least-some-Java-moss-to-eat-up-nitrates.......My-main-concern-is-to-dilute-the-elements-that-don't-evaporate-and-concentrate-if-I-only-do-top-offs........Garman

Subject: Re: Water Changes Fri May 23, 2008 9:09 am

I don't use any live plants in any of my tanks, I would but the selection areound here always seem half dead or not interesting. My salt tank has had plants but because the water is like acid they die within hours, but all the creatures are perfectly fine and are doing good. My one 30 gal has one red belly parana and seems never to get dirty even though i feed him all the time. I do regular water test on all my tanks, use only store bought water and have never added any chemicals. My fish haven't gotten any diseases and i've only had to deal with cloudy water and green water a few times.

Subject: Re: Water Changes Fri May 23, 2008 2:57 pm

where-is-Chatham-BGB?

Subject: Re: Water Changes Fri May 23, 2008 4:08 pm

Chatham is in Ontario, Canada. There are two pet stores one i will never shop at do to the fact that all they're fish and other stuff are always dead looking if not already dead. And the other one has employees that don't know the first thing they are talking about and when it comes to ordering certein things like fish and equipment, they always get it wrong. So i have to travel most times just to get what i need, and when i need ansewers i have to hope i find someone on the net that might know what they are talking about. I'm not a profesional at fish keeping i just know how to find what i need ansewerd and with do as much research as needed. Thats why when it comes to the perfect water in my salt tank i cannot figure out why its acid and as for not haveing to do regular water changes on other tanks is because i'm dedicated to my hobbie.

Subject: Re: Water Changes Fri May 23, 2008 6:56 pm

Didn't-you-say-you-don't-do-water-changes-on-your-salt-tank?.......That-could-be-why-it's-acidic???......I-don't-know-much-about-salt,-but-with-fresh-water-the-water-trends-toward-acidic-between-water-changes-after-a-period-of-time.....probably-due-to-chemical-reactions-happening-within-the-cycle.

Subject: Re: Water Changes Fri May 23, 2008 8:37 pm

ya i haven't done a water change for a long time now but all my test say its at perfect levels. fish and snails and starfish and eurchins all alive and doing really good. My one starfish ( a White Sand Siffter) is very sensitive to bad water and is getting bigger all the time. The only problem is when the water gets on my skin and i burns me. To see if it was just me i had other people test the water on they're skin and it did the same thing to them. Most forum sites don't beleve me but its true and it dosn't really bother me aslong as everything is runnig at the right levels. If anything would be afected by the acid water it would be my live rock and its doing real good and is not breaking down, which happens to live rock if water is bad.

Subject: Re: Water Changes Fri May 23, 2008 11:39 pm

It-would-be-simple-enough-with-a-pH-test.......If-everybody's-happy-then-that's-what's-important.