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Marine Aquariums
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Water and Health
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regarding water changes and feeding
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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
regarding water changes and feeding
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25 Jul 2010 23:58 #1
by r2potat2 (Derek Martin)
Hi Guys,
I do a weekly water change of about 25% on each of my tanks. The two smaller ones pose no problems to me but the 4ft 180l tank is real nightmare and tanks a really long time. As I have no place to store enough water to do the full change in one I am left with 20l buckets with water on the floor for 2 days before the change which pretty much takes up all of my floor space to change the 3 tanks.
Would it be ok to change lets say about 15l to 20l every 2 or 3 days so the water changes dont take one whole evening a week?
Please let me know.
As regards to the feeding I have catfish and I mix there food between frozen bloodworm, frozen brine shrimp, Jbl novo tabs, sinking catfish pellets and once every ten days or so I drop in a few prawns they go mad for them. I dont feed them every day more like everyday and a half.
Is that an ok diet?
Am I over feeding?
Again please let me know.
Thanks lads,
R2
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26 Jul 2010 02:44 #2
by joey (joe watson)
why sit the water out for 2 days?
if you need more buckets i can get 10l, 15l and possibly 20l all with sealing lids but why not just add water straight out the taps i only use my buckets to measure dechlorinator and tonic salt and i change 150l in 1 go in my main tank
if you do 3x10% changes you will be effectively changing 27% of the original water so it'd be fine, even a little change everyday would be good i often end up vacuuming off 5% every day or 2 out of some tanks if there is uneaten food etc lying there
as for your feeding, seems ok but bloodworms and brine shrimp every day might be a tad rich if you feed alot of it per fish. its always a pleasure to see fish going nuts for really good food (prawns in your case) every so often, i like feeding live foods from seahorse every month just to see the bala's going ape-sh** afterwards
a good food for most fish is defrosted, deshelled frozen peas fed every so often, it does wonders for their digestive system (like prunes and all bran for us)
Location: Portlaoise, Midlands
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26 Jul 2010 02:49 #3
by r2potat2 (Derek Martin)
I dont give blood worm and brine shrimp every day probably once a week cause I altenate foods pellets one day blood worm the nex novo tabs the next brine day after then a dya of no food then start the process over again
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stretnik (stretnik)
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26 Jul 2010 08:15 #4
by stretnik (stretnik)
What I do is fill a bucket straight from the mixer Tap, I put in the recommended Water treatment and then I adjust the Tap until the Temp " feels " like the temp of the Water it's going into, the Water going into the Bucket agitates it enough to mix the contents and release any noxious Gases such as Chlorine etc. I only ever take the temperature of the new water if the Tank is small or the species are susceptible to the changes. Your Fingers are wonderful gauges of temperature but if unsure, stick in a Thermometer.
The practice of standing Water for a few days stems back, I think, to older Days when things like stress coat etc didn't exist, the Water Gassed out in this time and warmed to room temperature.
You can also aid this yourself by pouring the Water from the Bucket a few inches above the Tank allowing masses of bubbles to occur which will help to release any residual Gasses but watch the stream and make sure it doesn't disturb the substrate.
I always skip feeding for a day or even two, not with newly introduced Fish though because these usually have been underfed to a degree and wouldn't benefit from this treatment. The fast forces them to scour the Aquarium looking for morsels and this cuts down on food being hidden and rotting.
Kev.
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26 Jul 2010 12:05 - 26 Jul 2010 12:10 #5
by Ma (mm mm)
Hi mmate,
Water changes are indeed a pain. Rather than 20 buckets get a 100L water butt from Homebase and a pump and host, with tap fittings, all for about €60
Fill the butt from the tap with hose and fittings. Treat water in butt, use same hose and pump to fill tanks from the butt, so it can be even outside in the back garden, as long as your water hose is long enough, no more lifting any buckets at all.
Mark
EDIT, also a hungry animal is a healthy one, not starving, just hungry. They should be hunting\scavenging as they would in the wild.
Location D.11
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26 Jul 2010 20:54 #6
by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
Again I dont see the point either of sitting the water for 2 days. Straight from the tap is fine if you add dechlorinator,however I would bring it up to temp and indeed I have a digital thermometer for this practice,as Ive lost 4 gorgeous rams in the space of an hour of a water change which I certainly put down to the temperature difference then,my fingers may not be as sensitive as Kev's,and I have done it like that for ages but when I lost those 4, that was it for me.I bring it up to temp. I do it through adding boiled water into the dish,and when the water is mixed and at the correct temp I add it to the tank.
Never had a problem with it. And yes it does take an evening a week but thats the committiment you buy into when you mind fish! I did one of my tanks tonight and gave 3 fish a furanol bath! (2 finished the treatment and the other just started,cant complain,its the first treatment Ive had to use in months.)
Gavin
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stretnik (stretnik)
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26 Jul 2010 21:09 #7
by stretnik (stretnik)
I has very sensitive wee fingers Gav,
You are right tho, I am usually only doing a 25% change and when the temp feels close to me, that's when I add it, given the volume of water I'm adding to the volume in the Tank the difference is very small and I stress here, Never cold, not even for a Goldfish given these would be at room temp.
Kev.
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Marine Aquariums
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Water and Health
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regarding water changes and feeding
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