Water Changes In A Slightly Overstocked Tank

[mahdira]

I have a week-old ten gallon tank containing 5 rosy barbs, 3 long-finned rosy barbs, a few tiny feeder fish, a small female crawfish, and a 5-inch spotted bullhead catfish. All the fish are happy and healthy so far, and no one has succumbed to "new tank syndrome."

I know this tank is slightly overstocked, but I like it that way for aesthetic reasons. I feed Omega One shrimp pellets, Wardley Total SpectraMax, TetraMin tropical flakes, and a few bloodworms here and there. I have a Whisper 10i internal power filter, a nice piece of driftwood, and some silk plants (I've never tried keeping live plants). I've been using Cycle, and Seachem Stability (similar to Cycle, used as a new tank stabilizer).

So I suppose my question is, in order keep my levels proper, how often should I do a small water change (5-15%)? Once a day? A few times a week? Once a week?

Thanks for your input

-mahdira

 

[WILDER]

The barbs need a bigger tank, the feeder fish how many and do you mean goldfish.

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

Some fish need a bigger tank, but for now do 10% chances every 3/4 days.

 

[mahdira]

Some fish need a bigger tank, but for now do 10% chances every 3/4 days.

Thank you for the advice

 

[WILDER]

Best ot go by water stats and fish.

 

[whip]

With that bio load, I'd recommend at least 25% every 2/3 of a day. Maybe more!

 

[steelhealr]

Hi Mahdira...well, I'm not gonna come across and verbally 'spank you' out side of saying that you really should resist the urge to overstock your tank. It can stress the fish and lead to disease.

However, the most scientific approach is to measure your weekly nitrates. If at the end of the week, you have a 40ppm nitrates, a 20% water change should bring it down to 32 ppm assuming that there are no nitrates in your tap. If the following week it is back at 40ppm, you'd know that a 20% weekly change was doing the job. If your nitrates were at 60ppm, you'd know that your rate of accumulation of nitrates was exceeding what you remove each week and that you would need an additional water change during the week.

That is the only SAFE way to determine what your water changes would need to be if you are not going to lessen the stock in your tank. Otherwise you could slowly be accumulating nitrates and guessing. SH