PWC's how often???

[TheNamelessPoet]

I have a 20 gallon FW with 5 neons, 3 gold barbs and 2 red barbs, along with 2 snails (who do a bad job cleaning up.) How often should I do a PWC and how much... 10% - 20%. I have no live plants and severly overfeed in the beging of the tank. it was cycled and all levels are fine

 

[joy13]

I change about 25% once a week sometimes more depends on the tank and what is going on in it. If one of the fish isn't acting quite right I will change more, or if my snails try to escape I know that I need to do an more. I do check my levels but find that snails and fish is what is a dead give away for me.

What type of pleco are you planning on getting? Remember they are poop machines so you might need to keep an eye on your water. I have one in QT right now in a 5 gallon I am changing about 1/2 the water every other day. Next weekend he gets to go to his real home!!

 

[missileman]

Test Test Test.
Use a good test kit, I like the API master test kit myself, and do large enough and often enough to keep your water in good condition and nitrates below 20ppm.
I personally change water in all of my tanks once a week and 25% or more depending on what I find on my water test.
I have one tank that I have been doing 35% water changes twice a week due to high nitrate levels. I recently added live plants and reduced the population so hopefully I can reduce changes.
Bottom line is every tank is different and requires different care.

 

[TheNamelessPoet]

thanks for the advice guys
I dont actualy think im going to get a pleco... the snails do an amazing job of keeping the glass and rocks clean. If anything id probably get 1 more snail and that would be enough. Unless I see is starts to get dirty at all im going to stick with 2 for now.

anothe question for you guys... do I have to use a declorinator or can I just keep 5 gallons of water handy under my sink and refill them each week... I had someoen tell me the chlorine is gon in 24-48 hours... sounded like hogwash to me.. but what do I know lol

 

[missileman]

Chlorine will last longer left under your sink.
Sunlight will burn off chlorine, I know this from caring for my pool.
Not sure of how much will dissipate but I do know that my tap water has less than 1ppm and is barely measurable with my test kit so I would guess it would dissipate to a safe level in a week.
For me why take the chance, the conditioner I use claims to have other benefits to the fish than just dechlorinating, plus I use a Python so I fill directly into my tanks from the tap anyway.

 

[kaitym]

I have a 5.5 gallon tank with 4 guppies. How often should I do water changes and how often?

 

[mike47517]

for all FW tanks i just change 25% of the water a week. unless you are way over stocked then i would suggest 40 or 50%. For the 20g i would change about 5g a week and for the 5.5g i would swith about 2g.

 

[Angel.Zero]

These types of topics are so sad to me. I don't do PWCs as I try to create a self sustaining ecosystem to the best of my ability and over the last 3 years I have never had an issue. There are plenty of options for natural filters so I do not know why people insist on using things like PWC, carbon and chemical additives to keep their water where it should be at. I say use plants, natural bacteria, and keep the additives to those that I cann "natural" (such as ferts, co2, baking soda). Chemical additives in a bottle often don't fix anything, all they do is put a temp band-aid on it.

 

[missileman]

Not everyone has the ambition to keep a planted tank and perfectly balancing the bio-load to match it.
I have some plants but quite frankly I am perfectly happy doing the water changes and not having to worry about perfectly balancing my tank.

 

[BillD]

The so called "balanced tank" is a myth that I though was long dead. You can do things to try and keep things natural and avoid maintenance, but most of us keep tanks that are fairly stocked, and there are sound reasons for doing water changes. Removing toxins is one of them. If you have multiple tanks, trying to balance them all is a fool's errand. growing plants successfully is a whole other issue. I do have one tank that does have heavy plant growth that gets very few water changes, but the majority of my tanks don't have plants or are bare bottomed, and need large frequent water changes to maintain good growth rates. If you are adding ferts and CO2, then the tank isn't natural. Not cahanging water also means water is being added to make up for losses, so the TDS is rising constantly over time.

 

[mike47517]

These types of topics are so sad to me. I don't do PWCs as I try to create a self sustaining ecosystem to the best of my ability and over the last 3 years I have never had an issue. There are plenty of options for natural filters so I do not know why people insist on using things like PWC, carbon and chemical additives to keep their water where it should be at. I say use plants, natural bacteria, and keep the additives to those that I cann "natural" (such as ferts, co2, baking soda). Chemical additives in a bottle often don't fix anything, all they do is put a temp band-aid on it.

not everyone has the tme nor money

 

[Fishyfanatic]

It is true that chlorine will burn out of the water after roughly 24 hours but you need to ensure that your water company uses chlorine and not chloramines. Chloramines do not dissipitates, they require a checmical remover.

I try to do 50% weekly. I have been slacking the past few months because of other commitments but I'd like ot get back to my 50% weekly routine. Do the tanks need it? No. But I'd prefer to keep the Nitrates as low as possible. The African tank needs the 50% but the others dont.

As mentioned, it varies for each tank. Test test test until you get a schedule that works for your tank.

 

[TheNamelessPoet]

Tds?

 

[Angel.Zero]

I would assume TDS means total dissolved solids as they don't evaporate. but disstilled or I think RO water doesn't raise the tds. also my tank takes less time then a tank that requires weekly or even monthly waterchanges. all I have to do is feed the fish, fill my fert doser every so often, and fill my co2 bottle roughly every six months. and dosing things that would naturally be added to the water is in my eyes natural. addings chemicals like "ammonia remover" or even things like activated carbon is what I am really talking about. dosing water softener, ammonia/ nitrite remover, ph balancer. all of those don't fix anything and all you end up doing is dosing over and over and over again. it's much easier to figure out why you have excesive ammonia and correct the problem then to do a PWC and/ or dose remover. if your bioload is so high that you need to to a 50% PWC every week then I feel very sorry for your fish. lower the load, get a bigger tank, and/or get some low light plants. it isn't that costly and even a very lightly planted tank will see benifits to it's inhabitants.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

It is a general concensus that adding chemicals such as water softeners, ammonia/nitrite remover, ph balancer, etc are not good for the tank. The only thing being added is a dechlor that removes chloramines. Chloramines are not natural in nature so they need to be removed. How else will you remove them form the water?

A 50% PWC is what I do to keep the Nitrates at 10. There is nothing to feel sorry for the fish about. The Nitrates get to 20 and I do a water change to bring them back down to 10. It's a 150 with African Cichlids, Africans are very messy fish by nature. They are not receptive to plants so that is not an option.

 

[bronxbomber]

Ok hold on a minute. Not to go off topic but am I the only one who broke his computer screen trying to kill the bug under namelesspoets name?

 

[TheNamelessPoet]

Ok hold on a minute. Not to go off topic but am I the only one who broke his computer screen trying to kill the bug under namelesspoets name?

lol you are not the 1st

 

[mike47517]

Ok hold on a minute. Not to go off topic but am I the only one who broke his computer screen trying to kill the bug under namelesspoets name?

lol i never did it but im sure your not the 1st and you wont be the last

 

[DHCrocks]

how heavily must a tank be planted to get the nitrates under control?

 

[Angel.Zero]

It is a general concensus that adding chemicals such as water softeners, ammonia/nitrite remover, ph balancer, etc are not good for the tank. The only thing being added is a dechlor that removes chloramines. Chloramines are not natural in nature so they need to be removed. How else will you remove them form the water?

A 50% PWC is what I do to keep the Nitrates at 10. There is nothing to feel sorry for the fish about. The Nitrates get to 20 and I do a water change to bring them back down to 10. It's a 150 with African Cichlids, Africans are very messy fish by nature. They are not receptive to plants so that is not an option.

total agree with you on the first part, 2nd part however, plants are always an option... a refugum, or even another tank that is planted can act as a nitrate filter. Simply pump water from chilid tank to planted tank and then back again.

also the amount of plants needed depends on the bioload as well as the type of plants, the bulbs that you see in you LFS are fast growers use low light and are cheap. they are ideal for someone looking for a nitrate filter.