Water change philosophy

[laritheloud]

On 1/31/2022 at 4:26 PM, Ambush0908 said:

I have been following the Aquarium Coop water change guide because I started using easy green.  I am still fine tuning but have been doing 30% every 2 weeks.  Like everyone will tell you, every tank is different and may need different maintenance.  I am in South Jersey as well.  I remember getting a cheese steak in North Jersey and it had potato’s on it.  I am still scarred.  😀 Not sure where you other South Jersey people are exactly, but I am 10 minutes from the Aquarium Center in Blackwood.  It is a great store.  

I go to Aquarium Center most frequently as my LFS for their huge selection. Their tanks are also a good price! I'm there pretty often, once every couple of weeks. Almost all of my fish stock is from them. I'm originally from Township but I moved down to Salem County after Pittsburgh and a brief stint in Washington DC.

Edited January 31, 2022 by laritheloud

[bentaz]

I mostly just replace evaporation on aged tanks, but will do a big water change once or twice a year to remove hidden nastys. New tanks I will test frequently and change water as needed.

The tap water where I live read 0.5 ammo on a water test straight from the tap so I actually have to age the water before I can use it or only top up with small amounts. I'm hoping to start catching rain water off the shed soon.

[Streetwise]

I think running organic soil helps with my stability. There is so much digestion and processing happening in the soil, plus all the live plants. 

[Brandy]

I think I have really pushed the envelope on this lately. My tanks tend to be plant crammed, and when I moved my ambient temps went down. I have a lot of unheated or lightly heated tanks, and they are cold now. Plant growth has slowed waaay down, since I also slacked on fertilizer. Except I have floating plants and sometimes terrestrial plants growing out of the tanks (tradescantia, pothos, begoinia maculata) and those are all growing like crazy.  I also produce shrimp and snails from those tanks. I pull "waste" out in the form of feeder snails, and duckweed. Now that I have a duck and chickens, I never have to put it in the compost. 

Water changes keep inorganic salts from building in the water, theoretically...Unless your tap water is super hard and your plants are actually effectively using all that--then you might be adding salts. Or, like me, your tap water is basically DI water, and you want every mineral you can get to stay in the tank! I scored a free tank covered with hard water stains--years of them, you could not see thru the glass. My solution was to fill it with water and stock it with snails. They are gone.

I mostly top off until the mulm gets swirly and annoying. However, that is not going to stop me from drilling about 15 tanks this weekend for my future auto water change system. Because laziness is not just a philoshopy, it is a way of life! And carrying buckets is less fun than watching fish.

[Patrick_G]

On 1/31/2022 at 4:24 PM, Brandy said:

I mostly top off until the mulm gets swirly and annoying. However, that is not going to stop me from drilling about 15 tanks this weekend for my future auto water change system. Because laziness is not just a philoshopy, it is a way of life! And carrying buckets is less fun than watching fish.

I wouldn’t call that laziness, I’d call it efficiency! 

[Blaha]

I used to do 10-15% twice a week to keep up, but if I test and it's good, then it's good. No change needed until the next test maybe. I test twice a week now.
Now that my plants have really grown in and I've dialed in my lighting and feeding I only do 10% once every 3-6 weeks now. That's with 26 small community fish in 29G with loads of plants and 2 sponge filters. 

[zayackylepga]

On 1/31/2022 at 4:26 PM, Ambush0908 said:

I have been following the Aquarium Coop water change guide because I started using easy green.  I am still fine tuning but have been doing 30% every 2 weeks.  Like everyone will tell you, every tank is different and may need different maintenance.  I am in South Jersey as well.  I remember getting a cheese steak in North Jersey and it had potato’s on it.  I am still scarred.  😀 Not sure where you other South Jersey people are exactly, but I am 10 minutes from the Aquarium Center in Blackwood.  It is a great store.  

Yes! I’m about 20, love that place!!

[bentaz]

On the left is my tap water after about 48 of aging in here...

On the right is my fish water from the cube behind it.

A mate of mine is a plumber for the shire council, he told me that they add ammonia to our water so that the chlorine will bind to it better. He said it's because the water is piped a fair way to us that they needed to do it, certainly doesn't help me out. Lol.....

Edited February 1, 2022 by bentaz
Spelling

[Jeff]

I do weekly 20% water changes. 

1. I've never seen, nor heard of anything bad happening from a water change. 

2. It shows me more of what's going on in my tank. I tend to notice more of what's going on in the tank, than if I just sit around and watch; as I look at more angles from the top down.

3. Maintaining your filter regularly is never a bad thing. I do this while I'm WC'ing...because why not?

I understand why people with fish rooms / lots of tanks don't like them. But if you only have one tank, it literally only takes 10-15 minutes. It's not painful.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Jeff

[Atitagain]

On 1/31/2022 at 10:42 PM, Jeff said:

I do weekly 20% water changes. 

1. I've never seen, nor heard of anything bad happening from a water change. 

2. It shows me more of what's going on in my tank. I tend to notice more of what's going on in the tank, than if I just sit around and watch; as I look at more angles from the top down.

3. Maintaining your filter regularly is never a bad thing.

I understand why people with fish rooms / lots of tanks don't like them. But if you only have one tank, it literally only tanks 10-15 minutes. It's not painful.

Even when I was in the 10-12 tank range I would do weekly 20-40% water changes and clean every pre filter sponge and sponge filter. Every Sunday was cleaning day about 6 hours. At this time and as I started more tanks I had to figure out ways to save time. I started using a lot more plants.

[eatyourpeas]

My largest tank is 12 gallons, so I do weekly WC just to keep the "other" nutrients available since I have jungles in all of them. Having said that, if I go two weeks, I do not stress. I leave the tanks for two-three weeks on their own when I travel and they do fine, even the 3 gallon with the pea puffer. They all have canister filters.

The only time I do more frequent water changes is when I am dealing with disease and meds.

As I get more comfortable (or older and lazy) I can see not really stressing too much about water changes, even in the smaller tanks. Top-offs are a must, though.

I like living in a water spaceship. 😍

[Bev C]

I still follow  my fish shop directions   all these years and i have a happy tank

I do a 20-30 % water change  each week  unless there is a problem then I do 50%  my fish store says the fish love fresh water ,,

I do a gravel vac  and spot plant cleaning. with it 

I have one big and one medium   ACop sponge filters. with my canister filter ( I love sponge filters and it helps if you need to set up a quarantine tank fast )  i rotate cleaning those on the weekly water change )  Now the  canister filter  Biomaster Oase  i clean the inside every 1-2 months or  as needed it has a  sponge prefilter i clean that more often every water change that clogs if not clean often but it is easy and fast to unattached  and clean

when i clean inside the canister  i skip  clean my sponge filters

 

Edited February 13, 2022 by Bev C

[Patrick_G]

On 2/13/2022 at 12:28 PM, Bev C said:

I do a 20-30 % water change  each week  unless there is a problem then I do 50%  my fish store says the fish love fresh water ,,

Great advice!

[isaly]

On 1/30/2022 at 10:58 PM, laritheloud said:

Lived in Pittsburgh for school for 5 years. No one out there knew how to make a proper cheesesteak, pizza, or hoagie.

I live in Pittsburgh. I'll make you a cheese steak that'll blow your doors off. 

Edited February 14, 2022 by isaly