Moving on from cycling to maintenance!!

[sammybelle]

First, a heartfelt thanks to everybody who helped me to cycle my tank, in particular jlk and Librarygirl, without whose help I'd have fallen into various newbie pitfalls and would have become very frustrated with the whole aquarium setup!

So now that I'm cycled and have fish, some questions about maintenance:

1. How often should I check chemistries now? I began adding fish this past Saturday.

2. I've seen recommendations for PWC ranging from 15 to 20% every 3 to 4 days to 50% once a week, and so on. Since most BB is in the filter, is there really any danger to the fish if doing large WC as I have read in some places? What is the recommended schedule of WC and how much?

[boadams87]

Originally Posted by sammybelle

First, a heartfelt thanks to everybody who helped me to cycle my tank, in particular jlk and Librarygirl, without whose help I'd have fallen into various newbie pitfalls and would have become very frustrated with the whole aquarium setup!

So now that I'm cycled and have fish, some questions about maintenance:

1. How often should I check chemistries now? I began adding fish this past Saturday.

2. I've seen recommendations for PWC ranging from 15 to 20% every 3 to 4 days to 50% once a week, and so on. Since most BB is in the filter, is there really any danger to the fish if doing large WC as I have read in some places? What is the recommended schedule of WC and how much?

Check your water EVERYDAY! You let your water readings dictate when you do your water changes. Doing large wc wont bother your bb!!!! When you trates get higher than 20 do your wc.

[jlk]

Hi! As your adding new fish, I would keep an eye on your water parameters to make sure everything is staying stable. Anytime you add new fish, you will want to monitor your water for atleast week after adding them. Anytime your fish start to act strange or an illness appears or anything is 'not right' in your tank, always check your water first.

Once your tank is stocked to where you want it & everything is staying stable, you can start by checking your water once a week before a water change to get an idea of how things are going. After doing this for a few wks, you should have a general idea of much your nitrates are rising over the course of a week. You can then reduce the testing to once a mth or less (whatever amount you are comfortable with). I do check my tap water randomly because it has a tendency to vary quite a bit. If your in doubt, it only takes a few minutes to run some tests.

In respect to pwcs, a general recommendation is 50% atleast once a week. Some people do larger pwcs or more frequent pwcs while others do smaller amounts. See how your tank does over the course of a week- if you see your nitrates really jumping, a pwc twice a week may be a better idea to keep them in check. If your keeping messy fish (like i do), bigger & more frequent pwcs may be necessary. Im sure others will have more input as well! Congrats on your new fish!!!

[HeatherW]

I am starting in the maintance mode as well. right now I am testing every other day and trying to get to the every 4-5 days. testing nitrates about every 5 days and doing water changes 50% every 5-7 days. changing water every 7 days even if everything looks perfect. once you get going you will get the hang of it. day after day of getting 0 on your ammonia and nitrites gets you convinced that they will stay that way for an extra day. my smaller tank I worry about the nitrates more, the bigger ones not as much. think I am getting the hang of everything and then bam! things change. but then again, I keep having issues...sick fish, babies being born and growing... you get the idea. just trying to keep on top of everything

[librarygirl]

You're welcome, but you did all the work

Everyone has different ways of maintaining their tank. I do two 25% water changes per week (mostly because my water is ridiculously soft and I'm afraid of PH dropping between water changes if I wait a whole week, plus the PH out of my tap is a lot higher than the tank so I do smaller water changes so as not to change the water chemistry too fast). You could also do one 50% water change per week if you like that better. Even if nitrates stay <10 between water changes I'd still advise water change(s) weekly that total 50%. My nitrates reach 5 between pwc but I still do them. Fish need clean water and there are minerals in the water that the fish and bacteria use up that should be replenished. I also vacuum the substrate with each pwc as well.

As for testing, since the tank is just cycled and you're adding fish, just test for another week or so. You can test more if you want to, obviously Eventually you'll get to know your tank. I only test now after I add new fish. If you notice a change in fish's behavior (hanging/gasping at the surface or on the bottom, etc) then the first thing to do is check everything to be sure nothing is out of whack with the water.

[LyndaB]

Maintenance, to me, is the stage you reach once your tank is fully stocked. I consider it to be still cycling while you are adding your stock, as your numbers will most likely fluctuate. You need to keep a much more careful eye while your beneficial bacteria adjusts to a new bioload than you do once that level is reached, you're done stocking and everything relaxes.

[VioletEmber]

I read an interesting article about water changes in an old fish magazine. She made a point about the folks who say that large water changes aren't a good idea - only if you are doing them too far apart! If you do regular 50% (or more) water changes every week it's fine. If you do a 50% water change only once a month or longer the fish can go into shock from the switch to new clean water because they had become acclimated to the poor water quality. But if you do them every week, it's all good. It made sense to me.

[sammybelle]

Great advice from everybody! Thanks to all!