How much water do I really need to change ?

[Guyb93]

How much water should I be changing and how often , I feel like the standard response is going to be 50% weekly which I’m almost doing I do about 30-40% weekly but I feel my bio load isn’t that high and maybe wiggly under stocked my tabk is 500l and stocked with 4 eba 1 Oscar 1 sailfin pleco all juveniles running a fx4 filter , , with that stocking in that tank could I maybe do less water change?

 

[The Lumpfish Guy]

So the way I work out a water change schedule is to test my tank for the rate at which nitrates increase

So for example if my nitrates go from 10 to 20ppm in a week then its increasing by 10ppm a week ( I test over a few weeks)

Now if you have a desired Nitrate level eg below 20ppm then you will want to be changing at least 50% of the water weekly minimum.

So this is very basic obviously and doesn't take into account anything else but I think its a good start point to go from. and you can change the plan from there based on other factors

 

[Colin_T]

With Oscars and Plecos, I would do 75% water change and complete gravel clean every week. And I would clean the filter at least once a month.

Get into the habit now and they will have less problems when mature. When these fish are full grown they produce heaps of waste and the cichlids are renown for developing hole in the head disease when kept in dirty tanks. Big regular water changes and gravel cleaning the substrate will help reduce the risk.

 

[The Lumpfish Guy]

75% water change and complete gravel clean every week

The water change time probably makes up most of the time you interact with your tank, its not a bad thing to be reduced.

 

[Wills]

I’d keep up with big water changes, I’ve gone light in the past and the benefits I’ve seen when I’ve done it has been incredible.

What water change system do you use? Are you using buckets or hoses?

 

[itiwhetu]

It depends firstly on your filter. if it is a 500 liter tank I would want to be moving 2000 liters an hour, Preferably through 2 1000 liter an hour filters then as long as you have activated carbon and a good sponge filter you can safely do 25% water changes weekly. Cleaning the filter pads in tank water to about 50% of there capacity ( so not clean clean ) per week.

 

[Guyb93]

I’d keep up with big water changes, I’ve gone light in the past and the benefits I’ve seen when I’ve done it has been incredible.

What water change system do you use? Are you using buckets or hoses?

I’m using buckets atm as I can’t seem to keep a good temp with a hose it’s roughly 20-30 buckets a time , and I always use my hot tap is this bad ? Im guessing in uk both taps are safe but sometime I doubt myself , my nitrate is around 20ppm always Evan after water changes which confuses me I don’t know my ammonia readings as my api strips don’t have the reading and I have every test tube other than ammonia for some reason , my fish are breeding so I take that as my water can’t be bad , I don’t know thts just my logic lol

 

[Guyb93]

It depends firstly on your filter. if it is a 500 liter tank I would want to be moving 2000 liters an hour, Preferably through 2 1000 liter an hour filters then as long as you have activated carbon and a good sponge filter you can safely do 25% water changes weekly. Cleaning the filter pads in tank water to about 50% of there capacity ( so not clean clean ) per week.

My filter is doing about 2500lph , I use only one as iv always been told that two filters would only make one redundant, I’m just thinking my bio load isn’t all that high my left over food is being munched by my pleco as he ran out of food last week so he’s in scavenger mode but seems to prefer the leftovers rather than his own pellt

 

[itiwhetu]

If your fish are breeding everything is fine, 25% change, garden hose, spray nozzle fill it up. all good

 

[itiwhetu]

You never want to see anything white in your filters, Filters should always be brown. White material means over feeding. Anything you put in your tank must go through a fish!!

 

[AilyNC]

I’m using buckets atm as I can’t seem to keep a good temp with a hose it’s roughly 20-30 buckets a time , and I always use my hot tap is this bad ? Im guessing in uk both taps are safe but sometime I doubt myself , my nitrate is around 20ppm always Evan after water changes which confuses me I don’t know my ammonia readings as my api strips don’t have the reading and I have every test tube other than ammonia for some reason , my fish are breeding so I take that as my water can’t be bad , I don’t know thts just my logic lol

Do you've a combi boiler with no storage tank in attic? Most UK/Ireland set up I'd to draw the hot water from a storage tank in the attic and I absolutely would not use this water for a fish tank. I'd stick my head up and see if there's a storage tank in attic that the water is drawing from.

 

[Guyb93]

Do you've a combi boiler with no storage tank in attic? Most UK/Ireland set up I'd to draw the hot water from a storage tank in the attic and I absolutely would not use this water for a fish tank. I'd stick my head up and see if there's a storage tank in attic that the water is drawing from.

It’s definitely a combi as we had our electric water heater removed a few years ago

 

[AilyNC]

It’s definitely a combi as we had our electric water heater removed a few years ago

My combi has a small tank in the attic but we requested to keep tank as a reserve for the pump. It's the norm to remove the storage tanks with combi. So you're water comes from the mains to the boiler & out the tap. Same quality as mains cold tap.

Meaning - it's fine

 

[Guyb93]

My combi has a small tank in the attic but we requested to keep tank as a reserve for the pump. It's the norm to remove the storage tanks with combi. So you're water comes from the mains to the boiler & out the tap. Same quality as mains cold tap.

Meaning - it's fine

That’s what I assumed to be fair as we had our water tested by south Staffordshire water a while back and they said even our toilet water is drinking water , which it’s so wasteful , my water test always come back “ok” never great

 

[kwi]

That’s what I assumed to be fair as we had our water tested by south Staffordshire water a while back and they said even our toilet water is drinking water , which it’s so wasteful , my water test always come back “ok” never great

Your toilet water would of been drinking water that sat in a storage tank for a while, so there is no change there really. Just more and more homes are going direct mains fed, it used to be only the kitchen tap was directly fed from the mains and was the only potable water source in the house, all the other taps and the toilets got fed from a big storage tank in the roof space.
With the water delivery network improving storage tanks are not as big a requirement, now the water boards are more concerned about backflow issues though as the storage tanks at least provided a buffer.