How Often? WC for 15G

[RISEANDFLOAT]

How often and how much of a water change should I be doing with my 15G tank? The tank has been setup since January 11 and I have not done a water change yet. I added two clowns and a cleaner shrimp to the tank after exactly one month and everything is doing fine. Also, how often should I change the cartridges in my penguin (Penguin 150) filter? I have changed a cartridge since its been setup but only once. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

 

[MT79]

10-15% PWC's every week or two is about standard. It really depends on your tanks bio-load, animals, etc. Mechanical filtration, ie floss, should be cleaned/replaced approx. weekly to avoid excessive nutrients accumulating in the tank like PO4, NO3. Carbon is useless after about 7 days, and tends to collect dirt and detritus after that, and causes the same issues as mechanical filtration. Washing the cartridges weekly, and adding a new one once or twice a month would be ideal.

 

[Ziggy953]

I agree with Mike here...PWCs are very important especially in a tank that small! I think doing a PWC every week would be a good idea. It is easy for a tank that small to foul quickly.

You have 2 fish that will get to about 4" each (assuming they are Percs or False Percs, larger if they are a different type of clown) so you have a realtively heavy bioload for your tank. Have you been testing the water? Ammonia, Nitrate, nitrite ect? What are you doing about evaporation? Topping off with FW, RO/DI water or tap? How much LR do you have in the tank?

 

[RISEANDFLOAT]

They are false perculas. I have not tested the water for anything in about a week as everything is set and appears to be doing fine. For evaporation, I top off with distilled water daily that I get from Wal-Mart. I have approximately fifteen pounds of live rock in the tank.

The clowns as of right now are probably around and inch and a half and I have talked to a few people that say it takes them around 2-4 years to achieve full growth.

So I should do about 10% water changes weekly, clean my cartridges weekly, and replace them 1-2 times a month.

I appreciate everybody's help on this. Thanks.

 

[melosu58]

I always suggest 10-15% every week. Esp. in a small tank that will be less forgiving on any problems you have.