# Am i doing water changes to much?



## nygiants10 (Jan 26, 2008)

My tanks been running for two months, i has 3 3-4 inch red bellies in a 55 gall. Ive been doing 25-30% water changes every week. Am i doing to much to frequently?


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## FishermanCanada (Feb 12, 2007)

nope. maybe increase your water change to 40-50%.


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## mkbasketball (Oct 8, 2007)

nygiants10 said:


> My tanks been running for two months, i has 3 3-4 inch red bellies in a 55 gall. Ive been doing 25-30% water changes every week. Am i doing to much to frequently?


You should be fine = ) depends how good your filtration is


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## nygiants10 (Jan 26, 2008)

My water seems always to be crystal clear. I have a penguin 350 with 4 filters on it, i change 2 every 2 weeks. And i have a Top Spin 60, it only has 2 filters on it that i change every 2 weeks.



Mkster said:


> My tanks been running for two months, i has 3 3-4 inch red bellies in a 55 gall. Ive been doing 25-30% water changes every week. Am i doing to much to frequently?


You should be fine = ) depends how good your filtration is
[/quote]


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## -NBKK- (Jun 22, 2007)

Should look into a canister, may be cheaper for you in the long run since you change the media often. i do a 45 % Water change ever 6 days in my 90 gallon. so you are on the right track


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## NegativeSpin (Aug 1, 2007)

Test your water for nitrates at the end of the week before and after doing your water change then you'll get a good idea of the rate of nitrate production in your tank and how much and often you should be performing water changes to keep the nitrates below any alarming levels. (40 PPM at the end of the week for the average aquarist and no more than 20 PPM at the end of the week if you want to grow your fish a little bigger.)


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## LS1FDRx7 (Mar 6, 2007)

25%-30% water change per week is fine assuming your only feeding them every 2 day? If your feeding them more often and would like to see a increase in growth more, I would do more percentage of water change, bump it up to 50% weekly. They'll love it!


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## blacklabel (Feb 12, 2007)

LS1FDRx7 said:


> 25%-30% water change per week is fine assuming your only feeding them every 2 day? If your feeding them more often and would like to see a increase in growth more, I would do more percentage of water change, bump it up to 50% weekly. They'll love it!


agreed and dont change your media. ever. just swoosh them around in a bucket of tank water every 3 months or so and put them back in.


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## delegat (Mar 22, 2007)

totally agree with shanker and black label!!


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)




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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

shanker said:


> Test your water for nitrates at the end of the week before and after doing your water change then you'll get a good idea of the rate of nitrate production in your tank and how much and often you should be performing water changes to keep the nitrates below any alarming levels. (40 PPM at the end of the week for the average aquarist and no more than 20 PPM at the end of the week if you want to grow your fish a little bigger.)


agreed.


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## nygiants10 (Jan 26, 2008)

BlackLabel said:


> 25%-30% water change per week is fine assuming your only feeding them every 2 day? If your feeding them more often and would like to see a increase in growth more, I would do more percentage of water change, bump it up to 50% weekly. They'll love it!


agreed and dont change your media. ever. just swoosh them around in a bucket of tank water every 3 months or so and put them back in.
[/quote]

Ar you saying dont change my filters?


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

you dont necessarily need to. the bacteria in the filter media helps your tank, but after a while it just gets full of gunk, so just rinse it out. i RARELY change my filter media out, i just rinse it in old tank water, and its good to go.
changing it yearly or so is not a bad idea, but IMO not totally necessary.


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## blacklabel (Feb 12, 2007)

nygiants10 said:


> 25%-30% water change per week is fine assuming your only feeding them every 2 day? If your feeding them more often and would like to see a increase in growth more, I would do more percentage of water change, bump it up to 50% weekly. They'll love it!


agreed and dont change your media. ever. just swoosh them around in a bucket of tank water every 3 months or so and put them back in.
[/quote]

Ar you saying dont change my filters?
[/quote]
yes. unless you want to throw money away and send your tank through minicycles all the time. make sure to rinse them in tank water, NOT tap water, so you dont kill the nitrifiers.


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

You can add a bag of bio max to your HOB's, this way after a month you'll be able to change the inserts as you wish.


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## nygiants10 (Jan 26, 2008)

Ok let me get this straight, instead of dumping money into filters i can just shake them in a bucket of water that i am changing from my tank. I thought the carbon in them loses their charge or whatever they have in 2-4 weeks?


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## kfreeman (Feb 14, 2008)

nygiants10 said:


> Ok let me get this straight, instead of dumping money into filters i can just shake them in a bucket of water that i am changing from my tank. I thought the carbon in them loses their charge or whatever they have in 2-4 weeks?


I'm with him confused. Please clarify. Does this go for activated carbon/charcoal? If so hell yeah gonna save me a bunch of $!!!


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

The carbon does lose its effectivenes after about 3-4 weeks but the inserts still act as mechanical filtration by trapping debris and also act as bio filtration with nitrifiers colonizing on them. At most i would only change half of them once a month or alternate changing one every 3 weeks. carbon is really not necessary unless you are removing meds


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## kfreeman (Feb 14, 2008)

Dr. Giggles said:


> The carbon does lose its effectivenes after about 3-4 weeks but the inserts still act as mechanical filtration by trapping debris and also act as bio filtration with nitrifiers colonizing on them. At most i would only change half of them once a month or alternate changing one every 3 weeks. carbon is really not necessary unless you are removing meds


Thanks. I have done that before when I ran out of insert but didn't really realize that it was a good thing.








Thanks for your knowledgeable help.


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## nygiants10 (Jan 26, 2008)

Thanks a lot guys. I was dropping 30-40 bucks a month in filters, i and a few of my buddies who have piranhas did not know this either. Ill be shaking them out once a month instead of changing them.


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

nygiants10 said:


> 25%-30% water change per week is fine assuming your only feeding them every 2 day? If your feeding them more often and would like to see a increase in growth more, I would do more percentage of water change, bump it up to 50% weekly. They'll love it!


agreed and dont change your media. ever. just swoosh them around in a bucket of tank water every 3 months or so and put them back in.
[/quote]

Ar you saying dont change my filters?
[/quote]
ya why do you change the media anyways?


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## jacks (Aug 6, 2007)

nygiants10 said:


> My tanks been running for two months, i has 3 3-4 inch red bellies in a 55 gall. Ive been doing 25-30% water changes every week. Am i doing to much to frequently?


also i have never used a water tester, i wouldnt know how but bear in mind i have also never had disease in my tank for nearly one year, 30 percent monday to wednesday

30 percent for the rest of the week


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