Post by jon carman on Sept 25, 2013 10:34:51 GMT -6
do water changes. every time you feed your fish, it introduces waste into your tank. that waste goes through the nitrogen cycle to end up as nitrogen which is stresses fish. The only way around this is with a media that absorbs nitrogen like chemi pure, but even then i would still change water.
for african cichlids 20% once every week or two. if not overstocked, maybe a month max. new world is probably the same.
just make sure water you put in is same chemistry and temp as what is removed. That is where it all goes wrong. if you wait a month and nitrates spike, and you compensate by doing a 50% water change, you are changing the water the fish are acustom to and stressing them. then if water is 5 degrees warmer or cooler, more stress which can lead to disease. if you are not sure you can match water, 20% on two different days are better than 50% at once. 50% at once is fine if you can match water.
my whole system is based on the importance of water changes and consistency. i change 100-150% a week at about 15-20% per day, 2%+/- per hour.
for african cichlids 20% once every week or two. if not overstocked, maybe a month max. new world is probably the same.
just make sure water you put in is same chemistry and temp as what is removed. That is where it all goes wrong. if you wait a month and nitrates spike, and you compensate by doing a 50% water change, you are changing the water the fish are acustom to and stressing them. then if water is 5 degrees warmer or cooler, more stress which can lead to disease. if you are not sure you can match water, 20% on two different days are better than 50% at once. 50% at once is fine if you can match water.
my whole system is based on the importance of water changes and consistency. i change 100-150% a week at about 15-20% per day, 2%+/- per hour.
