water changers??? how much,,and how many per week???

Q&A about Tropheus and Petrochromis

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hotsauce
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2006 10:42 am

water changers??? how much,,and how many per week???

Post by hotsauce »

just was wondering whar ya thoght was idael???

kind of having a problem keepin my ammoina down...

thks..
Pam Chin
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Post by Pam Chin »

Hi Hotsauce,

I don't think you can change your water too much. I am a firm believer in frequent and massive water changes. But I also know how much work that is, so it is important to make it easy so you will do it more often. Now if you are having ammonia problems, it could be because your filter is not keeping up with the bioload. Your tank may be over crowded, and the worst offender is feeding to much food. So check take a look at your tank and see what needs to be changed, a bigger filter, thin out some fish, and cut back on your feeding.

If you change too much water and your fish aren't use to it, you can put them in to shock. So start by taking an additional 10% of water each time you regularly change your tank. Soon you will be up to 50% or even 70% of your water. If you typically only change 10% or 20% of your water, you are just diluting the problem, you need to get more of the polluted water out.

If your tank isn't crowded, and your filter is overkill, then you can slide a little on how often you change your water. And if you are changing a larger volume of water, you an let it slide a little. Next get your self a python, and quit carrying buckets. If you can't afford a water changing hose, then make one your self out of old hoses around the house. Siphon the water to the nearest window, door, toilet, etc. Then get your self a hose to fill your tank, (for pottable water)out of the tap is the easiest, but if you have to age your water, then get your self a small pump and pump it from your resevoir. Even a powerhead will work for this.

There is something about fresh water, it makes your fish so happy, they will have better color, and they won't be mopping around. And the bonus of all this is water changes encouraging breeding. Often after I change the water in my tanks everyone starts breeding.

Another thing to consider is how big your tank is, smaller tanks may need to be clean more often, while larger tanks don't. Some fish pollute the water faster than others, example: Oscars vs. Tropheus ...

So you can see there is not really a set formula for each tank, it depends on what you are keeping, and your filtlration. If you stay ahead of your water changes, then you have less chance for things to get out of hand. In other words your tank may look fine, but you still need to change your water.
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Pam

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