Water changes

How often does everyone do a water change, I do the 60 litre every week, the 4 foot with the 12 inch plec every week and the other 4 foot every 2 weeks. The reason I ask is I was in P@h and was asked and when I said how often I did a water change this kid working there told me it was too much and should only do a water change every 2 months, now I have hit the menopause and my temper is on a short fuse at the best of times I had to walk away before the vein in my head exploded, but it got me thinking am I wrong. I have external filters on all 3 tanks and clean them every month.

Your regime sounds about right.

We do the big 6ft tank once a fortnight about 30%, the 5ft about the same and the other 2 weekly about 30%. (the big 2 have better filtration)

me
marine 94l 1 small bucket every week its about 25 %
only got c.u.c in and 2 clowns

and E's 1 Oscar 300l I think well 50 inch tank
I do 4 buckets every week without fail

alison wrote:

How often does everyone do a water change, I do the 60 litre every week, the 4 foot with the 12 inch plec every week and the other 4 foot every 2 weeks. The reason I ask is I was in P@h and was asked and when I said how often I did a water change this kid working there told me it was too much and should only do a water change every 2 months, now I have hit the menopause and my temper is on a short fuse at the best of times I had to walk away before the vein in my head exploded, but it got me thinking am I wrong. I have external filters on all 3 tanks and clean them every month.

What a shame you didnt hang around for the explaination!! Every 2 months - I wonder what your readings would be if you do that - anyone want to risk doing an experiment

I sometimes leave the tanks for 2weeks, and have found that it doesnt impact on water quality at all, but when that happens I give it an extra gravel vac and a bit of a bigger water change.

I Could leave E 2 Weeks but i have read somewhere that
Oscar's LOVE CLEAN WATER.so i do this for him.
(also the most messy eater in the tropical fish world i believe.)
always have and all my stats have always been spot on.
external filter.I have just rinsed the white filter once,in 6 weeks.

the marine is aways spot on i just have to check salt doesant drop or rise
too much if too much i put in pure r.o.this brings it right.
if salt too low water change with salt water.

no wonder people lose fish when they get advise from half wits I preached all the way home until the OH was ready to drown me in one of the tanks, every time I go into P@h there is someone diffrent on the aquatic section so its pot luck what advice you get. I was there a while ago and got talking to another customer about snails in the tank and a boy working there said we sell stuff to get rid of snails and I told him I had loach in the tank and didnt want to bugger up the water and he looked at me as if I had two heads.

alison wrote:

The reason I ask is I was in P@h and was asked and when I said how often I did a water change this kid working there told me it was too much and should only do a water change every 2 months

Well this is the sort of silly statement that gives LFS a bad name...

I change 30-40% of the tank water in all my tanks every week. I have to do this as my water is so soft (the tapwater KH is only 2), I have to replenish and buffer it on a weekly basis.

If I only changed the water once every 8 weeks - i wouldnt need a jug or siphon - id need a pick axe or jcb

Id seriously have rowlocked that kid and suggested some proper training to his manager.

Been posted before but in brief - for the 200liter tank (its 200liter with two big externals) i change 20 - 30 % once per week but once every three months I do i big raid and take everythign out and do a 50% change

In the 70liter tank - I guess I do about 40% every week (two large buckets worth)

I know I could leave my main tank for two weeks and it would be ok, not sure id like to risk it for the smaller tank

I assume this kid thinks you change 100% of a marine tank once a year or something like it

As for mary's comment on soft water - mine isnt much better - but I dont buffer it etc - I just keep species that are ok in my water

i change 25% of my tanks every week - and garvel clean once a month this
i find is fine stats are always ok - everyone will have there own system that suits them
and there fish.




dekker

I think Mary buffers the way I do - just to stop a ph crash.

I have stupid soft water and low ph and use bi-carb of soda at water changes just to keep it stable as it crashed to a ph of 5 and I lost a few fish when I was first starting out.

I do keep soft water species, wouldn't touch any fish that needed a hight then neutral ph because they just wouldn't like my water.

Rich wrote:

As for mary's comment on soft water - mine isnt much better - but I dont buffer it etc - I just keep species that are ok in my water

So do I - apart from the ill chosen Rainbowfish - but as indigoj said, I buffer to avoid a pH crash.

on all of my tank i do a water change ever 2 days 25% water change but alot of them have fry in that why i do it as the more water changes the faster the lil guys will grow !

OwNz wrote:

on all of my tank i do a water change ever 2 days 25% water change but alot of them have fry in that why i do it as the more water changes the faster the lil guys will grow !

I certainly found that to be the case with both swordtail fry and baby bristlenose catfish

the later are especially dirty little swines - I really noticed the daily poo quantity on the floor of the tank when I had my 1st BN litter and no substrate - so I did daily changes (only about 10% tho) for them.

I guess its a sensible precaution against bug n stuff too - ive now got the habit of treating the nursery tank with a 50% dose of melafix and pimafix to keep the worst of the nasties at bay until the eggs have hatched and the fry are free swimming - it may be coincidence but I forgot to do this on the last batch of BN's and of the hundred of fry I had - only 4 survuved (they all got a fungal nasty)

anyway - back on topic

ya i do a 10% daily water change on the bristlenose tank i have just ordered 4 wild caught adult L213 have a look on planetcatfish...

3f 1m awsome looking fish so sorting there tank for them being imported at the end of the month ! cant wait.

i lost alot of bristlenose fry they are easy to lose at a young age !
but still have a nice batch of them