# Too many water changes?



## squiggley (27 Jun 2010)

Is it possible to do too many water changes?

Large and often water charges are advocated during the setup of new tanks but what about established tanks. Whilst the weather has been hot I have been doing 50% water changes, alternating nightly between my two tanks (osaka 155 and Roma 125) and watering the garden with it. Working on the theory that the fresh water would be of better off in my tanks then in the garden.

Tanks stats as sig.

Is this too much?


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## chrisfraser05 (27 Jun 2010)

Unless the temp of the water you are putting in is vastly different to whats in already then theres no such thing as too many waterchanges!

Its the same as oil changes in the car, can never do to many!


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## magpie (27 Jun 2010)

I thought water changes caused fluctuations in CO2 and could therefore lead to algae - depending on whether one was going low tech or high tech?  (cf Tom Barr somewhere, but I'd be hard pressed to find the reference. Or it may have been Clive - clive - was it you?)

m


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## chrisfraser05 (27 Jun 2010)

As long as you are doing the changes in the evening the CO2 level shouldn't be a factor though tbh.


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## ceg4048 (27 Jun 2010)

When the tank is being enriched with CO2 (gas or liquid) then the more water changes, the better. Water changes clean the tank. That's the long and the short of it. It doesn't really matter what time of day you do the change, however, theoretically, the best time to do the change is just before lights on in the morning. Water changes introduce CO2 into the water as well as into the plant tissues, so to best take advantage, it would be better to do it just prior to the start of the photoperiod.

Low light, Non-CO2 enriched planted tanks, if following Barr's Non-CO2 method do not require water changes, only topping up due to evaporation. In these tanks therefore you want to avoid water changes because of the CO2 stability issues which typically trigger algae. Generally speaking, unless there is a high fish load, Non-enriched tanks do not produce that much waste. CO2 enriched tanks produce mountains of organic waste which is toxic and which encourages algae under high lighting, so there is an imperative to keep the tank as free of pollution as possible.

Cheers,


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## magpie (28 Jun 2010)

Not only an encyclopeida, but fast and accurate and to the point - thank you Clive...


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## dw1305 (28 Jun 2010)

Hi all,
I agree that you can't have too many water changes. I'm doing the same whilst the weather is warm, every evening taking out 20% of the tank water, and replacing it with cooler water (from a shaded water butt). This water will be at equilibrium with atmospheric CO2 levels, but if you are worried about excess CO2 in the tap water you could stand it with a pump and air stone or power-head in it until it out gasses to equilibrium with the atmosphere. How long this takes will depend upon the surface area/volume ratio of the container, but I would suspect 20 minutes should do.

cheers Darrel


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## murph (28 Jun 2010)

I asked this question in my journal as I've been doing 50% changes since my journals inception. I was worried that I would get the required growth from plants asbi was diluting the EI dosed ferts but got the same answer from ceg as you did. Water changes: never a bad thing!


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## Tony Swinney (28 Jun 2010)

If you are dosing EI, which suggests 50% water changes once  a week, how would you calculate your dosing if you were doing more regular w/c's  ie, 20% daily.  Surely you would be watering down the ferts all week, rather than building them up until a 50% change ?

Tony


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## murph (28 Jun 2010)

That was what I was worried about Tony. I just divided the weekly dose up and put it in after the water change.


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## ceg4048 (28 Jun 2010)

Well there's no need to worry at all. If you'll do more frequent, less massive water changes, then generally you can simply dose more frequently by the same percentage difference. So if your water change is half of what it would be normally, then just dose half of what you would dose if you were doing the full water change.

Cheers,


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