Water Temp and Parameters

[Willie]

...i kept discus for about 18 of those years up til about a year and a half ago; now i'm discusless (not even a word)....

LOL!

A fellow hobbyist, and angelfish guru, was asked at a technical session, "How often should you change water?" His response was "How often do you flush your toilet?" Hence my altum angel tank this morning.

Altum WC1(Kck3cKKl2Uw).jpg

[Vinni Smith]

Thank you guys so much for your input.
I appreciate and respect your opinions.
Good food for thought.

Here is where I am thus far.
Day 3
Feeding twice per day.
Fish are acting great, very friendly and alert.
No one is hiding behind the driftwood.
No aggression at all in the tank.
Colors are vivid and I think the small pigeon bloods are getting more pattern.
PH is still at 6.5 (again wonderful to live in Nashville)
Ammonia still at 0
112 gallon tank. Bare Bottom.
No plants, just Mopani.

I plan to do a 25% change tomorrow.
Slurp up any debris on the bottom, of course.
Monday & Thursday for a while and see how it goes.

Now, please know that I am not cutting back on WC because I don't like to do them.
I am home all day, every day and have plenty of time and quite frankly, WCs are fun.
Doing this cutback only only to see if it it makes a change in my fishes moods and actions.
They just stay freaked out and timid since the daily WCs started.
I honestly think it would not bother them nearly as much if a system was in place that was stationary and it slurped off the bottom.
Then it would simply be turning a valve, the water level drops and water is added.
But honestly, I still do not see the beneficial bacteria being fed well.

I used to raise fancy guppies.
If you think discus are hard.....Fancy guppies are BRUTAL!!!
A lot of well known breeders do not believe in huge, often water changes.
I have had them yell at me on the phone that I am changing too much too often.
This is what makes me want to sort these things out in my mind and my reason for bringing up the topic in the first place.

[Willie]

I hear you, Vinnie. I'm fully retired and look forward to my water changes. It's more relaxing than washing dishes!

[Vinni Smith]

I hear you, Vinnie. I'm fully retired and look forward to my water changes. It's more relaxing than washing dishes!

LOL

A LOT more relaxing than that!

[snxtif]

Thank you guys so much for your input.
Doing this cutback only only to see if it it makes a change in my fishes moods and actions.
They just stay freaked out and timid since the daily WCs started.

When my kid was a baby, he cried every time I bathed him....
Glad I put him through.

[dspeers]

Vinni, you are using a gravel siphon and gravity to remove the water, correct? Wonder why that bothers the fish so much, maybe if you just left the siphon tube in the tank for a couple of days they would get used to it. I would imagine putting a powerhead in the tank would bother them more (noise, vibration).
Also you are not changing water to affect your ammonia or nitrites. They should be 0 prior to any water change, meaning that your bacteria ate all of the available ammonia and nitrites and are healthy. The next question would be "don't those bacteria also need a carbon source?" Per my understanding of biology, I would think yes, but tanks can be successfully cycled with only ammonia and cultures, so that would imply the answer is no. In addition to ammonia, the fish detritus contains carbon sources.

[peewee1]

When my kid was a baby, he cried every time I bathed him....
Glad I put him through.

You would change your baby's diapers often for the same reason you would change the water in your fish tanks, I would surmise?

[Vinni Smith]

Well since the tank damage in the main room, that will put my WC thoughts on hold!
That 56 is now crowded so there will be WCs daily until the new tank shows up

dspers - yes, I am using the gravel siphon. They HATE that thing. One would think I have beat them with it.

peewee - I don't change diapers!!! LOL

[Willie]

You would change your baby's diapers often for the same reason you would change the water in your fish tanks, I would surmise?

How often do you change water? How often do you change diapers?

[fljones3]

Depends on the age of the chiid, errr..., discus.

How often do you change water? How often do you change diapers?

[LizStreithorst]

If your water is aged with air and heated to the right temp there should be no stress at all with a WC. Do you age?

[Vinni Smith]

If your water is aged with air and heated to the right temp there should be no stress at all with a WC. Do you age?

It is not the water that wigs them out. It is the siphon tube.
They act as if I had beat them with it

[LizStreithorst]

I'd just let 'em get over it.

[kev1310]

I think something else to mention when doing large water changes is a change in parameters. If you only change water once a week and then do a large change there will be more of a swing in parameters than if you do them daily.

A lot of people here, myself included have found much better growth with large daily water changes. As Willie said, you still get slime forming on the glass and sponges and need to clean them so there's still plenty of food for the bacteria to live off.

Mine usually get a FDBW treat straight after the water change so they usually get excited at water change time knowing what's coming next lol.

[Vinni Smith]

I am going to try dspeers' idea and leave the siphon in the tank for a few days. At least until I get the main tank back.