piranhaking
New member
How often should i do a water change when my tank is cycling and then once i add fish, and how much water at a time?
waterchange question
- Thread starter piranhaking
- Start date
Petstorejunkie
New member
Do not do a water change during the cycling process, it will only prolong it. once your tank is cycled i reccomend a 20% water change every 10 days to 2 weeks for FO and FOWLER. and for a reef i reccomend 10% every 7 days.
piranhaking
New member
i was just asking for a general rule not just for one certian tank
masterswimmer
New member
Skim wet during cycle. Obviously replace wet skimmate with SW and it'll be like doing a water change and export the bads at the same time.
piranhaking
New member
id like input on this from as many people as i can get even if you agree with what has already been said
Acreagedad
New member
Well, I'd like to know the size of your tank and your system. Are you running a skimmer? How much LR do you have or plan to have. Will it be a fish only, corals? Have no clue here!
I cycled my tank without the skimmer and put about 2 lbs of rock for each gallon. Forget doing a water change during the cycle.
I added a few damsels for the cycle process for my 125g. They all died but one. I'm sure the water had something to do with it, right! After my cycle, ON should go your skimmer. I pledge that those skimmers are the best thing ever created.
I'd do a 50% water change after cycle and still wait another two weeks before you move further. Each week for at least the next month, I'd do a 25% water change. Maybe too extreme, but my tank, my money, my time. After you add fish, you'll hear 50%, 10% and you wont know what to do. The fewer fish you have, you could probably stick to the 10%. However, why would you invest in a tank and put hundreds of dollars worth of fish and maybe corals and not at the very minimum do 20% or so.
After a while, you'll figure out what works best for you and your tank. Your fish will give you signs, so it's a personal relationship and I don't think you will find many answers to be the same.
Keep getting opinions!
I cycled my tank without the skimmer and put about 2 lbs of rock for each gallon. Forget doing a water change during the cycle.
I added a few damsels for the cycle process for my 125g. They all died but one. I'm sure the water had something to do with it, right! After my cycle, ON should go your skimmer. I pledge that those skimmers are the best thing ever created.
I'd do a 50% water change after cycle and still wait another two weeks before you move further. Each week for at least the next month, I'd do a 25% water change. Maybe too extreme, but my tank, my money, my time. After you add fish, you'll hear 50%, 10% and you wont know what to do. The fewer fish you have, you could probably stick to the 10%. However, why would you invest in a tank and put hundreds of dollars worth of fish and maybe corals and not at the very minimum do 20% or so.
After a while, you'll figure out what works best for you and your tank. Your fish will give you signs, so it's a personal relationship and I don't think you will find many answers to be the same.
Keep getting opinions!
warren4066
New member
i don't know what set up you have but to answer your ? I wouldn't do a water change during the cycle just test your parameters once a week to make sure everything is okay and to let you know when your tank has been cycled.
after its been cycled and you add fish in tank, it depends on size of tank and how many fish you put in tank. also what type of filtration you have going on. I just do a 20 percent a week change. I don't even do top off since i do once a week water change after cycling. ok maybe twice a week; get sorta lazy sometimes.
after its been cycled and you add fish in tank, it depends on size of tank and how many fish you put in tank. also what type of filtration you have going on. I just do a 20 percent a week change. I don't even do top off since i do once a week water change after cycling. ok maybe twice a week; get sorta lazy sometimes.
MiddletonMark
Premium Member
I would change water weekly during a cycle, almost more so than later in the tank's life.
Why? I want my rock live rock. I didn't pay that kind of cash per pound to let it stew in Ammonia.
Besides, the bacteria that we're building up during the cycle process is by far attached to surfaces [like the rock, substrate, tank walls] and generally isn't found in water in great quantity ... thus changing the water won't do anything than drop Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate levels, which, for the `live' stuff on your rock, is a good thing.
If the bacteria were in the water in quantity, then you could cycle a tank by adding 50% of it's water from an already stable tank. But as it doesn't work that way [we wouldn't be removing a significant portion of the tank's bacteria, not at all], I prefer to preserve the life on the rock + change water regularly.
Once the big rock die-off is past, you don't need the massive bacterial populations to process all that waste - so IMO, letting the levels spike really high, in the long run, leaves you with the same resident bacterial levels - just higher levels for a few weeks during the cycle.
I dunno, just my take on it ... but I've never heard of problems from too much water changing. [too much life surviving on the rock?]
Why? I want my rock live rock. I didn't pay that kind of cash per pound to let it stew in Ammonia.
Besides, the bacteria that we're building up during the cycle process is by far attached to surfaces [like the rock, substrate, tank walls] and generally isn't found in water in great quantity ... thus changing the water won't do anything than drop Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate levels, which, for the `live' stuff on your rock, is a good thing.
If the bacteria were in the water in quantity, then you could cycle a tank by adding 50% of it's water from an already stable tank. But as it doesn't work that way [we wouldn't be removing a significant portion of the tank's bacteria, not at all], I prefer to preserve the life on the rock + change water regularly.
Once the big rock die-off is past, you don't need the massive bacterial populations to process all that waste - so IMO, letting the levels spike really high, in the long run, leaves you with the same resident bacterial levels - just higher levels for a few weeks during the cycle.
I dunno, just my take on it ... but I've never heard of problems from too much water changing. [too much life surviving on the rock?]
