lets discuss water changes

[Flareside]

I do my water changes. About 45% either weekly or every two weeks. Yes they are important, but since Im not keeping discus anymore- just africans, I have relaxed a bit. I dont have anything in a grow out stage. I only keep africans (obviously a hardy species). My tanks are not over stocked, but are over-filtered.
How many people here believe its going to be the end of the world if they miss their weekly water change? I only ask because on other boards, they talk to you like you have just committed a crime if you dont do water changes twice a week or once a week.

[DJRansome]

Not a crime, but I really try to lock it in my head that I will do 50% weekly. It's easy to come up with a millions things I'd rather do, so I just think of it as a "must do".

(I do miss a week from time to time, especially on my planted tank with no nitrates.)

[greyd]

I have to do them more often on the guppies and other livebearer tanks. 1/3rd twice a week. The cichlids get a 25% change every other week and seem fine. Makes it easier on me which is part of the reason I may be converting some more tanks over from guppies to apistos soon.

[Bev N]

Water changes...never ending.

All breeder tanks get changed weekly....anywhere from 25 to 50%.

Grow out tanks depend on how stocked they are. If lightly stocked maybe once that week. If it's a 40 with 300 angels more or a higher percentage. There are some tanks we do 80% or more on. It's a necessary evil.

We do have these on a system where we can empty and fill thru one set of pipes. It makes it go a whole lot quicker and there are no hoses to drag aroun d and wrestle with. Now to re-do the lids.

Those are the tanks in the fishroom. The two upstairs...not so much

[Afreakin]

For me it's 40% - 50% weekly. Not so bad and the fish seem to like it :bandit:

[mack74]

I do 40-60 weekly on all my tanks but the south american every 2 weeks. I have to due to my heavy stocking. I also over filter but I still so it every 6 days. I have a friend who does it every 6 months and had no issues with an understocked tank. I however would never do that ha.

[joe_jaskot]

I used to do 30-50% water changes every week (30+ tanks and containers - changing 400+ gallons/week). As I get older, I just don't feel like doing them. I do them as needed. However, all my tanks are lightly stocked, over filtered, and contain live plants. I have found that some fish spawn more with frequent water changes and some spawn more with less frequent water changes. Go figure.

[EMTBMIKE]

I guess I am the extremist. I do 40% water changes on my breeding tanks ever 4 days and 50% water changes on my grow out tanks every two days.

[steve0199us]

I do 40% gravel syphon on Sat. and a 25-30% water change on Wend. (straight to the sink without watching)!!!

[phillyofish]

How do you guys treat the incoming water? dechlorinator? aged and aerated prior? what are the secrets for the fishroom keepers?
any diy plans for quick empty and refill systems?

[Bev N]

We use a carbon filter to remove the chloramines.

We have a system that drains the tanks and refills thru the same lines. It takes half the time it used to which is I why I actually have time to read message boards. It uses a pump that sucks the water from the tanks into the sump. Then we flip switches depending on which water we want to refill with and open the valves on the tanks. He would have to explain how he did it and what one way valvles and such.

[phillyofish]

Bev,
thanks for the reply, can you provide pics?

[Bev N]

Sure...I'll get some pics tomorrow and post them. It's pretty wild. Rose Orso calls the fish room Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory...lol.

[Afreakin]

How do you guys treat the incoming water? dechlorinator? aged and aerated prior? what are the secrets for the fishroom keepers?
any diy plans for quick empty and refill systems?I treat using stress coat, Epsom, Kosher, and Baking powder. My tanks have gallon marks on the sides. So I empty to a certain mark, I know what the amount is and refill accordingly as well as how much of the additives.

[Heyguy74]

How do you guys treat the incoming water? dechlorinator? aged and aerated prior? what are the secrets for the fishroom keepers?
any diy plans for quick empty and refill systems?

I also do 50% water changes per week on my tanks. The fry tanks get 50% every two days.
I now have a 55 G plastic drum and a 34 G rubbermaid trash can . So I age the water for a day or so. I still add prime and buffers to the drum. I use an old pump I had (originally used to remove water from my pool cover during the winter.). I use it to drain and then fill my tanks. It will drain half the water in a 125G Tank in about 10 minutes. Filling the tank also take about 10 minutes. I will drain some into 5G buckets, when I clean out the filters. But the rest is drained by the pump. I drain right to my washing machine drain.

[Spooky_Fish]

10% change everyday with straight, untreated well water.

My fish that were hatched and raised with 10% daily changes are growing faster than those hatched before the water change system was installed...even though they are also getting 10% daily changes now.

I have 3 month old paracyps that are LARGER than 7 month olds!

It always seemed to me that fish I got from Doug Conklin grew faster than any other fish I had. I'm starting to understand why, Doug also does 10% daily.