Is it okay to do a 50% water change in one day??

[Mebbid]

Large vs small water changes is and will remain a subject of controversy since everyone has opinions and arguments on both sides.

BUT the problem here is the OP's situation which was NOT MADE CLEAR on this thread as to her particular problem as she has other threads that explain the entire situation of why she needs to do a certain type of WC now.

OP you need to post ALL the information about the tank that is in your other thread so you can get proper advice for what is best for your situation right now. Otherwise none of these posts will be giving you the proper advice for your tank. You shouldn't start a thread asking about something that has been discussed in other thread and expect to get proper advice.

Thank you for that rivercats. It's nice to know that there are other mitigating circumstances in this case.

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Many varying factors including removal of fish waste. There is a big difference in just changing water or doing a complete vacuum of the substrate while making the change. I have a 38 gallon that is overstocked with 45 fish. I was doing 25% water changes and vacuum once a month before joining this forum. My water was clear (but not polished).

So with advice I obtained herein, I bought a test kit and found nitrates 40ppm. Then I did the following:

1) I doubled water changes and substrate vacuum to 25% twice a month.
2) crammed my aqua-tech 30-60 with customized media including Seachem Matrix, Seachem Purigen, & 100 micron polishing pads.
3) Added a really big bunch of floss in a bio bag pre filter which gets REALLY FILTHY and traps most waste/debris. I change it every two weeks and it is packed with nitrate rich fish waste.

Since doing that, my nitrates have not gone over 20ppm. Ammonia and Nitrites are zero. My water is so clear and polished the fish look like they are swimming in air. The water has almost no odor. The fish are happy and healthy and their colors are vibrant.

I have to pay $1 per gallon for bottled spring water (horrible tap water) so I don't waste my money on unnecessary water changes. I think by vacuuming substrate and removing pre-filter waste before it bleeds nitrates into the water, I keep my nitrates at safe levels when tested.

Note: Petland in Pensacola recommends 25% water changes MONTHLY. Our LFS recommends 20% every two weeks.

Your fish stores may recommend that and on that note filter companies suggest replacing your filter media monthly. Just because they suggest that does not make them correct.

 

[Paul1792]

Thank you for that rivercats. It's nice to know that there are other mitigating circumstances in this case.
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Your fish stores may recommend that and on that note filter companies suggest replacing your filter media monthly. Just because they suggest that does not make them correct.

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Well .......... do whatever works for each person. But wow, I can think of nothing worse on your fish stress than 50% water changes.

In the end: test your water and set your schedule according to test results.

Further, I bet not one person doing these 50% water changes more than once a week has water half as crystal clear and polished as mine !!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/members/82012-albums13036-picture62040.html

http://s948.photobucket.com/user/Paul1792/media/38CommunityMVI_0563_zps90fe22c2.mp4.html?sort=4&o=1

 

[Thumper828]

Uh oh paul..you've started a...pic off...lol




I do 50 to 60% ever week

 

[Thumper828]

my trates never get above 5ppm

 

[Paul1792]

Uh oh paul..you've started a...pic off...lol
I do 50 to 60% ever week

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I guess I need to unlearn what I thought I knew. Do you do the entire 18-20 gallons at one time ?????? Are you hauling 150 pounds of water by hand in buckets each week? Does your wife get upset when you spill water all over the living room carpet ???? Do you get the temperature exactly right each time? Even if I didn't have to use $1 per gallon spring water, I'd still only change maybe 25% a week. No matter ..... if it works for you, that's great.

I assume you treat the water with Prime or equivalent. When I used to do large water changes when I lived in Kansas (where tap was excellent quality), the water would always turn cloudy for a few days until it "aged." Of course that was with ancient 1989 under gravel filter with probably 50 GPH flow rate on a 45 gallon tank.

 

[DiscusKing]

I honestly wouldn't even bother with a water change less than 50%. Unless there are serious issues with your tap water there isn't any reason you shouldn't do large water changes.

^^^ Have to agree here

 

[Thumper828]

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I guess I need to unlearn what I thought I knew. Do you do the entire 18-20 gallons at one time ?????? Are you hauling 150 pounds of water by hand in buckets each week? Does your wife get upset when you spill water all over the living room carpet ???? Do you get the temperature exactly right each time? Even if I didn't have to use $1 per gallon spring water, I'd still only change maybe 25% a week. No matter ..... if it works for you, that's great.

I assume you treat the water with Prime or equivalent. When I used to do large water changes when I lived in Kansas (where tap was excellent quality), the water would always turn cloudy for a few days until it "aged." Of course that was with ancient 1989 under gravel filter with probably 50 GPH flow rate on a 45 gallon tank.

I have one of those water changers you screw to the sink. After I syphon, I reverse the flow to rinse out the syphon and use a thermometer to match my tank temp then prime my tank and refill slowly........after an hour its like I was never there....

 

[Rivercats]

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Well .......... do whatever works for each person. But wow, I can think of nothing worse on your fish stress than 50% water changes.

In the end: test your water and set your schedule according to test results.

Further, I bet not one person doing these 50% water changes more than once a week has water half as crystal clear and polished as mine !!!!!!!!!!!http://

I've been in the hobby since the 70's and have never seen any scientific reports or testing data showing 50% WC are stressful or harmful to fish. In fact many of my fish spawn after the big weekly WC's. There are so many different toxins that can build up in water that we don't know about (unless your a chemist) and that can't be tested for. So considering my fish and plants flourish doing weekly 50% WC's along with knowing I'm removing a large amount of any and all toxins weekly works for me. Testing is a guideline but only tells what those levels are. There are many more toxins that build up in the water that can't be tested for.

Plus I'm not sure where the doing more than one 50% WC weekly comes from... that would only be done due to certain situations that occur during cycling or for people with specialty fish such as Discus for example.

All tanks are different and no one method is right or wrong! Just because other people prefer doing things differently does not mean they are wrong or their tanks aren't set up correctly or anything else negative you have to say. This forum is here for people to post their opinions, thoughts, and idea's. It's not here for people to insult others just because their methods are different.

Not long ago there was a similar thread about WC's, how much, how often, etc., and Aqua Chem who does have a chemistry degree posted this short note...

"How confident are you that nitrogenous waste, phosphates, and GH / KH are the only thing that builds up? Don't make the mistake of confusing undetectable/unmeasureable with not there.

Fish don't just excrete ammonia. They excrete many, many organic molecules (metabolites, proteins, etc) that could potentially be toxic. These compounds could have a number of potentially hazardous effects on a tank, such as (and completely made up on the spot): noxious to fish gills, bioaccumulation, or fueling dangerous (or unsightly) heterotrophic bacteria or algae species like cyanobacteria."

 

[Paul1792]

I have one of those water changers you screw to the sink. After I syphon, I reverse the flow to rinse out the syphon and use a thermometer to match my tank temp then prime my tank and refill slowly........after an hour its like I was never there....

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I should have guessed you'd figure out a better way. WOW ..... for only being at it for a few months ....... you sure have graduated to expert quickly. So when are you getting your new 75 gallon tank??

 

[Mebbid]

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I guess I need to unlearn what I thought I knew. Do you do the entire 18-20 gallons at one time ?????? Are you hauling 150 pounds of water by hand in buckets each week? Does your wife get upset when you spill water all over the living room carpet ???? Do you get the temperature exactly right each time? Even if I didn't have to use $1 per gallon spring water, I'd still only change maybe 25% a week. No matter ..... if it works for you, that's great.

I assume you treat the water with Prime or equivalent. When I used to do large water changes when I lived in Kansas (where tap was excellent quality), the water would always turn cloudy for a few days until it "aged." Of course that was with ancient 1989 under gravel filter with probably 50 GPH flow rate on a 45 gallon tank.

Each Monday I siphon out approx 70 gallons of tank water and haul it by the bucket full to be dumped. Then I add water back into the tanks via one of the mentioned water changers with water that's usually 1 - 3 degrees off from the tanks temperature.

My cichlids hide when this is being done which is normal because they hide whenever anything strange goes into the tank be it nets, gravel vac, algae scraper, my hand, or anyone strange walks in front of the tank.

My betta and various breeding tanks ignore it altogether.

In my 55g planted tank my schools of rasboras, rainbows, and even my shrimp will actually play in the stream of water coming from my water changer.

Having had to do huge emergency water changes in the past 80% ish and seeing how the fish freak out when the water level gets that low I can safely say my fish couldn't care less about a 50% water change. In fact the majority of them seem to enjoy it.

 

[Thumper828]

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I should have guessed you'd figure out a better way. WOW ..... for only being at it for a few months ....... you sure have graduated to expert quickly. So when are you getting your new 75 gallon tank??

I have actually been looking at a 125......you guys/gals are a bad influence on me...........

All jokes aside this is the most helpful forum...I read a lot of different opinions then take the available information, study on that,and from there try to formulate my on "educated" conclusion. Its hard to do when there is so much conflicting information. Plus there is a lot of money involved in the hobby..I mean how deep down the rabbit hole do you wanna go?......

 

[ashleynicole]

I do large volume water changes weekly to every 2 weeks at least 50 percent. If you do large water changes frequently your fish will appreciate it and be used to it. Clean water is beneficial. The only time I've had an issue is if its been 3 or more weeks and I've topped off due to life being hectic I usually start with smaller changes about 30 percent and work my way back up. But I've got plants so nitrates aren't an issue. I just try to make sure the tap water temp is close to the tank temp, add prime to the tank and I'm good to go.

 

[Rivercats]

Each Monday I siphon out approx 70 gallons of tank water and haul it by the bucket full to be dumped. Then I add water back into the tanks via one of the mentioned water changers with water that's usually 1 - 3 degrees off from the tanks temperature.

My cichlids hide when this is being done which is normal because they hide whenever anything strange goes into the tank be it nets, gravel vac, algae scraper, my hand, or anyone strange walks in front of the tank.

My betta and various breeding tanks ignore it altogether.

In my 55g planted tank my schools of rasboras, rainbows, and even my shrimp will actually play in the stream of water coming from my water changer.

Having had to do huge emergency water changes in the past 80% ish and seeing how the fish freak out when the water level gets that low I can safely say my fish couldn't care less about a 50% water change. In fact the majority of them seem to enjoy it.

No bucket hauling for me anymore! I use the WC'r for everything, emptying and filling. I also do 50% WC's weekly even on the 220g. My fish also tend to mess around the stream of fill water and I also use slightly cooler water which encourages many of the fish to spawn the next morning. I actually found some Aspidoras Albater juvenile's in the 55g nano fish tank the other day. I've seen them spawn several times usually shortly after a cool water change.
My fish are so unaffected by the WC's that I actually have had to rubber band a nylon over the end of the WC'r since a few fish took a ride through it. Thank goodness I used to keep net under the WC'r outflow before I went to the nylon method. My fish get very stimulated after a large WC.

 

[Paul1792]

I have actually been looking at a 125......you guys/gals are a bad influence on me...........

......

Wow. One thing about it your wife will love ....... she will never be at a loss as to what to get you for Christmas and birthday presents.

 

[Rare]

In fact many of my fish spawn after the big weekly WC's. "

I agree with this 100%. I see this happening when I do my "BIG" PWC. That's reason I believe that one of the ciclids is holding now. I will try to take video next time it happens & thought about doing some PWC to see if it triggers it more. I believe that fish spawning/breeding is a sign of a healthy aquarium.

That's why I said, "Every aquarium is different on what one has and what one does." There is no way I can do 50% PWC change & have all their poop gone. My cichlids are always swimming around & I assumed they are happy after PWC & not stressed out. Almost as they look forward to it- even when i'm doing the PWC all the pseudotropheus saulosi come out and hang around my hand as i'm cleaning. Do what works for you!

 

[Paul1792]

you guys are right again - love this forum

To Thumper, Rivercats & Rare and others ...... after reading your comments about how fish thrive with more frequent water changes, I decided to up my water changes to every 10 days and noticed the fish do love water changes and are even more active than normal and ........ to my shock ..... the water has gotten even more crystal clear & polished looking. So next step is to give in and do weekly changes.

To mitigate the cost of $1 a gallon spring water, I am trying to gradually move to 50% spring water 25% Tap & 25% RO.

 

[Old Scales]

Thank the good Lord for Aqueon or Python WC hoses! I do WC right on schedule better now cause they're so much easier. My Rummy's noses seem to glow more after the weekly 50% WC. Many times the false Julies will start to spawn. OS.