Necessary-ness of changing water...

[Fromthelbc]

How necessary is it to change your water? and how often should you change the water?

 

[krap101]

Depends on the load and filtration. In a heavily planted tank, wc's are less necessary because the nitrates get soaked up by the plants, but there are some things that build up in the water from evaporation, and can only be removed through wc's. Most people do like a 20% every 1-2 weeks.

 

[Fromthelbc]

what about the nitrate removers?

 

[Sicklid]

Nitrate removers do so much but are still no match for a water change... IMO, water changes are the LEAST tedious part of routine maintenance, for me anyway... If you can't get into changing part of the tank water every week or two, you probably will never display the desire to clean your filters, or clean the glass, or check your pH, or check your ammonia levels, check your nitrite levels, rinse out a foam cartridge, clean the inside of your intake tubes, wipe the glass covers for your lights, and allll the other things that are really required on a regular basis to keep a system in optimum working order....

Even when I had a fully planted tank I did just as many water changes although less drastic volumes than my overstocked cichlid tank, using the opportunity to pore over the condition of every corner of the tank, adding ferts, checking to see if the c02 system was working, so many things that you can overlook by just sitting back and not catching a problem before it arises...

 

[BillD]

Clean water is a necessity for optimum health of your fish. The cleaner the better. As mentioned, how much and how often depends on the bioload of the tank. Nitrate level is what is normally used to determine how much and how often water should be changed. That will tell you the minimum, but doing more is better. I aim for 50%(minimum) weekly.

 

[Fromthelbc]

Nitrate removers do so much but are still no match for a water change... IMO, water changes are the LEAST tedious part of routine maintenance, for me anyway... If you can't get into changing part of the tank water every week or two, you probably will never display the desire to clean your filters, or clean the glass, or check your pH, or check your ammonia levels, check your nitrite levels, rinse out a foam cartridge, clean the inside of your intake tubes, wipe the glass covers for your lights, and allll the other things that are really required on a regular basis to keep a system in optimum working order....

Even when I had a fully planted tank I did just as many water changes although less drastic volumes than my overstocked cichlid tank, using the opportunity to pore over the condition of every corner of the tank, adding ferts, checking to see if the c02 system was working, so many things that you can overlook by just sitting back and not catching a problem before it arises...

i check the filters everyday, i dont know about testing my water, but i clean my stuff weekly... how much does cleaning the gravel do? and how would i go about fixing a very small very very slow leak?

 

[colematthewmalaka]

I tend to slack in this department. lol they say it should be done every week but if your tank is big enough and well cycled then usually about every 2-3 weeks.

 

[miniflea84]

If there is one single piece of aquarium advice that is universal no matter what type of tank you have or who you are asking, it is to change your water frequently and consistently.

 

[Sicklid]

i check the filters everyday, i dont know about testing my water, but i clean my stuff weekly... how much does cleaning the gravel do? and how would i go about fixing a very small very very slow leak?

Gravel cleaning is like cleaning your house... Would you want a pile of poop in all corners of your bedroom? It greatly helps to keep things healthy and top shape... To fix a leak, the tank must be drained and the old silicone must be cut out, clean the seams with acetone and resealed with silicone... Only way I know of... If the leak is slow & small, you might be able to just drain to below the leak, and hog silicone onto the area like a patch?

I was not saying you personally did not perform any maintenance on your tank, what I was saying is in the grand scheme of things water changes are so easy and needed that people who shy away from them are setting themselves up for disaster, somewhat along the lines of what miniflea just said...

That being said, I have a friend who has a 56 gallon tank with a bala shark and a pleco in there, nothing else. He claims to have NEVER performed a water change, and all he does is top off... His fish are supposedly more than five years old. But, he has heavy filtration, and a low bio-load, so it may be true...

I have almost 20 fish in my 75 gallon, and I change 30-50% weekly. I fear if I didn't I would not have such happy, healthy colorful fish to justify it .

 

[RWaltman]

hey lets face it, it's nice for the fish to have clean water! how'd you like to swim around in your poo water that's been trapped in a box with you for months on end...it'd be like living in a public restroom!!!! I'm a 25% water change guy, about every 2-3 weeks or so....gives me a chance to "vacuum" up some crap while I'm siphoning...I just put on the jimmy cliff record and do my work son! den dos fishies be all irie mon!

 

[Sicklid]

Lol...