# How often do you do water changes and how big?



## blackgloves (Oct 17, 2005)

*** been doing them about once a week. Here lately twice a week.

I generally do nothing less than 50% of the tank. But here lately  around 75-90%


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## Curator (Feb 18, 2009)

O.O I do a 10% water change once a week... sometimes 20%


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Depends which tank it is.

Normal cichlid/community tank - 1 40% to 50% substrate vac & water change per week.
Cichlid/Pleco tank - 2 or 3 40% to 50% substrate vac & water changes per week.
Fry tank - 10% substrate vac & water changes daily.
Hospital tank - 20% substrate vac & water changes daily.


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## Curator (Feb 18, 2009)

wow,lol... I feel like im not doing enough water changing in comparison to you guys, then again my water conditions are always perfect or near perfect everytime I test, so I guess I dont really need to change the water that much...


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## PaulineMi (Apr 3, 2008)

I've begun doing 25%-50% water changes 2-3 times per week. Used to do about 30% once a week.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

50% weekly to keep nitrates < 20ppm.


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## Curator (Feb 18, 2009)

my Nitrates have never been anything but under 20 ppm , zero sometimes, with only 10% changes a week...hmmm...weird...maybe im just lucky?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

That would be my planted tank.

Or maybe you had a lower fish load than me.

20ppm before a water change. 10ppm after a water change. That's the fish load.

My planted tank is zero nitrates all the time. That causes it's own problems, LOL!


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## Curator (Feb 18, 2009)

I dont have any plants in my tanks yet, im thinking of duck weed though, that way my cichlids can feast on it, it well help keep things clean, and I probably wont be able to kill it,LOL...

Anyway, Do you think I should up it to at least 20%? I know im not having any problems with what *** got in there yet,but you guys are changing allot more water than me, im pretty new at keeping african cichlids... btw, *** got way to many fish I think, about 2 inches of fish per gallon... but thats temporary, im keeping some of my friends fish till he gets his new tank set up, his old one had a NEAR catastrophic failure... he took his fish out an dput them in a 5 gallon buck about 5 minutes be4 his tank suddenly fell apart,lol...his room is STILL damp...lol...sucks...


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Nothing wrong with what you are doing if nitrates are staying low. It took quite a few weeks for them to accumulate in my 125G after I first filled it.


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## Curator (Feb 18, 2009)

ah, cool, thanks, i'll keep goin as I am then, and keep testing, if I see a spike then maybe i'll up the percentage...


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## TrashmanNYC (Dec 10, 2007)

75g-50% weekly..thinking about adding some Java Fern to this tank
fry tank-50% every three days or so


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## josmoloco (Aug 23, 2008)

About 30% per week with sand vac every two weeks


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## blackgloves (Oct 17, 2005)

for the record I vacuum my substrate on every water change. its almost pointless not too. Just thought that was a given so I didn't mention it


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Used to do 30-50% twice weekly to make sure nitrates were under 5ppm all the time. :thumb:


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## Terrence23 (Oct 2, 2008)

I do a weekly 50-75% water change on all three of my tanks every Saturday morning. That's probably the reason my fry grow out slowly in their tank but cleaning tanks is a real chore and I would get burned out trying to do water and filter changes every couple of days after long days at work. More power to those who do though!

Also, I have a lot of rockwork so every couple of months I do a complete tear down and remove all the rocks and do a thorough vacuuming of the sand since a lot of crud tends to build up over time under the rocks. My cichlids love to dig caves under the rocks in the sand and that creates pockets where all the detritus accumulates. One positive thing is that it gives me a chance to rearrange things a bit and try something new with the decorating.


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## TrashmanNYC (Dec 10, 2007)

dwarfpike said:


> Used to do 30-50% twice weekly to make sure nitrates were under 5ppm all the time. :thumb:


i thought under 20ppm was acceptable.........


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Some can handle 20ppm, like lake malawi and a lot of central americans. However, for most blackwater species, 20ppm is way too high. It does depend on the fish, and how long you've been in the hobby. While 20ppm is considered the norm now a days, about 20 years ago it was considered dangerous.


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## Maddog (Nov 7, 2008)

i do about 30% weekly on my 50 gallon mixed african tank with gravel vacum

40 % daily on my 10 gallon fry tank


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## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn (Dec 26, 2005)

50-70% weekly.

on all the tanks, from 10g-180g


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## jack lover (Aug 12, 2008)

25% every 2-3 days in my 75g


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## ginner (May 23, 2008)

I do a 5% change twice a week for my adult angels.

The fry get at least 10% (up to 20%) daily and the juvies get 10% twice a week.

Of course all of that has to increase if I'm forced to overstock a tank temporarily.


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## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

All my tanks get a 50% change once a week. I love my python!


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