Water Changes

[jeffrey]

I've been reading lots of threads, and it seems like you guys have to do changes every week, (I assume you use the vacume to clean the bottom).

But I have only been adding watter, and then once a month do a 25% change. but dont even need to still, as the water is still good, theres just a little too much stuff on teh bottom for looking nice.
But sometimes it stays cleaner and I go 2 months befor I do a change. and its still not to get the water paramiters back in line, its jsut to get the crap off the bottom.

And I've only been keeping the charcoal in my filter for about the week befor I put a new filter in.



So ahve I just been getting clean fish or what? I do have lots of plants in my tank.

 

[noelberg]

Plants use the waste and do help with the nitrogen cycle and keep nitrogen compounds in check by using them as fertilizer. Good filtration also helps.

But substrate vaccuuming is still necessary. I'm no authority to say how often, but I do know that excess turds on the substrate means more bacteria floating around in the water, mostly potentially harmful bacteria. Phosphates from waste and dying plant material are probably also in your water.

Just a question or two:

What parameters are you testing? And how often and when do you test?
How long has your tank been set up and running?

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I don't have to do water changes, at least not as often as I do. I just think it's nice to add fresh water to the tank and the fish perk up.

 

[tstenback]

I agree with noelberg. How big is the tank and what is in it? I also would be curious to know your water parameters. However if it seems to be working for the fish then keep going the way you are. There is no point in changing just for the sake of change.

 

[jeffrey]

Its a 98 liter tank (25 gallons about)

What parameters are you testing? And how often and when do you test?
How long has your tank been set up and running?

I test PH - 7.8-7.9 every other day
LR ammonia - 0.0 ppm every 2.5 - 3 weeks, then ever week untill I change the water.
NO2 - 0.01 ppm once ever 2.5 - 3 weeks.
NO3 - 25 - 30 ppm once every week or so.

general hardness, and alkalinity about an hour after I add the new water, and its its off then I test it after about 24 hour to make sure it settled.

I'm pretty sure those are all good numbers the NO3 is the only one that seems to go anywehre really, the ammonia will got up a point after about a month, but thats when I change the water.

Its been running for 5 or 6 years like this now.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Your nitrAte level is pretty high. Mine is 8 in my very overstocked tank. Oh and amonia and nitrIte should always be at 0.

That's why you should be doing water changes. Water changes and to a lesser effect plants are the only ways to remove nitrAtes from the water. The presence of amonia indicates your bacterial filter alone is not enough to cope with the fish waste.

 

[noelberg]

In that case tstenback has a good point - no need to change for the sake of change. Sounds like a nice setup

I would recommend a gravel vaccuuming once a month, but you can take advice that with a grain of salt.

Here's a good post on "Old tank syndrome"

But a mature tank and its mature water without significant change of inhabitants is often a very safe place for fish, given safe parameters. Sounds like you look after the fish well.

 

[jeffrey]

Your nitrAte level is pretty high. Mine is 8 in my very overstocked tank. Oh and amonia and nitrIte should always be at 0.

That's why you should be doing water changes. Water changes and to a lesser effect plants are the only ways to remove nitrAtes from the water. The presence of amonia indicates your bacterial filter alone is not enough to cope with the fish waste.

NO3 is still in the lines for my test kit??? should I get a different test?
its near teh top of the "safe" line, but its always in it.

The tank has always been in a south facing room on the north wall, so it woud get about 6 hours of sunlight right on it every day when the blinds were open, and I would lose a fair amount of water from evaporation, like about 1L a day.
It was getting to hard to keep the water from being too hot, thats why I moved it downstairs to my new room.

Amonia would be at 0 after the 3 week, sometimes 4 sometiems 6 or 7 or 8, but as soon as it moved a bit is when I would do the changes. and that was usually 4 weeks.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Your nitrAte level is pretty high. Mine is 8 in my very overstocked tank. Oh and amonia and nitrIte should always be at 0.

That's why you should be doing water changes. Water changes and to a lesser effect plants are the only ways to remove nitrAtes from the water. The presence of amonia indicates your bacterial filter alone is not enough to cope with the fish waste.

NO3 is still in the lines for my test kit??? should I get a different test?
its near teh top of the "safe" line, but its always in it.

The tank has always been in a south facing room on the north wall, so it woud get about 6 hours of sunlight right on it every day when the blinds were open, and I would lose a fair amount of water from evaporation, like about 1L a day.
It was getting to hard to keep the water from being too hot, thats why I moved it downstairs to my new room.

Amonia would be at 0 after the 3 week, sometimes 4 sometiems 6 or 7 or 8, but as soon as it moved a bit is when I would do the changes. and that was usually 4 weeks.

Just because the nitrAte level will not necessarily kill your fish, it doesn't mean it is not having a bad effect on them.

Do you not get lots of algae with all that direct sunlight and does it not heat your tank a lot?

I think that whatever works for you and your fish is good.

 

[jeffrey]

Just because the nitrAte level will not necessarily kill your fish, it doesn't mean it is not having a bad effect on them.

Do you not get lots of algae with all that direct sunlight and does it not heat your tank a lot?

I think that whatever works for you and your fish is good.

yes algea is a kinda problem, esspecially the first year it was there, but it seems to have calmed down, keeps my aglea eaters busy, and the plants grow like weeds. I dont have aglea on the glass, but on my rocks strutures in the water I do.

I use a canister filter and a small trickle one (fuval 303 and a whisper 40)
seems to keep the algea at bay better then jsut the canister one. in the summer the tank gets to about 80 tops, but I can usually keep it at about 78.
We have central air, so the room is cool, and I have the canister sitting on the vent durring the day, so it cools the water a bit.

But I do remove lots of plants in the summer, cause they grow too much.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Just because the nitrAte level will not necessarily kill your fish, it doesn't mean it is not having a bad effect on them.

Do you not get lots of algae with all that direct sunlight and does it not heat your tank a lot? 

I think that whatever works for you and your fish is good.

yes algea is a kinda problem, esspecially the first year it was there, but it seems to have calmed down, keeps my aglea eaters busy, and the plants grow like weeds. I dont have aglea on the glass, but on my rocks strutures in the water I do.

I use a canister filter and a small trickle one (fuval 303 and a whisper 40)
seems to keep the algea at bay better then jsut the canister one. in the summer the tank gets to about 80 tops, but I can usually keep it at about 78.
We have central air, so the room is cool, and I have the canister sitting on the vent durring the day, so it cools the water a bit.

But I do remove lots of plants in the summer, cause they grow too much.

Water changes are a good way of getting rid of free swimming algae. Algae can be a result of lighting (too much or too little depending on colour) and excess phosphates in the water.

Maybe you could start doing 20% weekly changes for a few weeks and see if you notice a difference?

 

[gixer]

you cant possibly say he has high nitrate readings for his tank without knowing the readings for his tap water.

my tap water is nearly as high as his tank

 

[Cheese Specialist]

you cant possibly say he has high nitrate readings for his tank without knowing the readings for his tap water.

my tap water is nearly as high as his tank

Really??!! wow I don't think I'd be using that water!! Does you NitrAte not rocket between water changes?

Saying that, I know people who can't get their below 80! Suppose if the fish are ok, that's all that matters.

 

[gixer]

you cant possibly say he has high nitrate readings for his tank without knowing the readings for his tap water.

my tap water is nearly as high as his tank

Really??!! wow I don't think I'd be using that water!! Does you NitrAte not rocket between water changes?

Saying that, I know people who can't get their below 80! Suppose if the fish are ok, that's all that matters.

no its fine because i dont overstock and i do loads of waterchanges..

most of the uk's nitrate readings from the tap are over 10ppm anyway. some are over 30

 

[silver]

Maybe the reason you have such good luck with your parameters is that you do have 2 filters whereas most of us only have 1.

I think you may see a difference in how often you have to do water changes if you were to go down to 1 filter


Personally I wouldn't change a thing........but I would get a vaccuum and do that at least once a month in your case The fish may enjoy having a little less debris to sort through, especially the bottom feeders!