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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Large weekly water change V small daily change

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28 Jan 2015 11:36 #1 by alan 64 (alan)
Large weekly water change V small daily change was created by alan 64 (alan)
Ok guy just seeing which method use think is best and y, so one method would be for instance on my 450 litre which when u take into account the decor and that is probably more like 400 ltr I was going to do a 200 litre a week water change which would involve me heating the water being replaced and so on, so I was thinking if I have a few 20 ltr drums on standby every day and I do 40 litres a day which over the space of the week is 280 a week, I wouldn't have to heat the water this way as the 40 litre change a day isn't going to disrupt the parameters of the water realy

So what dyas think

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28 Jan 2015 11:39 #2 by paulcavan (Paul Gileoold)
Replied by paulcavan (Paul Gileoold) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
It's probably gonna differ from person to person but I'd go with the second 40l a day how come your doing so much water changes are you growing fish on?

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28 Jan 2015 11:42 #3 by Eric (Eric Corcoran)
Replied by Eric (Eric Corcoran) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
Why not just do a 100 liter change a week. I think 25% change is plenty

Eric

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28 Jan 2015 11:44 #4 by ger310 (Ger .)
Replied by ger310 (Ger .) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
I for most tanks (breeding tanks excluding) have always done 40-60% water changes weekly but thats only because i have never had the time to do daily changes.....if i did then that would definitely be my choice.

Ger
What do you call a three legged Donkey?

A Wonkey....duh ha :)

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28 Jan 2015 13:00 #5 by trent (trent)
Replied by trent (trent) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
most of my tanks i do around 80% weekly or sometimes twice a week. i think that doing 1 big water change is better than smaller ones ie 1x80% better than 4x20% because dilutes the dirty water better. but that just my opinion

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28 Jan 2015 13:28 #6 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
Replied by jeff (Jeff Scully) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
Large weekly change is much better than small every other day changes

Whats the reason for a 50% change weekly

100lr per wk would be grand even for a overstocked cichlid tank at 400ltrs as you would be right in the middle of 20-30%
Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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28 Jan 2015 13:47 #7 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Replied by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
Id agree,go one large one if having to decide but if your concerned about the heating of water then do two a week and let the water come up to room temperature overnigh.It shouldn't effect the tank temp too much if your running the tank in the low 20s anyhow when you do the water change?In fact many fish spawn after it but again it depends on the fish you have and the existing temp and storage of overnight water.In terms of how much you change,everyone does different % of water changes,main thing is that your doing some at all.If some do 20% then fine,others do over 50%,that's fine too.Everyone has their own regime that works for them.
Gavin

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28 Jan 2015 14:20 #8 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
the tank is for discus so that's y im thinking small and often so the is minimum parameter changes and less stress on the fish

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28 Jan 2015 14:38 #9 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Replied by hammie (Neil Hammerton) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
I prsonally dont have time for small daily changes, so its a weekly or half weekly change for me of at least 25%

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28 Jan 2015 14:38 #10 by paulcavan (Paul Gileoold)
Replied by paulcavan (Paul Gileoold) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
Say for arguments sake your tanks ph is 6.5
but your tap is 7.2 would it be better to do small regular water changes rather than large weekly changes? Water chemistry experts needed here lol. Also the likes of gh kh etc if you have catappa leaves bog wood etc helping to buffer the water would they be more effective if the water wasn't changed above 50% weekly

I'm just rambling now

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28 Jan 2015 14:41 #11 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Replied by hammie (Neil Hammerton) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
If you are using leaves etc to alter your water parameters then surely you would want the water to sit longer in your storage container to let the alterations take place
so therefore it would still be weekly?

i dont think the water ph would fall from 7.2 - 6.5 overnight, but I could easily be mistaken?

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28 Jan 2015 15:01 #12 by paulcavan (Paul Gileoold)
Replied by paulcavan (Paul Gileoold) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
No I mean if your tank is at 6.5 and tap water is at 7.2

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28 Jan 2015 15:09 #13 by hammie (Neil Hammerton)
Replied by hammie (Neil Hammerton) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
If water comes out of your tap at 7.2
you need to adjust it imo before adding it to your tank (containing 6.5ph)

thats what I mean
itll surely take more than 24hrs to stableise the water to the lower ph?

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28 Jan 2015 15:28 #14 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
Good subject to post - thanks Alan.

For myself, I'm not a 'daily' person - even though common sense suggests that's how it really ought to be.
After all our fish - especially if the species originate from rivers - are constantly treated to 'new' water, each and every second of the day.
I have said this before, but if you consider that the very largest tank we could hope to use would be little more than a small pool then even stillwater fish need constant changes of water really from a health aspect. But - fortunately for us - most of our charges continue to live despite this - so the best we can do is try to reach a compromise, whether that be daily, weekly, or other periods of time between our water-changes.

John
Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.

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28 Jan 2015 15:33 #15 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
thanks for all the replies its an interesting one, I think I have the time for the daily so I maybe going with that for now and see how it goes

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28 Jan 2015 17:32 #16 by Gonefishy (Brian oneill)
Replied by Gonefishy (Brian oneill) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change

the tank is for discus so that's y im thinking small and often so the is minimum parameter changes and less stress on the fish

I do about 30% water change weekly for my discus tank (about 400l volume)....this done means that I'm more than fully changing my entire volume on a monthly basis...my discus are happy as could be with this.....its a planted tank too....

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28 Jan 2015 17:49 #17 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
Replied by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
This may raise more questions but here we go anyway.

Do you gravel vac and if so can you do this a small section each day? I have never kept discus but I assume large fish = large poop

Are you only concerned with temperature changes? or are you trying to lower the PH also? If lowering PH with peat or catappa you may need the water to be sitting for more than 24 hours

Are you siphoning into buckets? if so I think daily is the way to go. If you can siphon directly to a drain then 200L is more manageable. I know some people here just run a hose into the tank to refill.

I am about to upgrade my cold tank to 260L and will be doing 100L weekly so I am getting a 100L water butt, the ones in Woodies are pretty neat and I already have a submersible pump which is very handy.

One point in favor of daily is if you miss your planned weekly change it is a lot of work that needs doing another day but missing a day would not be so bad. For example when you plan to spend a couple of hours of a Sunday doing tank maintenance and end up carrying shopping bags instead :crazy:

Here's my tupence hope it is useful
Dec

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28 Jan 2015 17:57 #18 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
I have a water but aswel which I use in my mams house as I have tanks running there, I can gravel vac with or without a bucket so a large water change isn't a problem but I am finding the gravel vac in my new tank a problem as I have this dark quartz sandy kind of substrate which is very light and half of it ends up getting sucked up so I'd like some suggestions on this, I don't realy put any water into my tank that isn't sitting for a few days so the ph fluctuations wouldn't be great

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28 Jan 2015 18:05 #19 by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)
Replied by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
Alan
I keep discus in bare bottom tank (a lot of them in 400L) and i was doing 50% every 2-3 days in my previous apartment.
Now my water at new place has a much higher PH, so now that they are recently used to it I am trying 20% daily. Consider I am very stocked.
At some point i stocked 200L in barrel and heated it until an accident and i flooded the place. No I have an HMA filter (Not RO) and i use warm water from the tap directly through the HMA and into the tank. I try to fill slowly simply to avoid too much bubbles and i found that seemed to bother the fish.
In my discus fry tank I am changing 30% each day after i syphon the waste.
To grow the Discus the more you change the better, as you want to feed them a lot and ideally beefheart which is messy.

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28 Jan 2015 19:31 - 28 Jan 2015 19:32 #20 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
cheers Miami do u pump the water back into ur tank or do it with containers I always wonderd this as I noticed u do a lot of water changes
Last edit: 28 Jan 2015 19:32 by alan 64 (alan). Reason: spelling

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28 Jan 2015 20:46 #21 by Ski (Alan McGee)
Replied by Ski (Alan McGee) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
I'm another one that does large changes weekly - 75%. I use a pump to get the water from my water butts into the tanks

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28 Jan 2015 20:49 #22 by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)
Replied by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
i use a pump with a long hose. I stick it in the tank and the end of the hose in the bath tub. once i'm done i just take it out. water comes back in with a garden hose coming from HMA filter, which is connected to bathroom tap.
You are welcome to call in one day and take a look.

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28 Jan 2015 21:43 #23 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella)
Replied by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
I did 10% daily water changes and the result I got was crystal clear water and black beard algae.
Location: Clogherboy Navan.

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28 Jan 2015 22:15 #24 by alan 64 (alan)
Replied by alan 64 (alan) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
Cheers miami I mist do that I'd like to pick ur brain a bit aswel as I am new to discus, and joe that is strange as I use to do a 10% daily change on my planted tank a couple of years ago also had an issue with black algae but that was a high tec tank this one will be low tec planted so hopefully I don't get many algae problems

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29 Jan 2015 09:56 #25 by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella)
Replied by Joekinsella (joe Kinsella) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
Mine had low light and Not a single plant so I think I was unlucky. I'd be to afraid to go back to daily changes as I hated that tank once the fur came which is why I went plants. :D
Location: Clogherboy Navan.

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31 Jan 2015 23:35 #26 by JustinK (Justin Kelly)
Replied by JustinK (Justin Kelly) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
Your right in smaller/daily changes having smaller impact on parameters.
Try it and test your water before each change to see are you doing enough to maintain your desired parameters.
You can then adjust accordingly.
If you have approx 10ppm then a 50% change you would think would leave you with 5ppm.
Whereas the same logic applied to a 50ppm reading leaves you with 25ppm.
Therefore in order to maintain your parameters you need to test to find how much nitrates your producing daily or weekly and what size water change is required to keep it in check.
Keep a log of your test to see what is your tanks pattern.

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31 Jan 2015 23:48 #27 by ceech (Desmond Gaynor)
Replied by ceech (Desmond Gaynor) on topic Large weekly water change V small daily change
With such a big tank you dont need to change 50% a week. Plus depending on what fish you have sometimes you can drop the tem a bit when doing your water chanes. I had 2 x 720 and 2 400 and 300 and many more and 15 % a week is more than enough if you have good filteration and are not over stocked and have stable water perameters.

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