Water Change And Bits

[nivag]

Hi all,

I'm shortly going to be getting my first tank, likely to be a Fluval Roma 125 or 200. Planning to do a fishless cycle.

Can someone confirm that my thinking is not far out on water changes. As I understand it the main reason for regular water changes is to manage the levels of nitrate ( and other trace elements that may build up ). Therefore to ensure the fish are disturbed as little as possible, which is not good for their health, is it wise to only do a partial water change when the nitrate readings rise past, say40ppm. Or is it just better to do the partial water change weekly, and disturb the fish a bit.

From what I've read it appears to be good practice to introduce a few fish first and then as the tank matures add more until fully stocked. One of the main fish I want to keep will be neon tetras, but these seem to prefer a mature tank. Are there any varieties of neon tetra that will be happy being the first in the tank?

Thanks

 

[Rooster]

Hi all,

I'm shortly going to be getting my first tank, likely to be a Fluval Roma 125 or 200. Planning to do a fishless cycle.

Can someone confirm that my thinking is not far out on water changes. As I understand it the main reason for regular water changes is to manage the levels of nitrate ( and other trace elements that may build up ). Therefore to ensure the fish are disturbed as little as possible, which is not good for their health, is it wise to only do a partial water change when the nitrate readings rise past, say40ppm. Or is it just better to do the partial water change weekly, and disturb the fish a bit.

From what I've read it appears to be good practice to introduce a few fish first and then as the tank matures add more until fully stocked. One of the main fish I want to keep will be neon tetras, but these seem to prefer a mature tank. Are there any varieties of neon tetra that will be happy being the first in the tank?

Thanks

Regular changes are a MUST, you are doing more harm to the fish by "waiting" .... this game is all about STABILITY, you could forget water changes all together and fish WILL survive for months if not years, but this is down to a gradual change in conditions... they wont be too happy though !
Its the same with temperature and all the other variables.

Running your scenario : They will be fine right upto the water change when there will be a MASSIVE drop in chemical "pollution" as you add the new water - this will cause toxic shock (yes - it goes the other way too !)

Far better to do it regularly, and keep the levels constant (well, relativly so) most of us do it once a week... fish seem to relish the "invasion" and they all brighten up afterwards, and look more "alive"

2nd point, no... I wouldnt bother with tetras for a few months.

Good luck, have a little patience - it DOES pay dividends !

 

[shang hi]

you can get chemicles that mean you dont have to do water changes to up to 6 months. i have this for my 180l tank (i dont have the time at the moment with my course work) but i still do water changes of 40% once a month becaise i like doing it and it keeps the fish healthy

 

[Angel_Queen]

you can get chemicles that mean you dont have to do water changes to up to 6 months. i have this for my 180l tank (i dont have the time at the moment with my course work) but i still do water changes of 40% once a month becaise i like doing it and it keeps the fish healthy

Most people on here wouldn't recommend relying on the "solution in a bottle" method, but rather do the hard graft and change the water. All you really need is a good dechlorinator that gets rid of chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals for trating the new tank water.

 

[shang hi]

solution in a bottle isn't the best which is why i do a very large 40% water change every 4 weeks instead of 10% weekly, the chemicles are just so the leavles do poison the fish when i cant do the water change.

i do my biOrb weekly because its smalll and only takes like 5 mins to do it all with the help of my mum *cheers* go mum!
if you have the time then do a water change as it is best for the fish, and after it all it is all for the fish, maby ill change that water change to every 2 weeks.....

 

[Angel_Queen]

Aren't mum's great!
When i started (not long ago) I bought all these bottles, thinking they would save time and effort. But now, after doing the research on here, know that fish health doesn't come s easily and actually look forward to ding my weekly change. Sad, I know!

 

[shang hi]

lol all cheer for mums! *shouts out window* "go mums! ha mines better than yours
i do enjoy doing fish maitinance, just school has to be done first (to an extent)

P.S. go mum!

 

[Angel_Queen]

(shouting loudly out the window) "GO MUMS!!!"

 

[Luketendo]

lol all cheer for mums! *shouts out window* "go mums! ha mines better than yours
i do enjoy doing fish maitinance, just school has to be done first (to an extent)

P.S. go mum!

Yes and I lug buckets of 10ls up and down the stairs on my own.

Lazy .

 

[nivag]

Thanks for the info. As i said it's about fish happiness not that I don't want the effort of regular water changes!

So to summarise the fish are happiest with constant levels and therefore at least weekly changes are the best for them, so that's what I will do.