How often can I do 25% water changes?

[mkatts]

Ok so like many I got here because I was told by lfs that I needed fish to cycle the tank. Have lost 2 pladdies. Water got really cloudy. Was not to change any water until it cycles. Kept taking them my water to test. Said that it would cycle if I just keep at it.was getting mad that fish were dying on me so I started googling.
At any rate thanks this site, I gave finally got my tank cycled. Bought my own test kit. The API master. Ammonia and nitrite are zero. And nitrate is at 80ppm.
I have done 25% water changes once a day for the past the 3 days to get to this point. Can I get away with another tomorrow to get the nitrates down?
Or should I get the nitra-sorb filter that API conveniently recommends to it.
The API Master test kit instructions say that water change won't work because there are nitrates in tap water. Unless I buy the API tap water filter.
Thanks!

 

[mkatts]

I should add to that I was over feeding too. Cut down to once every other day.
I have one pladdie and two danios. 29 gallon marineland tank kit. Came with bio wheel power filter, hood light and heater.
It's been running with fish in it for two months.

 

[jwh0818]

Welcome to AA, if I was you, I would go ahead and do a 75% wc to reduce the nitrites to 20ppm. Fish stores lie. If you wanna know what's in your tap water then test it. Fill each vial like you do your tank and test the ammo, nitrites, and nitrates. That will give you your true answer. Since your tank is cycled and lightly stocked, I would go ahead and pick a day each week (after you get those nitrates to atleast 5ppm) and test that same day and do a wc. I normally do a 50%wc on each tank those days. You can do less if you would like. Also, don't change your filter pads when doing a wc. Put old tank water in a bucket and swish the pads in there a few times a month to keep them clean.

 

[ScotJudd]

Good advice above. Test your tap water to ensure nitrates are low - bet they are, and then water change with conditioned water (to remove chlorides etc) and get that nitrate level down.
Some fish shops are an absolute nightmare. Ask for advice from people without a financial axe to grind.
As for feeding your fish, and you do only have a few in the tank, feed much less but more often. If any food reaches the bottom of the tank then you have fed too much. That's my rule of thumb (unless you have bottom feeders of course). I feed my fish a little twice a day and if they don't look enthusiastic then I miss a day.
Good luck with the tank.

 

[mkatts]

Thanks of the fast replies!
Since I did a 25% change today, can I do a 75% tomorrow?

By conditioned water, do you mean adding stresscoat to the bucket of water before adding it to the tank?

What I have been doing is filling a 3G bucket with 76* +/- a degree of tap water.
Then add 15ml of stresscoat to counter tap water impurities.
Is that good or bad?

 

[Khuligirl93]

15ml sounds like a lot! I would advise getting Prime water conditioner, it's more concentrated so you only need 1ml to treat 10 gallons. Because of this, it lasts a long time

 

[mkatts]

The direction say 5ml per 10 gallon.

 

[Khuligirl93]

Then in that case (3/10)*5= 1.5
You would only need 1.5ml to treat the 3 gallons in the bucket
Also to answer your above questions, doing large water changes is never really a bad idea. The bacteria mostly lives in the filter so doing large water changes won't hurt your cycle.

 

[mkatts]

By the way, I mean that I add 15ml to the aquarium after I have it filled back up.
But I think I will condition each bucketful tomorrow as I fill the bucket.
And just ordered some prime from Amazon.

 

[Mebbid]

I generally advise against doing more than a 50% water change. Water coming fresh out of the tap has a different ph than water that has had a chance to sit out and degas. Limiting to a 50% change will minimize that ph shift in your aquarium. You can however do multiple water changes in a day. I would do 3 50% changes waiting at least 2 hours between the changes to let water parameters settle.

 

[ScotJudd]

I agree with Mebbid but I personally only do 25% maximum at each change. If you need to do more for some reason then I might do 2 in a day or every day.
I learnt on here to do regular partial water changes even if my test readings are good, changing your water has more be benefits than just lowering Nitrates. Done properly fish seem to love a bit of fresh water.

 

[mkatts]

I think I'll do a 50% today and see how it goes. I will be testing my tap water for nitrates as well.
I'm in Columbus Ohio. Our water supply has gotten some at lot attention lately and I'd be surprised if there was a nitrate problem since all the media outlets were all over them doing thier own tests.

thanks all.

 

[mkatts]

soooo I am getting 40ppm from my tap water? ??

I'm gonna test it again. That picture was 9 min after I stopped shaking it for the 1 minute.

 

[mkatts]

Ok tested tap water.twice more and came up with 5ppm. I think I was holding the sample to the card and light to close. blocking my light source.
I also tested tank water again at the same time and it is at 10pm rather than 80ppm.
do you hold the test tube tight against the card under a light? or a little away from the card so light can come in from behind the tube. it's a significant difference in the reading.

 

[J.Mcpeak]

I generally advise against doing more than a 50% water change. Water coming fresh out of the tap has a different ph than water that has had a chance to sit out and degas. Limiting to a 50% change will minimize that ph shift in your aquarium. You can however do multiple water changes in a day. I would do 3 50% changes waiting at least 2 hours between the changes to let water parameters settle.

Good advice. Too much shifting either way is not good. Small regular changes. (That's my opinion, others may differ)

Also good advice from ScottJudd.

 

[Mebbid]

Ok tested tap water.twice more and came up with 5ppm. I think I was holding the sample to the card and light to close. blocking my light source.
I also tested tank water again at the same time and it is at 10pm rather than 80ppm.
do you hold the test tube tight against the card under a light? or a little away from the card so light can come in from behind the tube. it's a significant difference in the reading.

I generally hold it right up against the card on the white background and hold it right up to a light.

 

[mkatts]

I'm fortunate in that my tap water ans tank water are both around 7.6. So if that is the only concern I should be ok.
but really for this discussion it's moot point as I don't think I need another change at this point. I'm going to test daily and if after a week of daily tests it's stable then I will drop to weekly tests and water changes of 25%.

 

[BillD]

Be careful of arbitrarily deciding you only need to do 25%. Your test kit will tell you if that is sufficeint. Also beware of anyone saying you "should never do more than X%" . Every tank is different, and unique in it's needs for water changes. A test kit can help you determine a minimum. Doing more than the minimum is a good idea as it gives you a buffer should you miss a change for any reason. Keep in mind that 2 changes of 25% do not equal 1 change of 50%; you can do the math for yourself.

 

[mkatts]

understand.
When I say 25%. I mean as a minimum. If the numbers dictate otherwise I will do more but even if the numbers are perfect, I will do a 25% change is what I meant.

 

[trinifella]

Totally with everything that was said before. When I was younger and the internet was still novel, I used to do 100% water changes, lol. That gave me the opportunity to keep many different type of freshwater species needless to say