too much cleaning possible?

[fish_newbie]

20% water changes everyday too much? i really enjoy cleaning my tank and i cant help it

 

[Rusty_S]

Well you certainly don't NEED to clean quite so much!

But I'm not sure about if you're cleaning too much, I don't think 20% a day is too much, if it was like 50% or more a day you might be taking a bit too much of the good bacteria out, especially if you're vacuuming your gravel. But I don't see 20% as a problem, some people who keep discus do those sort of water changes every day or every other day I think

 

[mrV]

No it's not. Because all those beneficial bacteria live on surfaces like in bottom. You can change water 20% daily if you want to. You only need to take care of that your water is good enough or you need to use some water conditions before putting that water to your tank.

 

[canarsie11]

Never can have too much water changes

Especially if you leave gravel alone.

 

[heresmike]

Especially if you leave gravel alone.

I'm curious why so many people say to not "over clean" the gravel. How did this get started? First of all, the majority of the beneficial bacteria lives in the bio-filter. If your bio-filter is up to snuff, the small amount of bacteria in the gravel is expendable. Secondly, why would the act of vacuuming do any harm to the bacteria that happens to be in the gravel?

Whenever I do a water change, I vacuum all of the gravel, and never have ammo or nitrite > 0. I've also changed all of the gravel at once, and ammo and nitrite remained at 0.



On the other hand, I agree 20% water change daily is not too much... your fish will be much better for it!

 

[yhbae]

Still, I woudn't change daily... Depedning on the stock you have, some species may feel more stress during water change than others...

Can you handle 20% every two days instead?

 

[mrV]

First of all, the majority of the beneficial bacteria lives in the bio-filter. If your bio-filter is up to snuff, the small amount of bacteria in the gravel is expendable. Secondly, why would the act of vacuuming do any harm to the bacteria that happens to be in the gravel?

Hmm... Very interesting statement.

Majority of those benefial bacteria live on differend kind of surfaces - it's called "biofilm". Most of those bacteria are in bottom, because the area is very wide and there is no water current. There are not so much bacteria inside filters because water current it's too much for them - inside filters are just good for mechanical filtration, external have somekind of biological activities too. You can easily keep your tank without filters - just using some airpumps/pumps to circulate water - and you have no problem with ammonia/nitrite.

This short translation, helps to understand something about those benefial bacteria. Especially section "The meaning of flow rate".

There are lots of studies but there are no translation to english but with dictionary you can check these original pages too:
link1
link2
link3
link4
Forum

 

[Sorrell]

I am torn on this because I think that there is a lot in the gravel and surfaces, however, I could take a matured filter off a tank and put it on a brand new tank with all new gravel, decor, and water and never have even the slightest spike. Fully cycled just from the filter.

 

[heresmike]

I am torn on this because I think that there is a lot in the gravel and surfaces, however, I could take a matured filter off a tank and put it on a brand new tank with all new gravel, decor, and water and never have even the slightest spike. Fully cycled just from the filter.

I'm not torn on it at all! Real life experience overrules theories. From my experience with my equipment, the filter alone can handle it. Like I said, I completely switched gravel and removed all the poo and had no ammo or nitrites. If your filter is an efficient bio-filter, there is no harm in doing this.

mrv... I didn't take the time to read through all that info yet, but does it address why the act of vacuuming does any harm to the bacteria that happens to be in the gravel?

 

[tstenback]

Although i have to agree that a great deal of bacteria has to be in the substrate as it is the largest surface area in the tank. My experience indicates that as long as the filter is mature the tank parameters will be fine. I have recently removed gravel and replaced with sand in my 65 gal and just kept the filter running on another tank and there was no spiking of any kind after this act. This would indicate that the bacteria in the filter is enough to hold the bio load all by itself.

 

[blakwidoe]

thats why they call it a Bio filter

 

[yhbae]

I can definitely confirm that too. Most of my tanks have been cycled by transfering one of the sponge. Zero cycling time even with full load of fish from day 1...