I agree with ash. My large tank could go a few months without water changes, if i really wanted it to. However my other tank needs a water change at least every two weeks, as the bioload is large and there are no plants in it.

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i see that people have mixed views about water changes,if you go to your local fish shop and you know it well.you will understand what hard work goes into keeping their stock.my friend runs his own shop and every week he does a water change on all his tanks no matter what fish it is.

as for feeding fish people forget that in the wild they dont get to fed as much as our captive fish.most fish keepers will give their fish a days rest from feeding.

also some fish like a high ph,the only way to mantain this is weekly water changes.if you take most cichlids weekly water changes are always best for them.

Or coral gravel/buffers if your talking about Rift Lake cichlids.PH needs to be constant,not from water changes!

lol,i made a mess of that.your right its not the only way.there all kinds of rock and other bits you can use to maintain a hi ph.my local tap water already has a high ph.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Berber King Or coral gravel/buffers if your talking about Rift Lake cichlids.PH needs to be constant,not from water changes!

exactly.. it depends on the fish.

a heavily-planted 50gal shrimp tank could go a few months without waterchanges and the nitrates would still be low enough (even if there would be build up of other nastys), however the same 50gal with an abf, congo tetras and two senegal bichirs would need weekly water chnges.

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Too many people who dont have the foggiest offering all kinds of advice in this section of the forums...

I worked in the aquatics trade in two different shops (one as an assistant and the other as manageress) for 8 years in total.

Hard work and a high rate and percentage of water changes are essential in your local LFS, as almost invariably they are overstocked well beyond what the average hobbyist would desire or be able to cope with.

The average hobbyist fishkeeper can be bothered doing water changes no more than weekly if not fortnightly, which is exactly why people are advised to stock their aquariums sensibly.

The smaller the bioload in relation to the size and power of the filter, the volume of water involved and the level of planting = easier fishkeeping.

If you're keeping rift lake cichlids and honestly think you absolutely have to do your twice weekly water changes (apparently also to keep pH high, lol!) you're either, wildly overstocked, drastically underfiltered, havent even bothered testing your water and/or understanding what it even means... or you're bananas mate.


Anyhoo, back to the point.
Jakk has an 18Gal tank with a fluval 2 internal filter, he added 4 plants and a heater to it on April 29th when his test results seemed to say
But he hadnt actually done anything as such to cycle it, and now we have fish??

Best leave this one till the topic poster comes back and fills in the gaps eh...

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http://www.durrellwildlife.org/
G. colubrinus - Kenyan Sand Boa (Norbert),
P. guttatus - Cornsnake (Stanley!),
P. vitticeps - Crawley x Psycho O.G.G/Blood/Sandfire Bearded Dragon (Rhubarb),
P. paradoxa - Ghost Mantid (Loki),
H. membranacea - Giant Asian Mantid (Thor),
E. tiaratum - Macleay's Spectres,
Asceles sp. - Thai Phasmid,
10Gal aquarium;
Y. sidthimunki - Pygmy Botias,
D. choprai - Glowlight Danios,
N. denticulata - Cherry Shrimps,
30Gal aquarium;
T. nigroviridis - Green Spotted Puffer (Edgar),
30gal aquarium;
C. trilineatus - Trilined Corys,
P. axelrodi - Cardinal Tetras,

lets all be honest every one on here all think that they know best,i can only go by what i do and how my fish look.i take great care and have spent a lot of time and money on my fish and set ups.this is the same as most people on here.as for being bananas well what i do works very well for me.it true i dont know every thing and we are always lerning each day.i would never harm my fish and i would not give advise that would harm peoples fish.

yes i do know what a test kit is i also know how to stock my tanks,my fish are in full colour i dont get white spot or fin rot or white eye.so why should i change things..if it works then i will keep do the same.

sorry about the spelling guys,this forum times me out for some reason.so i have to rush my post.