Water Changes Poll

[Tonyb111111]

I have learnt all i know about fish keeping from this forum and a professional aquarist, but I am really interested to know what water changes people are actually doing, as opposed to what should be done. Please can you take the time to post an honest answer to this hastily put together poll. I appreciate this does not take into account stocking levels, or whether the tank is planted or not, but I just want to get a rough and ready idea

 

[LucyB]

Who voted for "never"

 

[Ruskull]

I change roughly 30% every week and a half. That means I could technically vote for 3 of the available options, just saying.

The person who voted for "never" is either joking or probably old school like my father. It took forever for him to believe that he should have to change the water any more than 25% twice a year or so with regular toppings off in between. Keep in mind that back in the day he had a 55 gallon with only 4 Angels, a Kissing Gourami & couple of oddball Catfsh. That's to say it was a very understocked tank.

 

[GemGem86]

I have a 60litre Bi-Orb tropical fish tank - all plants are plastic.
I do a 30% water change once every 4 weeks, however, if the tank gets particularly grubby I will do it sooner.
This is the advice I was given from my aquarium, and what came with the tank when I started it back in June 2011.

 

[Inchworm]

 

[mattyeatsmatts]

Dem Pumps !

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Plenty of people have successfully kept tanks without doing water changes, heavily planted with low stocking will benefit this. Its not for inexperienced fishkeepers, but it can be done.

I do 50% every 2 weeks, as I just like filling the tank with nice fresh water, it is obviously also a great time to have a clean up etc

 

[FishFanatic04]

I voted over 50% a week. I dose fertilizer's and that's part of the regime. It's really 50%, but I have a bunch of tanks to maintain and I usually drain more by accident on the small tanks. Water changes are so fast! and the more often I maintain my tanks, the less time it actually takes...less muck, and the glass hasn't had time to get very dirty.

 

[KISSfn]

25-30% weekly.

 

[Tonyb111111]

There is a fair variation in results here, may have to break it down to planted, stocking etc

 

[fluttermoth]

I do 50 or 60% water changes as I have big tanks and use a hose; once I've got all the bits out, I might as well do a bigger change rather than a smaller one. I try for weekly, but it's often more like ten days or so.

Weekly water changes are best. If you leave them too long you get a build up up of, not just nitrate, but other substances we can't/don't test for; a prime example being hormones released by the fish that can stunt their growth. Fish kept in tanks with large, regular water changes grow bigger and faster than ones with infrequent ones.

There's also the fact that plants and, to a lesser extent fish, use up trace minerals in the water, and the only way to replenish these is with water changes.

Now you know the frequency that's best, you can look at the amount. 25 or 30% is fine for most 'averagely' stocked and planted tanks. If you have overstocked tanks, or large messy fish, like goldies or oscars, you want to be doing a higher percentage (60 or even 75 or 80%), and if you have lightly stocked tanks with lots of plants (and by that I mean at least three quarters of the base of the tank covered in plants; any less and there won't be enough plants to make a significant difference) you can stick to the lower amounts.

I think all tanks should get a minimum of 30% weekly; that keeps the water fresh and means that your tank and tap water stay fairly near in values. Then, if you need to do a large, emergency water change for some reason, you shouldn't have to worry about shocking your fish with wildy differing hardness/pH levels.

 

[Tizer]

Who voted for "never"

Its possible, just not many people have the know how.

 

[the_lock_man]

Who voted for "never"

Its possible, just not many people have the know how.

AIUI, in a very heavily planted tank, you want to keep as much nitrate as possible, as a plant fertiliser. Water changes are actually detrimental in these circumstances.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I do at least 50% weekly, but I have large fish that produce a lot of waste so nitrates build up pretty quick. THe only tank I do not do at least 50% is my planted tank, simply because it is planted and I have very low stock in it right now. I still do at least 10-20% on it weekly though.

 

[CezzaXV]

I voted over 50% a week. At the moment I'm doing around 70-80% every Monday and Thursday. I have a system that requires about three minutes of effort on my part for large water changes, and my fish don't seem to mind so I don't see why not. It's actually no less effort for me to do a large change than a small change. I'm right on the upper limit of how much I think I can sensibly stock, even though my plants seem to be keeping nitrate down recently.