When Should I First...

do a 20% water change?
My tank has been set up with fish nearly a week now. All seems well, and I love it.
I have been doing research and have found so many different answers about it...one place says to change every couple of weeks, another says, not for 30 days.....which end is up here?
I love my tank and my fish.....want to do what's best for them.
It's a 10 gallon warm water tank, and has a bio-filter filtration system.
I did stir up the gravel last night as I read on another website, causing quite a bit of "stuff" to float around. Heard I should do that every day to keep the water clear.
Can someone please advise?
Thank you everyone!

 

hmmm...I have no idea. I had a filter on my tank, but it was a cheap one, so I still did 100% water changes every 2 weeks.
haha, I know it's not fish related, but you have great danes! I love great danes! I have always wanted a harlequin one, but haven't been able to get one.

 

This is the time to be very careful. Did you wait and build up your good bacteria in the filter and tank, or did you just add fishes to the water. Either way, watch out for ammonia spikes. Get yourself a test kit and report back to us on your ammonia levels and nitrate levels, at very least. As for water changes, I find that 15 to 25 percent every 2 weeks is enough. You must vacuum the gravel every time you do this. Be careful to never change 100 percent of your water. This is very stressfull on fishes and just not a good idea. There is a lot of good stuff in that water, and you never want to throw it all out!

 

I'll make sure to go get one tomorrow....
I don't understand alot about the nitrate and ammonia level inthe water, but I'll do as you suggest and let you know! Thanks for the info!

 

Basically, your filter, when fully established/cycled, contains 2 types of bacteria. Your fish produce ammonia (which is toxic to them). The first type of bacteria converts that ammonia into nitrIte (which is also toxic to fish). The 2nd type of bacteria converts the nitrIte into nitrAte (not toxic at levels below 20ppm).

In a properly stocked, properly filtered, and completely cycled tank, there is enough bacteria to convert all of the ammonia & nitrIte (so you should have readings of 0 for those). However, if the tank is not fully cycled, the colonies of bacteria are still growing and there isn't enough to convert all of the ammonia or nitrIte. And since those are toxic to fish, you need to monitor them with the test kits and do water changes to try to get them as close to 0 as you can.

After the tank is cycled, you still need to monitor the ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte just to make sure something hasn't disrupted the bacteria. And since a nitrAte level above 20 can be toxic, then you need to do water changes to keep that below 20. And the more fish you have/the smaller the tank, the more ammonia there will be, the more quickly the nitrAtes will build up, and the more often you will have to do water changes. If you have to do more than 1/week in order to keep your nitrAtes below 20, then you may want to consider a larger tank or getting rid of some fish.

-Chelle

 

Ok...here goes.
My ammonia levels were at "harmful" so I changed 20% of the water. Then it read "stress". Maybe I should have waited a little while longer to test the 2nd time?
My Nitrate reads 0.
Nitrite 3.0
My pH level reads alkaline.

Ok. What can I do to protect my fish and keep them safe? They all appear to have handled the change without difficulty, but I'm not them. I cannot tell.
I'll test again this evening when I get home from class and check again.

Advice? Help?
Thanks to you all for your help!
Julie

 

What was the actual number for the ammonia reading?

It sounds like you're right in the middle of the cycle (you're starting to get the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrIte, but you still don't have any of the bacteria that converts nitrIte to nitrAte).

I would start doing two 20% - 40% water changes per day to help keep those levels down.

If you can find a product called BioSpira that should help tremendously (but beware of the other bacteria-in-a-bottle products because they're not as reliable as BioSpira). Or, if you know someone who has an already established tank you could ask them for some of their filter media or gravel. It will already have all the bacteria on it and should speed things up a bit.

-Chelle

 

Thanks...will do. I'll start first thing in the AM, since I just did a change this afternoon.
Ammonia started as 3.0, after the water change, I went to 0.5.

 

Good morning!
Did a 30% water change just now. I'll do another this afternoon.

I did notice one thing though...my Silver Dollars, have little white spots on them. I need to go to the pet store today and get some medication for Ich. None of the others appear to be affected.

Nitrite 20
Nitrate .5
pH 8.4
ammonia .25-.5