Water Change Recommendations?

[CCXGT]

I've always wondered if my water changes are a bit too over-the-top.

This is regarding my 240l (63G) Mbuna tank.

It's stock is 20 Mbuna, sizes vary from 2-3.5" and 1 BN Pleco around 3" long.

I feed NLS Cichlid twice a day, 6 days a week.
Hikari Algae Wafers a few times a week, mostly for the BN.
And cucumber twice a week.

It's being filtered by 2 canisters, a Fluval 306 (300l/h) and a Fluval FX6 (1500l/h).
This is 7.5x turnover just in filtration.
I also have a 3000l/h Powerhead if that makes a difference.

I currently change around 16G per water change and I do this every week and a half.

As in I'd do one today (Wednesday) and again next Sunday.

I use Prime for dechlorination.

I have no clue what the parameters are like, I'm a freshwater guy... We check parameters about twice a year
Only thing I know for sure is that the PH is 7.5, I just tested that the other day.



So, any thoughts.?


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[dalto]

There is no way to know without a measurement. If your primary concern is nitrate removal than measure your nitrates after your change today and then again before your change on Sunday. Take the difference between those two numbers and divide it by your target max nitrate amount and the resulting number is the percentage of water you need to change every week and a half. So, if your nitrate growth was 5ppm and your target max was 20ppm than 5/20 is 25%.

If you want a speculation I would say that you are not changing enough water and that your nitrates immediately before a water change will be fairly high. But that is just a guess.

 

[CCXGT]

Last time I checked Nitrates they were around the 10ppm mark.

This was before a water change with just the 20 Mbuna in the tank.


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[CoronaBlue]

How long has tank been running? It's crazy you don't check water levels but you have more than adequate filtration so I'm sure that helps a lot. Even with your filtration I'd probably increase to at least once a week changes of 25%.

 

[CCXGT]

How long has tank been running? It's crazy you don't check water levels but you have more than adequate filtration so I'm sure that helps a lot. Even with your filtration I'd probably increase to at least once a week changes of 25%.

It's been running since around March I'd say..

I'll give them a check now since you've worried me quite a bit.....


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[Fishanatic]

As said I would go with around 25 to 40% water changes weekly. Thats a good amount of filtration but there are other minerals and substances that filtration will not take care of And you should definitely get yourself a test kit.

 

[CCXGT]

As said I would go with around 25 to 40% water changes weekly. Thats a good amount of filtration but there are other minerals and substances that filtration will not take care of And you should definitely get yourself a test kit.

I have a test kit, I just don't test


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[CCXGT]

Well

There you go.

0 across the board.

I don't know what else to tell you..


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[CoronaBlue]

Was that after or before the change?

 

[CCXGT]

Was that after or before the change?

Before, I haven't touched the tank since 2 Sundays ago.


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[CoronaBlue]

Guess you answered your question then. Keep doing what your doing, those water levels are great for not touching tank for over a week

 

[BBradbury]

Your Tank

Hello CC...

Provided you have good tap water on your side of the pond, you could work up to removing and replacing half the tank water every week. Just change out a little more every week, so you don't stress your fish with what could be a sudden change in the water chemistry.

I keep larger tanks and change at least half weekly. I do this so I remove most of the dissolved wastes and the rest are diluted to a safe level in all the new, treated tap water.

I don't over filter the tanks, because the filters are just moving water that's already clean. I never test the chemistry, because there's no time for pollutants to build up in the water before I change it.

There are a few other things you can essentially stop doing if you keep the water clean.

B

 

[dalto]

There is no way an overstocked(appropriately) mbuna tank will have 0 nitrates. There must be something wrong with your test kit or your the way it is being used.

Filtration really won't have much effect on nitrate production unless you don't have enough of it which is clearly not the case.

 

[CCXGT]

There is no way an overstocked(appropriately) mbuna tank will have 0 nitrates. There must be something wrong with your test kit or your the way it is being used.

Filtration really won't have much effect on nitrate production unless you don't have enough of it which is clearly not the case.

I'm using the test kit the way the test kit instructs me on using it.

I have used this test kit before and it has shown Nitrates so I know it's not faulty.

I use Purigen as well, if that matters.

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[Fishanatic]

There is no way an overstocked(appropriately) mbuna tank will have 0 nitrates. There must be something wrong with your test kit or your the way it is being used.

Filtration really won't have much effect on nitrate production unless you don't have enough of it which is clearly not the case.

Heavily planted tanks will often be a result of inexistant traces of nitrates.

 

[CCXGT]

Heavily planted tanks will often be a result of inexistant traces of nitrates.

I have 0 plants in the tank.


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[dalto]

Think about it this way, when you remove x% of the water you are removing x% of the nitrates. There are only 4 things I can think of that would cause nitrate to be 0.
1 - If you are doing 100% water changes
2 - If you have something that is absorbing 100% of the ammonia or 100% of the nitrates
3 - If you don't have anything producing ammonia
4 - If your tank is not cycled

Since we know that 1, 3 and 4 are not true either there is some chemical filtration absorbing nitrate/ammonia or your test results are not correct.

 

[CCXGT]

Think about it this way, when you remove x% of the water you are removing x% of the nitrates. There are only 4 things I can think of that would cause nitrate to be 0.
1 - If you are doing 100% water changes
2 - If you have something that is absorbing 100% of the ammonia or 100% of the nitrates
3 - If you don't have anything producing ammonia
4 - If your tank is not cycled

Since we know that 1, 3 and 4 are not true either there is some chemical filtration absorbing nitrate/ammonia or your test results are not correct.

Exactly.. Purigen is made by magicians that know what they're doing and I have 100% faith in them.


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[CoronaBlue]

Haha guess I need to go buy more.

 

[CCXGT]

Haha guess I need to go buy more.

Yeah... I've only got the one 100g bag but I see no reasons in picking up another.


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