Water Changes

[iwantmorecash]

Hi
Question..

My tank is fully cycled i have a few real plants in the tank, Every reading using the API test kit is nil, so i have been doing a 20% water change every 2 weeks.
Is this enough or should i do more?

thanks

 

[mickspark81]

Hi
Question..

My tank is fully cycled i have a few real plants in the tank, Every reading using the API test kit is nil, so i have been doing a 20% water change every 2 weeks.
Is this enough or should i do more?

thanks

hi there

Gratz on your cycled tank. just one point tho. you say every reading on the api master test kit is 0, however. When you are testing for nitrAte you should have a reading around 20ml (depending on source water) after a water change. this reading should then rise over the next two weeks before your next water change.


I personally change my water (20%) every 7 days but it depends on your readings..nitrIte, and ammonia should always read 0

 

[waterdrop]

Hi
Question..

My tank is fully cycled i have a few real plants in the tank, Every reading using the API test kit is nil, so i have been doing a 20% water change every 2 weeks.
Is this enough or should i do more?

thanks

There are a number of factors that go into fine tuning the size percentage you eventually end up with for your weekly change. First of all I think anywhere from 20% to 50 or 60% is a good starting range before its been fine tuned. A first factor is whether you have low KH. If your water is KH=4 or below, especially zero or one, you may get varying pH as soon as a week due to the normal nitrification process of the filter. Changing a larger amount, like 50 or 60% will refresh your KH each week and help your carbonate hardness and pH be more stable.

Secondly, over time you should measure your nitrate(NO3) levels, keeping good records in your aquarium notebook and watch the trend. A good value is when nitrate(NO3) is in the 5 to 20ppm *above tap nitrate level* and and either stays there or lessens. A bad value is one that is more than 20ppm above tap level or is increasing over time. This is how you know whether to move toward larger percentage water changes or not.

Always remember that weekly water changes are not all about nitrate(NO3). Its just the "canary in the coalmine" that is used as a "surrogate indicator" of what level many other trace metals or organic substances may be reaching per the water changing that is going on. If you are slacking off on water change percentage or frequency and nitrate(NO3) is getting worse, then that means that trace metals and organics are getting worse also!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[iwantmorecash]

I dont have KH test, but i know its low where i live....

My Ph is 7.4 ( i have shels in the filter to keep this level steady)

The Nitrate level is nil (yellow on the API test) it has not gone up since i added the plants, i just thought it was a side effect of the plants.

 

[OldMan47]

High use of nitrates can very well come from plants. Some of my tanks get added nitrates because the plants won't get enough nitrogen just from the fish. As WD said, we don't just do water changes for nitrates. Even a tank that I am dosing nitrates gets a water change as often as any other. The metals and other factors still enter into proper aquarium care.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, I agree, in a sense if you have enough plants to absorb enough NO3 that -that- becomes a main reason for it being low then the NO3 level becomes -not- as good at telling you if enough water is getting changed.

To me, 20% seems kind of a small percentage to change but that could just be me. I try to change 50 or 60% during my weekly change because my water is soft and acid and I get the added bonus of getting some minerals that I need as well as all the good benefits of removing bad substances like trace metals and organics and algae and algae spores. But recently I figured out that I was getting some BBA (black brush algae) probably partly because of my large 50% water changes which will cause the CO2 level to vary quite a bit since I don't use pressurized CO2 in the tank.

Anyway, just goes to show that there are probably always going to be deeper levels of things to consider if you have the information available. I don't know, OM, where in the percentage range would you choose? I'm assuming you'd pick somewhere between 15% and 50% for the water change, but I'd be interesting to hear what you think.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

I usually do a 30% every 2 weeks on a mature tank with greenery in it. Almost all of my tanks include a layer of duckweed, which many people just hate, it is a great nitrogen sponge so I rarely see any nitrate buildup. My El Natural tanks get far less water changes but are run on a completely different principle to the conventional ones. I almost always keep my population levels low, so I can get away with less tank maintenance. The heavily populated endler tanks, the endlers make sure of it, get more attention than the lightly populated tanks.