How often do you do a water change?

[germanyt]

I have a 55 gallon with a Top Fin 70 and a Top Fin 20 (around 400gph total) with 1 oranda, 1 moor, and one fantail. The fish are between 2 and 3 inches. I have been doing a 50% change every week and don't really mind it as it gives me an opportunity to fix the plants and wipe down the inside of the glass but I was wondering if I'm over changing. What do y'all do?

 

[cmw9787]

You might be overdoing it a bit. The purpose of water changes is to remove toxins and other unwanted crap from the water. If you have so few fish that your water isn't very dirty or anything then you don't need to change as much. You probably don't need to do more than 20% every week.

 

[jlk]

Your actually under filtered in my opinion. The top fin filters do not run anywhere near what they may 'suggest' and I would look into adding a decent hob or canister to the tank. Your wc schedule is pretty typical for a lot of members although as these guys grow, your likely going to have to increase it to larger and/or more frequent wcs. Stick to atleast 50% a week for now.

 

[Shanny]

I do a 50% every week on my 37g with one Ryukin and one Oranda. Both are roughly 3" body length. My tank isn't planted so there is nothing to help control the nitrates. I'm guessing your tank cycled and you are doing the pwc to control nitrates?

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

I would get two 55 gallon filters, and I would just do less percentage of water changes, maybe 20-25%

 

[Claiborne]

I currently have one 30 gal filter on my 55 my other filter crapped out on me I to 10% weekly and %50-%75 once a month.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

I currently have one 30 gal filter on my 55 my other filter crapped out on me I to 10% weekly and %50-%75 once a month.

Yes, exactly, small changes weekly, major changes monthly! That's it!

 

[jlk]

Yes, exactly, small changes weekly, major changes monthly! That's it!

Not on a messy goldfish tank. I can not even condone this kind of water change schedule on a nominally stocked tank because it would not be sufficient to remove toxins, dissolved organics or replenish necessary buffers and minerals. To then follow with a major change once a month would result in drastic swings in parameters.

 

[Claiborne]

Not on a messy goldfish tank. I can not even condone this kind of water change schedule on a nominally stocked tank because it would not be sufficient to remove toxins, dissolved organics or replenish necessary buffers and minerals. To then follow with a major change once a month would result in drastic swings in parameters.

I only do it because one of my filters crashed and my tank has a relatively low bio load.

 

[Jess1ca]

I change 50% every 3-4 days in my African tanks & 30-40% weekly in the rest.

 

[germanyt]

Your actually under filtered in my opinion. The top fin filters do not run anywhere near what they may 'suggest' and I would look into adding a decent hob or canister to the tank. Your wc schedule is pretty typical for a lot of members although as these guys grow, your likely going to have to increase it to larger and/or more frequent wcs. Stick to atleast 50% a week for now.

I doubt I'm underfiltered. I'm cycling the entire tank probably 7 or 8 times per hour and keep a squeaky clean tank. No algae, no poo, no nothing. It still looks like the first day I set it up.

I do a 50% every week on my 37g with one Ryukin and one Oranda. Both are roughly 3" body length. My tank isn't planted so there is nothing to help control the nitrates. I'm guessing your tank cycled and you are doing the pwc to control nitrates?

My plants are fake. And I don't know if my nitrates are high or not. My tank is cycled and I keep about a 7.5 ph. I was just kind of doing 50% weekly as a rule of thumb.

My tank. Yes, that's limestone.

It's actually a TF75 and TF20.

 

[jlk]

Unless you want to do wcs every day, the general suggestion for a goldfish tank is to run a minimum of 10x the tank size in filtration due to their hefty bioload. My 55's run over 1200gph between big hobs and powerheads with sponges. A TF20 only runs 100gph and I have one as an 'extra' filter on my 20g. I doubt it even manages 50gph. The TF60 suggested gph is 300gph and I have to question this as well. I would really consider adding adding some additional filtration. Just something to consider as these guys grow.

Do you have tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? How are you keeping your ph at 7.5?

 

[germanyt]

Unless you want to do wcs every day, the general suggestion for a goldfish tank is to run a minimum of 10x the tank size in filtration due to their hefty bioload. My 55's run over 1200gph between big hobs and powerheads with sponges. A TF20 only runs 100gph and I have one as an 'extra' filter on my 20g. I doubt it even manages 50gph. The TF60 suggested gph is 300gph and I have to question this as well. I would really consider adding adding some additional filtration. Just something to consider as these guys grow.

Do you have tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? How are you keeping your ph at 7.5?

I take a water sample to Pet Smart every so often. I don't do anything in particular to keep the water at 7.5. It just seems to stay there. Last check my ammonia was 0, nitrite was 0, nitrates were like 20. I have soft water too.

 

[Matt68005]

I have a 55 with just ug filter and small hob filter and change about 25-35 once a week or two my fancies common and koi all happy.

 

[Drummer254]

Without knowing how quickly your nitrates build it is hard to suggest a schedule every tank and fish is different.