Water Changes

[markinatlanta]

So.... am looking for good advice on water changes.  I have started a 37.5 gallon tank, very early in.  After getting cycle going, added 3 tetras, 3 zebra dannios, and a white cloud fish 1 week ago today.  So far my water has tested fine, and the fish seem to be fine.
I see misleading things on frequency of water changes.  Some things say 15% a week (which seems like overkill to me), others say 10% every 2 weeks, etc, and there are even arguments for not doing if you have live plants (I do have a little).  BUT I'm not advocating for the latter.  Just looking for some real world advice for when I should do, how much, and frequency.  Because obviously I don't want to have to do any more than is needed. Thanks.......

 

[NeonBlueLeon]

It sounds like at your current stocking situation, which is comfortable understocked, you could do a 10% every week.  What you're doing in a partial water change (PWC) is removing the nitrates in your water.  Since you are understock and you have live plants, 10% every week is plenty good.  You may even get away with 5% per week.  When you're at 100% tank stocking or overstock should 20% or more frequent water changes be necessary.
 
Of course, over doing PWCs slightly will be more beneficial than detrimental to the tank.  Just make sure the new water has matching temperature, pH, and is dechlorinated.

 

[snazy]

Water changes are your friend. 50% weekly is perfect and will keep your tank and fish happy. Anything less is laziness. 10-15% is a waste of time and does nothing, unless done daily. Huge water changes in the 70-90% can be dangerous unless one needs to remove ammonia, or is dealing with young fry requiring heavy feedings with high protein foods(like discus), but these need to be done daily and ideally with aged water to prevent swings in other parameters.
That's my opinion but many types of water changes amounts and frequences work for different fish tanks. It very much depends on each one and whether one wants to keep the fish on the edge. So what's needed is normally more than one is prepared to do.
 
NitrAte isn't your only indication for water changes. Water gets polluted with dissolved organics of all kinds, important minerals get used up and need to be replaced, others can build up to dangerous levels, etc, etc...So my advice is, do water changes at least once a week and don't do less than 30%.
 
 
 

So.... am looking for good advice on water changes. I have started a 37.5 gallon tank, very early in. After getting cycle going, added 3 tetras, 3 zebra dannios, and a white cloud fish 1 week ago today. So far my water has tested fine, and the fish seem to be fine.

 
Time for a water change. If you don't want to carry buckets and that's what stopping you, then invest in a python system of some kind, connected directly to the tap. Water changes are a breeze then, especially for a 40G tank. Of course the fish will be fine after one week, even two, three, a month. They aren't so fragile, but keep skipping water changes on regular basis and you'll eventually start experiencing all weird problems early or later. It's inevitable but some people think dead or sick fish from time to time is normal.
 
A couple of live plants won't do much to help against water changes. They remove ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte from the water, as well as minerals and other organics building from the fish waste, but you'd need tons of them to make a difference. However, they too produce waste products in the water that needs removing via water changes. And a planted tank often requires 50% and more water changes weekly to keep it beautiful and free of algae.
And there are exceptions to every rule, like a Diana Walstad method/type of tank, but that's a different setup altogether and relies on very low stock levels, tons of plants(like jungle) with the idea that the plants are feeding from the food waste and ammonia produced by the fish, and CO2 for the plants is produced from rotting waste in the substrate, which needs to be soil capped with small size gravel to let the waste go down to the soil where it will be broken down. And even this setup involves keeping an eye on water parameters, certain water changes, as it can become too acidic over time, causing other problems.

 

[markinatlanta]

So....no disrespect meant to either poster, but this above is exactly what I meant.  Two opinions/beliefs, that couldn't be further apart.  Which is exactly in sync with my own research.  So is frustrating, how even with the specifics, there seems no consensus.  Tough to take up a hobby, with such little agreed upon process 

 

[snazy]

So is frustrating, how even with the specifics, there seems no consensus.

 
What's frustrating? Normally when one asks a question about water changes, it's to hear that doing little or none is ok. But it isn't.
Try it.

 

[markinatlanta]

I think its pretty clear what I said, if one reads.  Has nothing to do with doing "none", has to do with there being absolutely no consensus.  5% weekly, versus 50% weekly (just read above) are about as far apart as one can get.  So all I respectfully said, was its a shame that there doesn't seem to be more consistent guidance, available.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

A new tank is more likely to suffer toxic "spikes" and new fishkeepers are more likely to overfeed (amongst other issues, we have all been there). Some fish need weekly big changes regardless of the standard water stats, for instance many rainbowfish will develop "cotton mouth" if not given at least 50% changes.
 
If you want to get very scientific about it, there are calculators online that will tell you how much nitrite and then nitrate will be produced by a specified amount of food containing "x" of protein.
 
But each of my tanks get ~50% weekly as standard, every ~6 weeks I do a ~75% change (more gradually refilled, typically over a day or so) to freshen the water up.

 

[snazy]

I read your question. The point is that doing regular larger water changes will most certainly be very beneficial to almost any tank.
From that point on, it's one's personal decision and responsibility to decide which way to look after their pets, but taking the lesser amount water change approach, or not so regular ones is certainly not the safe way to do it.
 
I am not saying you don't care for the fish or don't intend to do anything. I am certain you do. And as you have noticed, people have different opinions. When you have some more experience, you'll be able to judge better yourself and decide which is right or wrong. By then, it's going to be trial and error.

 

[Mamashack]

As has been mentioned the main task of the water change is to reduce the ammonia, nitrItes and nitrAtes in a fish-in cycle. However it also refreshes the water by removing hormones (stress or other), adjusting pH, adjusting hardness - it's not just the big 3!
In their natural environment the water is constantly being refreshed and it's the unnatural tank environment that causes problems. As you have already witnessed their is no such thing as a general concensus on this and probably many other aspects of fish-keeping. There are no absolutes in fish care. You'll find your own comfort level in doing water changes, but the key is not to go longer than a week and very often with fish-in cycling daily or more frequent water changes are necessary.
Just keep a close eye on the water parameters and don't go longer than a week before refreshing with dechlorinated water.

 

[raptorrex]

So.... am looking for good advice on water changes.  I have started a 37.5 gallon tank, very early in.  After getting cycle going, added 3 tetras, 3 zebra dannios, and a white cloud fish 1 week ago today.  So far my water has tested fine, and the fish seem to be fine.
I see misleading things on frequency of water changes.  Some things say 15% a week (which seems like overkill to me), others say 10% every 2 weeks, etc, and there are even arguments for not doing if you have live plants (I do have a little).  BUT I'm not advocating for the latter.  Just looking for some real world advice for when I should do, how much, and frequency.  Because obviously I don't want to have to do any more than is needed. Thanks.......

any experienced keeper will do a minimum of 25% per week, planted or not.
or indeed follow the advice of NOTG.
big water changes have no down sides

 

[TallTree01]

big water changes have no down sides

Not exactly true. They will add to your water bill.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

I think its pretty clear what I said, if one reads.  Has nothing to do with doing "none", has to do with there being absolutely no consensus.  5% weekly, versus 50% weekly (just read above) are about as far apart as one can get.  So all I respectfully said, was its a shame that there doesn't seem to be more consistent guidance, available.

I think you need a bit more than 2 replies to draw any sensible conclusions from this. Based on the further replies it's clear that you should do more than 10-15%.

Its like asking 2 people if you should jump off a cliff and one says no and one says yes, and then saying there is no consensus. Ask another 98 people and they all say no so you have 99 people saying no and one saying yes...

 

[TallTree01]

Anything above 30% once a fortnight will do you right. I do a 30% every 1-2 weeks.

 

[the_lock_man]

In my opinion, there are 2 answers to your question.
 
The first answer to your question is that since you are
 

 very early in...

 
you probably need to be changing water every day. When you said that your water has tested fine, did you mean that both ammonia and nitrite have been 0ppm, tested with a liquid-drop test kit, or did you mean something else? I suspect that your filter cycle is still establishing itself, and it needs your intervention to assist it.
 
Once your filter cycle is established completely, ie 0ppm ammonia and nitrite every day, then you can go to a weekly changing regime, and at this point following the advice of Snazy or Goat is good.