How much water is to much to change.

[warmunger]

Hey,

I'm new to discus but not new to cichlids. I have 9 discus ranging from 12cm up to adult's ,3 rainbows ,around 50 x guppies and a few B/nose in a 2000ltr planted system consisting off a 8x3x3 and a 4x2x2 sump. I have read that water changes are a must for keeping these fish happy. I change approx 1000 ltrs per week and I'm starting to think that's to much. 2 discus see to like the changes but the rest seem to take a couple days to feel at home. I was thinking off dropping the changes to 200 ltrs per week,what do you guys/gals think?

Cheers Sean

[goodoo]

Hey warmunger Im pretty new to discus. thought id say something anyway. That tank sounds huge. I do 50 % change once every 4 to 5 days . My blue discus Mani . Use to be pretty shy and act a bit funny during changes . Now he doesnt mind and trys to bite the vacum. My tanks alot smaller 300 litres but soundes like the same change regime there abouts.

[goodoo]

What i meant to say was keep it up . Sounds good some people would do even more some less. More the better i imagine. At the same time I hope your 1000 litres goes on the garden. More water changes are good . This is apretty bad drought though. Get rid of the cotton farmers i say so we can all do more water changes.

[Mr Wild]

There are many variables. I do a 1/3 every 2nd day, preheated and treated for 24hours before I use it.
Others will do more some less, but I would not just drop from 1000litres to 200litres per week in one hit. Check your parameters ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as you back off the w/c they will help decide the amount of water you need to change out.
Discus like clean water, all fish must have no ammonia or nitrite and discus prefer nitrate to be below 20ppm although I know some people have higher due to their water. The trick is change the system slowly so the microbial bacteria and the fish have time to adjust.
HTH

[ILLUSN]

i use to do 90% daily for my breeders, on your tank i think 30% weekly would be fine.

[Crocky]

do as needed to give the bottom of the tank a quick clean.30% weekly.

[swampy1972]

That's massive volume!! I've seen your posted pics elsewhere and it's a very impressive tank.
With that amount of volume and comparatively low bio load I'd think you could do less than 30% a week without ill effect. You could even consider maintaining the amount but reduce the frequency if your fish aren't coping.
It would depend though, do you notice any changes in water parameters as you approach your normal water change time?

[warmunger]

That's massive volume!! I've seen your posted pics elsewhere and it's a very impressive tank.
With that amount of volume and comparatively low bio load I'd think you could do less than 30% a week without ill effect. You could even consider maintaining the amount but reduce the frequency if your fish aren't coping.
It would depend though, do you notice any changes in water parameters as you approach your normal water change time?

Hey,

Water parameters never change.

PH 6.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5
Temp is 28.5c.
I do water changes out off habit instead off when it's necessary.

Sean

[swampy1972]

Hey,

Water parameters never change.

PH 6.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5
Temp is 28.5c.
I do water changes out off habit instead off when it's necessary.

Sean

Hi Sean,

I'm not suggesting only change H2O in response to changes in water quality.. what you're doing is spot on by setting up a routine that keeps your system stable and your figures prove that. Having a sump bigger than most people's display tank has to help :D
There was a member here that suggested that systems with huge volume compared to bio-load (like yours) can get away with less frequent or lower total volume changes because the contaminants are more diluted.. (I hope that makes sense) and I agree with this.
Most people would have started with a small tank and if you were like me, you would have noticed that it was more work keeping it stable than a large system - Less volume gets contaminated faster for the same bio-load.
It would be an interesting experiment to see how stable this system can stay over time with a minimum of fuss but I do think 50% weekly on this system is massive overkill.
Cheers.