Water changes, opinions on how much and often.

[fishliker]

I was doing a weekly water change of about 30 percent. But recently my stocking increased and testing showed that I was having a little ammonia now and then by the end of a week and the nitrates were creeping up, they went from 8 or so to the 20's. So now I worked up to doing 50 percent weekly.

I feel good consistent quality water is the most important element of a healthy aquarium. It is a closed system, not a lake or river where the water is being constantly renewed. They say, fresh water fish love fresh water, and it can be healing for bumps and lumps on fish.


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[Barliman]

I do 20% weekly and, so far, the water quality's been good. (0/0/<5). I do over-filter, have a lot of plants, and right now I'm under-stocked. I suspect I'll have to do more when I add more fish.

I think water changes are valuable even in a heavily filtered/planted tank, if only to refresh the water in the system. In most settings in the wild, new water is regularly entering the system. I figure that's a good thing to mimic.

 

[Hunter73]

I believe in 50% a week. I also believe in extreme filtration. With both, you will have the best environment for your stock in my opinion.


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[guppie lover]

i have guppies and testing kit so test water every week but water is perfect so change 20% every 2 weeks .that works well for me.

 

[PB_Smith]

I was doing a weekly water change of about 30 percent. But recently my stocking increased and testing showed that I was having a little ammonia now and then by the end of a week and the nitrates were creeping up, they went from 8 or so to the 20's. So now I worked up to doing 50 percent weekly.

I feel good consistent quality water is the most important element of a healthy aquarium. It is a closed system, not a lake or river where the water is being constantly renewed. They say, fresh water fish love fresh water, and it can be healing for bumps and lumps on fish.


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an elevated nitrate reading is to be expected if you increase the bio-load, but any increase in ammonia should be very short lived as the bacteria ramp up to handle the new bio-load.
If after about a week you are still getting readings of ammonia, you need to reconsider your filtration set-up and improve it.
Water changes alone won't compensate for an over-burdened bacteria colony or filtration system.

ideally the only thing you should be able to measure in a cycled and established aquarium is nitrate, anything else and there is a fundamental problem with the filtration.