Hello All,
Let me first take John's response:
>"Hi Charles,
>
> I change 25 gallons every 2 days.
>
> John*<o)))<*
>
>On 4 April 2013 04:38, Charles Harrison <charles@inkmkr.com> wrote:
>
> > John,
>> How often do you change how much water?
>>
> > Charles H
>>
> > > I don't want to ruffle any feathers [or perhaps scales??] here but I
>> >think the original poster, Deb may be getting confused by the experts
> > >apparently contradictory comments & sugegstions.
and say, that message speaks volumes in several ways (pun intended)
25 gallons every 2 days or 25% every two days is very close to a very
slow moving stream. One might find Killifish in it if it were in west
Africa. 25% water changes /2 days doesn't constitute a complete
renewal but it does maintain Nitrates at very low levels even in a
heavily stocked tank. The amount of Ammonia in that kind of well
attended system would be maintained very low as well. That is the
way I would best do most of my tanks as well. I just do 80% changes
once a week. I maintain mostly 10's and fives. There are 4 to 6 20's
in my fish room depending on the otherwise work load. 25%/2 days or
80%/week keeps the fish healthy, plants growing and producing lots of
eggs.
There is over 50 years of fish keeping experience in my memory. And
the longer I keep small tanks and speak with wholesale breeders with
hundreds of gallons, the more I am coming to the belief that a filter
does little more than move water over the surface of a tank and
circulate the bottom to the top.
I have stuck with sponge filters in most all of my tanks because the
other kinds suck the Newly Hatched Brine Shrimp and small fry out of
the water and kills them. Even a sponge filter will do that to some
extent if everything is small. Once a month or so I remove a sponge
and clean it out. The center of the filtration area of the sponges
are normally so thick with dirt, etc. that there is no way they have
been doing anything other than just moving the water around. And in
that tank there are a hundred 2 month old fry waiting for larger
quarters.
In my experience, critically washing & cleaning that filter pad the
get it back to factory condition or replacing it with new would
create a very small minimal incident in the ionic content of that
tank and it would return to its previous condition with in a short
time and have no affect on the life within the tank. All of this
assuming the tank was established and functioning.
I am concerned with keeping several dozen week old tetra fry alive
and healthy or keeping that slate of Cichlid eggs from fungus and
getting to free swimming stage. I move a pair of Killifish out of
their tank, change the water in that tank and start feeding
microworms and BBS. In another week when I take out 85% of the water
- I have to let the syphoned water pass through a shrimp net to catch
& return fry back to the tank.
>I want to thank you right up front, for your informative response. Yes, I
>totally agree, the instructions from most LFS (Local Fish Stores/Shops) to
>keep replacing filter pads with new, is just a ploy to sell more consumables.
Thank you
>
>As for finding the slime coat of bacteria on the inside walls of the tank,
>that becomes obvious to anyone doing regular tank maintenance, although this
>shouldn't often be disturbed if there's no reason to do so, i.e., if
>there's no algae growing on the glass. While this coating is on all surfaces,
>there's still no way of knowing how much actual beneficial nitrifying bacteria
>this slime coat consists of and how much other bacteria are present there,
>especially when considering that a cycle can't be continued just by depending
>on this slime coat on these surfaces. We still need a filter to establish
>much greater populations of nitrobacters on the media, and we depend on the
>media's more numerous bacteria cultures (despite the media's comparatively
>much smaller size) to establish a nitrogen cycle -- do we not?
>
>I realize that changing as much water as possible is always a benefit for
>the fish, and that it's the only practical method to remove the nitrate --
>other than just relying on plants -- but we shouldn't rely on frequent partial
>water changes to replace the filter's media in removing ammonia and nitrite
>(as it appears you may be saying), should we? If we fall back on just
>changing water to remove these organic wastes, we really don't need a filter
>then, from what I'm understanding you to say -- or if we do need s filter
>(besides just falling back on the bacterial slime), then this shows that the
>nitrobacters in the media are very important and that they need to
>be preserved
>-- don't they?
>
>Otherwise, why even have filters in the tanks -- except to clarify the
>water by mechanically removing suspended particals -- if we are to
>rely on water
>changes (and the bacterial slime coating) only? Yes, I certainly believe
>in changing water to get rid of contaminants, just as you illustrate in
>flushing the toilet, etc., but this alone can't replace a cycle -- or can it?
>Should we just do without the filter completely? After all, with enough water
>changes, the clarity of the water should improve in most cases too and
>mechanical fuiltration should no longer be needed either. We also
>need to keep
>in mind that to maintain a cycle, we need to allow for a certain amount of
>ammonia to briefly remain in the water as food fr the nitrobacters if they're
>to survive. Changing water excessively in the aquarium will not allow for a
>cycle to continue, since this is an enclosed environment.
This is exactly what I get out of John's reply to my question
about how much & how often. Nature doesn't scrub the rocks, plants
and wood and other debris, she changes the water.
It has been working for me and a lot of other fish keepers/breeders
for many years.
> The ideal
>situation would be as in a stream, where contaminents are constantly
>washed away,
>but an aquarium does not allow for this luxury -- or if you maintain it
>similarly, as with constant "flushing," it will never develop a
>cycle, which is
>fine too but only provided this regimen is maintained.
>
>You'll please note that I'm offering these statements in the form of
>questions, as I don't mean to appear confrontational, yet this is the way I've
>come to learn things in my biological schooling as the normal processes of the
>enclosed aquatic environment. Many thanks again for anything you can add to
>my comments and/or questions.
>
>Ray</HTML>
>
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