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View Full Version : Do I really need to change the water? it looks clean



barron
06-29-2003, 10:12 PM
Yes change your water. >:(

See link below as for why.

http://www.zestweb.com/articles/growth/growth.html

Barron ;)

EIHAB83
07-02-2003, 10:20 AM
HI Barron , thanks for the link ;)

O
07-02-2003, 02:34 PM
Take a look at David's experiment here:
http://members.shaw.ca/dclubine/master.htm

O.

barron
07-06-2003, 06:49 AM
Hi O

That was very interesting, Dave seems to be on top of things.

I feel his m,w,f water changes will be fine.

The fish per gal. rule plays the biggest part in water changes scheme. However, if the water is left to long bacteria will bloom, a u.v. here would help, again that issue is still with the carbon matter. lol

Barron ;D

tau
07-06-2003, 10:16 PM
Not only does changing the water make my discus grow, I find that when I change the water, they seem more active.

John_Nicholson
07-07-2003, 07:48 PM
Dave did a great job with that but if you noticed he said that the ones with less water changes had started eating less. I believe that if he would have carried this out far enough yhe would have seen mojor differences in the growth of the fish. When in doubt change water.

-john

Dave C
07-08-2003, 09:53 AM
They did start to eat less, for about 3 days. Then I stopped feeding beefheart and their appetites picked up again. Then there was a period where the daily tank started to eat less. Both groups of fish are together now and are getting 50% w/c on Mon/Wed/Fri. The other 4 days I just siphon the bottom and refill. This won't allow me to compare the growth between the two groups but I will get an idea of the overall growth with this w/c schedule. I plan to hold these fish for another month or two and since they're 3.5" right now I'm hoping that they will get to at least 4.5". In order for there to be a major effect on the growth of these fish they would have to stop growing completely since the average hobbyist gets his fish to 5" tops. (these measurements don't include the tail). Somehow I don't think that will happen, but since it is I who stopped the comparison I have to live with such unfounded predictions, ha ha ha. I will keep you posted on the growth of these fish using this w/c schedule. In my opinion water changes do not improve the growth of my fish. Clean water does. And there are other ways to clean your water then just removing & replacing it. But I do agree with John, when in doubt change water. But I think I must spend less time in doubt then John does, ha ha ha.

henryD
07-08-2003, 09:58 AM
Dave,

You mentioned there are other ways to make the water clean? Can you elaborate?

Dave C
07-08-2003, 10:07 AM
I use Magnum filters with micron inserts on all of my tanks. It's a water polishing filter, purely mechanical, nothing else. I run a HOT Magnum which pushes 250gph or the Magnum 350gph filter. On smaller tanks i.e. 28g the HOT Magnum is great. On larger tanks i.e. 65g the 350 is a good size. I connect PVC 1/2" pipe to the incoming water pipe and stick a 90º elbow on the end so the pipe sits on the tank bottom. This way the filter removes all of the crap as well as polishing the water. I turn off the filter when I'm feeding. My tanks are crystal clear all day long, not just clean after a w/c. I have used these filters when I was doing daily w/c as well because I overstock my tanks and feed a lot. I'm sure there are other methods of maintaining good water quality, this is the best method I've found.

John_Nicholson
07-08-2003, 04:01 PM
LOL.....