How soon can I change water

[PilotGav]

Urgent full: I added new fish to our newly cycled tank this afternoon. The local fish store told me not to do a water change before I added the fish.

I went ahead and acclimated and then added them. Then I realized that my nitrates are way high. Around 20 or 30.

How soon can I do a partial water change after adding brand-new fish?

 

[PilotGav]

Oh, I have added Nutrafin Cycle to the tank. I'm hoping that will nutralize the nitrates till I get them out.

 

[BHead707]

Im assuming by newly cycled you mean you went through a fishless cycle while dosing ammonia and testing regularly. If so 20-30 nitrates isn't really that high and you can do a water change whenever you would like.

when it comes to nitrates usually below 40 is fine(however you should know if your fish are nitrate sensitive, if they are you may need to keep it lower)

 

[Deep Seven]

The store guy was wrong. After finishing a fishless cycle most of us here do big water change with properly condition water (ie: treated with prime) before adding fish.

What are you using for a dechlorinator?

As long as you're treating the water with a proper conditioner you can do a water change as soon as you want.

Also, 20-30 nitrates in a freshwater tank is not "too high". Above 40 and you can start creating problems for your fish. I'd do around 50% PWC right now if it was me. (Saltwater is a bit different, a reading of 20-30 nitrates can cause problems.)

And finally, nutrafin cycle... I'm not familiar with the use of this product, but generally cycle products do nothing for nitrates. As long as ammonia and nitrites are zero you're fine. Prime can be used to help neutralize ammonia and nitrites if they're a problem, but PWCs and letting the cycling bacteria you already have build up would be better.

 

[Aniistarr]

Usually i don't like to change the water when adding new fish, if i need to change the water i will do so before getting a new fish maybe a day or two, and i do a 50% water change every two weeks

 

[RobbieHadley]

Im assuming by newly cycled you mean you went through a fishless cycle while dosing ammonia and testing regularly. If so 20-30 nitrates isn't really that high and you can do a water change whenever you would like.

when it comes to nitrates usually below 40 is fine(however you should know if your fish are nitrate sensitive, if they are you may need to keep it lower)

I have to agree your nitrates not in a bad spot but look into whether or not your fish are nitrate sensitive or not. Water changes you can do whenever you want really, change 10-20% weekly. If your really worried though use prime to help lower the nitrates