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TheFishGuy presents . . .
Freshwater / Saltwater / Marine Messageboard -- There's Somethin' Fishy Goin' On Here!
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| Emperor Angelfish | Freshwater Angelfish | Protomelas Spilonotus | Clown Triggerfish |
| Are Water Changes Really Necessary? |
| © 2008-2011 Tropical Fish Forum / TheFishGuy Last Updated : April 20, 2011 |
| "Are water changes really necessary?" you may ask. In a word . . . ABSOLUTELY! As I explain in the article What Is The Nitrification Cycle?, one of the end products of the nitrification process is nitrate. While nitrate is less toxic than its precursors -- that is, ammonia and nitrite -- nevertheless, over time it can be detrimental to your livestock; therefore, it must be removed from your aquarium in some fashion. While some dedicated aquarists rely upon special techniques -- such as NNR, or Natural Nitrate Reduction -- to remove the nitrate from their aquariums, most aquarists rely upon weekly, partial water changes in order to maintain the nitrate at a safe level. So what happens if you don't remove the nitrate from your tank? One of the most obvious things that you will notice with time as the nitrate level rises, is an uncontrollable algae bloom, because algae just loves nitrates and phosphates in the water. In fact, this is one of the reasons why you will sometimes find a lot of algae growth at beachside tourist resorts. In other words, the run-off pollution from the hotels and businesses is feeding the algae! In an aquarium environment, depending on the strength and duration of the lighting source, this algae will usually be either brown -- like diatoms -- or some shade of green or greenish-blue. While algae thrives on nitrate, your fish do not! High concentrations of nitrate in the water can result in stunted growth, loss of appetite, deterioration of the gills and other fins, etc. If your fish's stress level becomes too great due to a high concentration of nitrate in the tank, your beloved pets may also suffer from a parasitic attack, such as ich/ick. By now, I hope that you can see the importance of conducting consistent, regularly-scheduled partial water changes. Exactly how often should partial water changes be performed, and how much water should be replaced? Allow me to share with you some of my own personal aquarium maintenance habits. First of all, let us differentiate between topping off an aquarium, and conducting a full-blown water change. Topping off is simply the practice of replacing the water that is lost due to daily evaporation, while a partial water change is a much more involved process which consists of replacing a certain volume of water in the tank on a regular basis. In my case, I keep five one-gallon jugs of water in the same room where my aquarium is located. This water has been treated with chlorine/chloramine remover. In between full-blown water changes, this water is used every other day or so to replace the water which has been lost due to evaporation. I keep it in the same room as the aquarium so that it is more or less the same temperature as the aquarium water. I also keep it on the floor where it is cooler. Concerning partial water changes, how much water you replace, and how often you replace it, depends on a number of factors, such as the total volume of water that is in the aquarium, and the total bio-load; that is, how many fish are in the tank. It should be stressed that the more often you conduct partial water changes, the healthier your fish will be. After all, you don't want them swimming in their own pollution, do you? As my personal maintenance log forum will demonstrate, my preference is to conduct a partial water change of 25% to 50% every week; although I confess that occasionally I am late by a few days, or I will miss a week entirely. Different aquarists perform their partial water changes in different ways. My technique is to use the same five one-gallon plastic jugs that I mentioned a moment ago. These jugs are safe, being as they originally held bottled water. First, I will use my garden hose to siphon water out of the tank so that the water level is just above, or just below the tops of the rock decor. Being as I currently own mbunas, I like to keep my algae culture alive, so I try not to expose the algae to the air any more than fifteen minutes, which is why I only lower the water level to the tops of the rocks. Depending on how I have the aquarium designed, this usually results in replacing 25% to 50% of the water. For example, today I changed twenty gallons, which was just over half of the total water volume. Important Points: 1. Make sure that you turn off all filters and powerheads before commencing your partial water change. You don't want such devices running dry or burning out. 2. If you have small fish in the tank, make sure that you attach some kind of strainer to the end of the hose that will go in the aquarium. This can be an old piece of fine-mesh fish net, nylon screen such as from a screen door, etc. After removing the water, I add the first five gallons from the jugs as quickly as possible for the aforementioned reasons. As noted previously, this water has already been treated with chlorine/chloramine remover. After that, I will squirt dechlorinator into the empty jugs, and then fill them with water again. Important Point: It is a wise idea to let your tap water run a little first before filling the jugs, in case it is hot, overly saturated with chloramine, or filled with pipe deposits. In our local area, I have noticed that during the night and early morning, the water appears to have a much higher concentration of chloramine, possibly because less people are using the water during the wee hours of the night, or because the local water company more heavily chlorinates the water at night. I repeat this same process of adding chlorine remover to the jugs, filling the jugs with water, and then dumping the water into the tank until it is full again. Once the aquarium is full again, I turn on the filters and powerheads again. Some people prefer to add a certain amount of chlorine remover to their aquarium, and then using a garden hose to fill up the tank. Personally, I feel that my approach is much safer for your fish; that is, to dechlorinate the water before it is added to the aquarium. If you follow the first method, some of your more sensitive fish may possibly swim into the stream of chlorinated tap water that is flowing into the tank from the garden hose, and suffer irreparable damage. They could even go into shock and die. But, the choice is yours. As I said, using jugs and dechlorinating the water beforehand may take longer, and may require more energy on your part, but it is a safer method, in my view. In addition to conducting the partial water change, I usually also take the time to wash out the filter sponges, dust off the rock decor with my turkey baster, stir up the sand substrate, and remove algae from the glass panes. It is all a part of a good day's maintenance, which usually takes an hour or two at best each week. If there is one thing that I would like to emphasize here, it is the importance of establishing a regular, consistent maintenance schedule. Conducting routine aquarium maintenance -- including a partial water change -- only once a month, or once every few months, is not wise in my view. Your fish will suffer for it, and they deserve better from you. If you follow consistent, good aquarium maintenance habits, your fish will be healthier, they will live longer, and they may even surprise you by raising families of their own, as mine have done; and fry in your tank is a good sign that you are doing something right! Finally, failure to follow regular, consistent aquarium maintenance habits will result in sick fish, and you will be forced to spend even more money on medications, not to mention the worry that it will cause you, and who needs that? I hope that you have learned something from the previous comments. Regards,
TheFishGuy
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