Water Change routine

I have slightly different routines depending on tank size.
Tanks:
1 x 80L (community tank)
1 x 100L (community tank)
1 x 14L (Shrimp species only tank)

80L routine:
I do a weekly water change of between 15% & 25%
Every 6 weeks I do a 50% water change

100L routine:
I do a weekly water change of between 20% & 30%
Every 6 weeks I do a 50% water change

14L routine:
I do a 20% water change every second day
I do a fortnightly 50% water change

It really depends on how big your tank is, what you feed and what fish you have. As we know, each tank is unique.

 

my water change schedule
2 linked 6 foot tanks
1400ltr system
filtration 4 foot sump with movinfg bed filter 8 turn over of water per hour
stocking 1 40cm umbee cichlid and 1 stingray
50% water change twice a week normally sunday and wednesday
8 foot tank
1450 system
filtration 4 foot sump and 100ltr bucket full of media 7 turn overs of water per hour
stocking 8 20cm plus midas cichlids 3 young dovii
40% water change twice a week normally friday and monday

 

I'm also in Cape Town. Would normal doses of Prime sort that out?

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What do you sure to measure your temp? I'm currently using a glass thermometer, but read on this page that they inaccurate.

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Very interesting, thank you!

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Wow the amount of water you change a week is crazy! Do you have a borehole?

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Double dose would be safe

 

https://www.netram.co.za/3469-sonoff-th16.html
with a DS18B20 mostly for in water column measurements ... AM2301 is accurate for out of tank.

Later Ferdie

 

I agree with the double dose. I use Aquavitro Alpha (Seachem product). It is more concentrated than Prime and I dose at double dosage just to be sure. Zero issues.

 

Okay thanks, I'll start doing that from now on.

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Okay thank you!

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unfortunately no
big fish big waste, so need to do water changes.
feel like water changes are underrated in the hobby and they really help keeping fish in top condition

 

Let me join in here. @f-fish has his systems running at 110%. Huge plant load, small bio load. Getting a balanced system like his takes time and experiance. Wc should be done as needed, a lot of factors to consider.

My 4ft, with 3ft sump, semi planted is completely over stocked. Although water tests is still good after 1 week, maby due to the amount if bio media I use. But knowing how fast things can go south. For this reason I do a 40 to 50% wc weekly.

2ft tank with Crossband chocolate gouramis, heavely planted with low light plants. Only reason I do a 50% wc with ro is to keep the perameters in check. Biggest being tds.

3ft shellie tank. Semi planted with only 7 x 4cm brevis in. Over filtered, 2 x sponge filters and an Aquaclear 30 filled with bio media. Only do a 15L wc weekly. Just to keep everything stable. Water pre treated to have same ph as aquarium.

3ft Panaque tank. Semi planted with one panaque, 7 Australis rainbows, 2 zebra loaches and some peppered corries. 50% weekly only due to the amount of crap the panaque makes. Plants love it though.

Other tanks mostly have fry in them and get a 25% wc weekly.

 

My water changes depends on the fish I keep. Cpt water crises make it difficult to do water regularly so I started doing wc every 2 weeks depending on the condition and mood of the fish at that time. Wc would range from 25% to 50%. The wild caught tropheus chikonde would spawn in 'dirty' water and stay healthy. But the wild caught tropheus nkondi don't like 'dirty water. They become inactive after 2 weeks of no wc. So to save water and do wc on that tank every week, I take the tank water to do washing every Friday and fill the tank with fresh water. The amount of water would then depend on the load of washing. So there is never a consistency in amount of water . I add safe to my water as it last longer then safe.

 

Schoonraad">

Really interesting points. Thank you!

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Yeah but the condom bill for the guppies is huge ;-)


100% @Pierré Schoonraad - all factors need considering.

Later Ferdie

 

On my 400L I do at least a 40% water change. To make it quick I rigged one of the canister filters with garden hose connectors the ones that have the one way flow valve built in, then its simply a matter of turning off the filter, closing the valves and connection the dedicated hose that I have and then then open the valve and the water drains out.

Once drained, I close the valve connect the other end of the hose to the tap and fill. In winter I just use the taps in the bathroom sink with a removable mixer that I built to mix hot and cold water.

The process takes about 40 mins and is almost effortless.

Once a month I will include the cleaning of any sponges I have in filtration in the tank, simply rinsing them out in a bucket of siphoned tank water. That takes around 10 mins.



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very cool @David Kusner

Since we are talking about the how ...



not to forget the good old days when I mostly had PFS ...



Later Ferdie

 

For me I have a routine for doing a wc once a week but will do one if it is an emergency. Also a TDS meter is a huge help with smell. With my leleupi I realised that if a do a wc once in three weeks it induced spawning, also by saying that I check the parameters every day and will make a wc if the needs be.

 

Wow such a great idea for draining the water.

If you're adding tap water directly to the tank, do you add the water conditioner to the tank first and how do you make sure the temp is the same?

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