Water change

I do all of mine at least once a week, and if there's something special going on (like new fry, etc.) it's more often.
There's nothing like fresh, clean water....

On average, I do my high light 10 gallon once a week. 50% water change. If I an trying to make it look real nice and clear for photos, I might change it every 2 days, 50%.

My lowlight 10 gallon with crypts and anubias/ no CO2 I change every 2-3 weeks. Basically when I see the glass is a little dirty.

I have a 5.5 gallon, low light with ferns, mosses, and crypts mainly and I do it every 1-2 weeks. It is a grow out tank for 5 rosy barbs. I know I should change this more but .......

I also an setitng up a 15 that i had laying around (as we speak actually )and it will get the same treatment as my oter high light tank.

All of my tanks are low to moderate fish loads. High light 10: 7 neon tetras, 5 amano shrimp, 5 ghost shrimp (a couple of each shrimp will go to the 15 gallon) low light 10: 3 neons, 2 bolden barbs, 2 ottos, 1 zebra danio and one spotted cory.

2 tanks I have never done a water change yet. Been over a year.
Other CO2 enriched tanks generally weekly. 2x a week if I want to whip it into shape.

I do larger changes, about 60-75%.

Regards,

Tom Barr

3 tanks (29, 10, 10), all planted and co2 injected; all get changed weekly, 50%. If I have a problem with anything or something special's going on, then twice a week, but that would be rare.

Depends on the tank. High light I do once a week, moderate every 2 weeks, low light every 2 months.

Giancarlo Podio

All my tanks get a 50% change weekly, regardless of what the setup is. I think it is beneficial for fish also.

Depends on tank.
High light about every 10 days, low light whenever I feel like it or have a specific reason, but always months inbetween. My tap water is extremely soft.

In many cases I see your changes depending of light quantity, and this a support for the idea that less light implies little grow and, so, less CO2 and nutrient demands furnished by new water. If you change weekly the CO2 enriched tanks is mainly due to the micro-nutrients, isn't it?

I change half the water once a week and then do a little mini change sometime inbetween. Tank is loaded with guppy and molly fry most of the time so frequent changes are needed.

All my tanks get 50% weekly water changes except the single low light setup. The low light setup used to get changed about once every 3-4 months, but I'm going to lengthen the time to six month intervals...old habits are hard to break. :wink:

I guess it also depends on the balance in a tank, in my case, the moderate-high fish load, automated feeding and plenty of plants seem to do well at maintaining levels constant in the tank. Nitrates are a stable 5ppm all the time, other levels also very constant, I add no liquid fertilizers, just tabs in the substrate every 4-6 months. As far as fish health goes, I've lost far more fish in my high light tanks than low light, so I'm not sure that everything we do to put the plants in turbo mode really does the fish any good in the long run.

Giancarlo Podio