Neen

If there aren't any problems with my tank, how often should I be doing a water change? I did a 25% water change today into a 5 gallon bucket. I am saving the water to clean my filter in. Right? My ph is usually around 7.2-7.8. Can I grow plants in that ph? I have stopped using the ph buffer so my ph stays there. I can get drift wood off the beach to adjust ph or should I leave ph right where it is? Let me know your thoughts & thanks gina

Butterfly

Yes even if there are no problems you need to continue doing water changesand that water is what you rinse your filters in.
If you get wood from anywhere except the fish store then you need to boil it.
Your ph is fine, in fact it's almost the exact same as mine and my plants do fine.
Carol

Neen

Thanks Butterfly. How often do you change your water?

dahly

I change 25-35% of my water every 4 days. If a fish dies, or the chemistry is out of wack, I do a change right away. Fresh water fish love fresh water!

Butterfly

I do 25 % every week on all except the 75G. I do 2-25% changes on it. One on thurs and one on sunday. Larger tanks can hold their parametes stable longer than small tanks but I have 2-8 inch clown Loaches and an 8 inch Rhino Pleco in the 75G and they are SUCH BIG waste makers. And they could probably do with once a week changes but they and I really enjoy the water changes. The clowns do the loachy dance for me
Carol

Neen

Thanks Dahly & Butterfly. : I will make sure & change the water no less than once a week. It makes me mad that stores try to sell you chemicals you don't need. There is one product out there that says if you put it in your tank you won't have to change your water for 6 months!! Yuck, poor fish. I'm really glad I found this site. Everyone is so helpful & i've learned alot.

rob2uk

Are you talking about 'Nitrasafe' by any chance?
If your LFS told that you don't need to change your water for 6 months using it, then they're either misinformed or lying!

I actually use this stuff because, unfortunately, my tank is overstocked (all my fish were rescued from a tank 5 times the size of mine which burst!), and my nitrates are all over the place.

All this stuff actually does is absorb the nitrates from the water, and I have to say it works very, very well!

You put the sachet inside your filter and it gets the nitrate levels down to almost zero within a coupla hours.
1 sachet will get a 60 gallon tank with a nitrate level of 50mg/lt down to a safe level overnight...
Also, you can 'recharge' the sachet by running it through with salt water then rinsing it out.
Anyway, I sound like a commercial, so I may as well link to where you can buy it from!

http://www.petcompany.co.uk/acatalog...ments_131.html - it's the 3rd product from the bottom of the page

Butterfly

Glad to know it works in that capacity for you. But for my buck water is still cheaper
Carol

rob2uk

True, but I can do a 50% water change at 10pm, check my levels again at 9am, and find them way off the scale already!
However, I've had no probs since I started using this stuff. Still doing weekly changes though!

Butterfly

Thats great glad it's working for you
Carol