water changes..... how often is safe?

[matildanz]

I'm currently seeding my 3 footer with water from my smaller one each time I do a water change. Taking between 1/4 - 1/3 each time, once a week. 3 footer is perhaps 40% 'old' water at the moment. What's considered a 'safe' percentage of 'old' and 'new' water before transfering the fish? Can I take water more often without an adverse reaction? I not keen to take all the cycled water as I may just need it as a quarantine tank

thanks

[DennisP]

Basically only reason you water change is to remove ammonia. You can do this with about 10-20% WC. The more you remove, the more you remove good bacteria which could potentially lead to a spike in ammonia which is bad, and in a small tank, conditions can change QUICK.

I do about 10-20% each week. Mostly just 1 or 2 buckets full over the week.

More frequent changes > 1 big one.

^^^ Just incase you didn't know.

As for the question, I'd say about 50/50 should be fine.

[phoenix44]

Nitrate. You change water to reduce the nitrate levels. Ammonia should not exist once the tank has cycled.

Also depends on what fish you have. If you have juvi discus you'll need to do many more water changes to get rid of the growth inhibiting hormones the fish release.

[DennisP]

Shhh.. I'm sleepy.

[ryanjury]

Nitrate. You change water to reduce the nitrate levels. Ammonia should not exist once the tank has cycled.

Also depends on what fish you have. If you have juvi discus you'll need to do many more water changes to get rid of the growth inhibiting hormones the fish release.

Yep phoenix is onto it, early in the cycle process if you do things wrong you would be changing out ammonia.

It is hard to know but I reckon that 99% of the "good" bacteria lives in the filters so you can safely do very large (even up 99%) water changes on your fish. The major thing here is to make sure you can water with no chlorine, same temp and parameters so you don't stress your fish. When I move fish I move them in about 20% of their water and filter and then slowly top the tank upto full.

[Ira]

The only reason not to make large changes is if your new water is significantly different than in the tank. So you could do like 99% every day because the water in your tank wouldn't change much in a day, but 25% might be a bit much if you only do a change every month.

I do 50% a week, sometimes 75% if I forget I'm draining the tank, it's a waste of time doing small changes imo.

[matildanz]

Excellent, thanks for that. Had planning on transfering filter along with the fish. There's bound to be snails living in it so what would be the safest way to remove the majority without disrupting the good bacteria. Wouldn't be to concerned but they've taken quite a liking to my new Spiral Val!

[Sophia]

what sort of snails are they that they eat val?

[Caryl]

If you are transferring the filter at the same time as the fish I don't know why you are doing all these water changes beforehand. At the time of the transfer take half the water from the old tank (assuming you are still going to be using it, if not then use all the water) then top up new tank with new water. The filter has all the good bacteria in it, not the water.

[BikBok]

If you are transferring the filter at the same time as the fish I don't know why you are doing all these water changes beforehand. At the time of the transfer take half the water from the old tank (assuming you are still going to be using it, if not then use all the water) then top up new tank with new water. The filter has all the good bacteria in it, not the water.

yes, I did my transfers all in one go along with the fish... taking as much of the water, all the filter media and all the gravel. Didn't get any ammonia spikes so there must have been enough bacteria in the media to cope. I've done this for several tank changes and it's all been fine. I did add some TLC bacteria though , to allow for any that had died off during the transfer.

[matildanz]

If you are transferring the filter at the same time as the fish I don't know why you are doing all these water changes beforehand. At the time of the transfer take half the water from the old tank (assuming you are still going to be using it, if not then use all the water) then top up new tank with new water. The filter has all the good bacteria in it, not the water.

Not sure now. Seemed like a good idea at the time. So in total numpty terms it's not really the tank that's cycled, it's the filter?? Not sure why I thought it was a combination of the two.

what sort of snails are they that they eat val?

Looks like a young ramshorn. Chomped it's way through a leaf.

[Caryl]

Both are referred to as being cycled but it is the filter that is the main one in this case. The majority of the bacteria live in the filter although there are some in the substrate of the tank.

[henward]

It really depends.

your bactyeria are 99% on your bio media, nto the water columb. bacteria prefer to live on SURFACE not the water.

so the question of what is safe depensd on this.

1) Temperature shock to fish.

any drops in temp more than 4 degrees i would consider to be a shock. Imagine being in a pool thats 25degrees - then jump into 20 degrees...for humans thsi is cold, imagine for fish wtih such small body mass.

So the key is to do mroe frequent water changes, smaller changes than one big one. In saying that, dependson the fish too.

2) Where is your water from. IN torbay, east coast bays, albany, our water is from the okura resevoir, i know that its clean and water care can give you a chlorine report IF there isany.

I use water from tap straight into the tanks - i have been for 2 years now.

If your water is heavily treated, this can destroy your culture of friendly bacs on yoru filter..... leading to a crash.

I trickle in 20 litres every hours over 15 mins 24x per day.

So the temperature will NEVER drop more tahn .5 Degrees. In fact probably less than that. It never fluctuates really.

water change is to remove nitrate as previously mentioned.

also, as your bacteria filters the water, it consumes minerals and nutrients in the water, some of which the fish needs for their bodies and general health.

So replacing the water puts some extra minerals and trace too.

I put small amounts of sea salt 3 times a week into my system, this makes sure there are trace minerals in the water. i Buy salt at $1.10 per kg. lasts me a long time when i buy 60kg at a time. some say this is redundant, but i dont get sick fish - when they get cut they heal rapidly. apparently its old fashioned - but when i used to do a water change i always treated with salt after. worked and still works for me