# Stupid Question



## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

I test the water before a water change and next day after and the readings are pretty much the same accept for ammo which is between 0&.5 before a water change, yesterday it was 0 before waterchange.

I have a 150gal mildy planted tank housing 7pygos and I do my water changes every weekend 40%.

Here's my list of params and like I said nothing really changes accept for ammo ocasionally. I did my waterchange yesterday and I'm using an API Master Kit.

Ammo-0

Ph-7.4, sometimes 7.6

Nitrates-10 always the same before and after w/c

Nitrites-0

Gh-300, High but it's ok right?

Kh-80 Always between 80 and 120

My fish are doing great and are growing like weeds so I'm not complaining, but I just want to make sure that I'm not missing anything.

Should I wait a few days after w/c before re testing? If my levels are always good can I put off doing a waterchange since one week makes no change with 7 fish and plants?

Thanks in advance, guess I'm just looking to be reassured that everythings ok


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Feefa said:


> I test the water before a water change and next day after and the readings are pretty much the same accept for ammo which is between 0&.5 before a water change, yesterday it was 0 before waterchange.
> 
> I have a 150gal mildy planted tank housing 7pygos and I do my water changes every weekend 40%.
> 
> ...


All looks fine. ammonia, nitrates, nitrites and pH are the most important things. Kh is fine since your pH is fine. The Gh is a bit high, but its not too important unless you want to breed some soft water fish. If you really wanted it lower add some ro water with each water change, but i would just leave it be. If you NO3 is at 10, that is good so you probably could get away with not doing water changes as frequently. A NO3 level of anythign under 20 will be fine, obviously lower is better though.

I would just cut back to 30% weekly and see how that goes and just monitor the toxin levels to make sure they dont go high.


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

Thank you sir thats what I wanted to hear


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## dodgyellis (Apr 19, 2009)

as long as you keep a good maintenace regime n your filters are workin as they should(cycled) gravel vaccumed uneaten food removed quickly, if your water params are good then i see no need to disturb your fish doin water changes.
its only the nitrates that should build up, n then when they hit 50ppm do your water change, is this right or am i missin something?
iv often wondered why iv just changed 100l of water with perfecly good params, its not lazyness, its just if its not broke why fix it?
also if you have plants in if you keep changin water takin out even low levels of niitrate what are they gonna feed on without addin even more stuff to you tank?


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

dodgy said:


> as long as you keep a good maintenace regime n your filters are workin as they should(cycled) gravel vaccumed uneaten food removed quickly, if your water params are good then i see no need to disturb your fish doin water changes.
> its only the nitrates that should build up, n then when they hit 50ppm do your water change, is this right or am i missin something?*i wouldnt let them get that high. i would say 30-40 max*
> iv often wondered why iv just changed 100l of water with perfecly good params, its not lazyness, its just if its not broke why fix it?*fish do im pretty sure emit hormones that will stunt growth if to concentrated*
> also if you have plants in if you keep changin water takin out even low levels of niitrate what are they gonna feed on without addin even more stuff to you tank?*There still will be n03 so plants will be fine*


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

Thanks again for the input guys, maybe I'll try waiting till my nitrates get to 20???
The only thing is that I'm keeping Pirayas and for optimal growth lower nitrates are better, and I like to keep on top of the gravel washes before things build up.


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