Daily WCs

[Nikkitine]

I'm wondering how often/much do you water change daily for growing out juvies? I have 4 (2-3")in a 40 breeder and change about 40% twice a week. Is that too little or should I make bigger water changes. I'd like to keep the water as clean as possible but also not stress them out too much with each change. Just wondering what the average is for everyone. Thanks for the help! ;)

[Skip]

I'm wondering how often/much do you water change daily for growing out juvies?
um. i do about 70-75% on my 2" juvies..


I have 4 (2-3")in a 40 breeder and change about 40% twice a week. Is that too little or should I make bigger water changes. I'd like to keep the water as clean as possible but also not stress them out too much with each change
doing 40% twice a week is not keeping the water as clean as possible.. you need to up the wc to daily...
some people age water *with air stones and heat the water up to tank temp* others like me, go str8 from tap...

do you have barebottom? how many times do you feed/what do you feed..?

[zchauvin]

um. i do about 70-75% on my 2" juvies..


doing 40% twice a week is not keeping the water as clean as possible.. you need to up the wc to daily...
some people age water *with air stones and heat the water up to tank temp* others like me, go str8 from tap...

do you have barebottom? how many times do you feed/what do you feed..?
Straight from tap??

[Skip]

Straight from tap??

yes.. warm to touch.. with 1/4 teaspoon of SAFE :)

[zchauvin]

yes.. warm to touch.. with 1/4 teaspoon of SAFE :)

I see I see I norm do same but worried about the temp a little.

[oscarzx]

I do a daily 30-50% depending on my mood lol, bare bottom.. siphon out poop whenever possible etc..

[PAR23]

I'd like to keep the water as clean as possible but also not stress them out too much with each change. ;)

My fish peck at my hands during daily WCs--80%. No stress at all.

[moon_knight1971]

I change 80 - 90% every day straight from tap, I just add Seachem Safe to the tank before I add the water. The fish get used to it and even start "playing" in the new water. Some of my juvies actually follow the siphon and some have actually gone into it lol...


Joey!

[zchauvin]

so you all put dechlorinator in tank before water?? I normally add to new water in bucket then add. Does it matter?

[Skip]

so you all put dechlorinator in tank before water?? I normally add to new water in bucket then add. Does it matter?

bingo

[Darrell Ward]

I'm wondering how often/much do you water change daily for growing out juvies? I have 4 (2-3")in a 40 breeder and change about 40% twice a week. Is that too little or should I make bigger water changes. I'd like to keep the water as clean as possible but also not stress them out too much with each change. Just wondering what the average is for everyone. Thanks for the help! ;)

Stress? I would be more concerned about stunting them. If it were me, I would up the water changes to 50%, every other day at least. You cannot change too much water with youngsters. You can drain the entire tank until they are lying on the tank floor, refill with water of the same temp, and they will be eating again in 15 mins. Please do not worry about water changes stressing them. Dissolved organics in the water stresses them 100 times more.

[judy]

I don't like to see them them laying on the floor, so I change down just enough that they can still stay upright-- which would be about a 95 per cent change, I guess. Daily. When I have juvies growing out, the Python stays in the tank and the hose snakes across the dining room and kitchen floor and permanently occupies the right hand sink. I can fit the dish drainer over top :^)
and while the tank is draining i use a thinner hose to vac up all the crud on the bottom (happily, its a hex so there's not a lot of bottom to vac). babies make lots of crud. when they get to be about 2.5 or 3 inches, they get sold, and I usually keep one. But I have to stop doing that. My DT is getting too crowded.

[Skip]

i drop it down, so it stay above the heater.. :) so i don't have to unplug it :)

[moon_knight1971]

i drop it down, so it stay above the heater.. :) so i don't have to unplug it :)


Me too! I leave the hob and filter sponges running even if they don't have enough water to function correctly but I stop siphoning water when it is just about the level of my heater. Scared it might crack lol

Joey!

[Nikkitine]

Thanks so much for the great replies, looks like i have way more WCs ahead of me! Yes it is bb, I siphon out all the gunk everyday and just top off the water so i don't really count that as a major water change. I'm glad to know they'd get used to it so I'll up the WCs to 80% a day right when i get home from work and before the ignorant bf comes home. He hates seeing me do water changes saying its a waste of water and that they don't need it so i gotta do it quick to save myself an argument! I feed 3 times a day with a variety of tetra colorbits, als fdbw, hikari fbw, and new spectrum discus formula. Is that diet/amount alright? Thanks!

[moon_knight1971]

Yup! You're doing good on the food but I'd recommend adding either pre-made or self made beefheart to your foods. I feed mine 5 or 6 times a day but always in small amounts that they will finish in 10 - 15 minutes.

Joey!

[zchauvin]

Yup! You're doing good on the food but I'd recommend adding either pre-made or self made beefheart to your foods. I feed mine 5 or 6 times a day but always in small amounts that they will finish in 10 - 15 minutes.

Joey!
So, if I'm using beefheart in morning at 6 am, tetra flakes at 10 and 2(auto feeder), frozen brine shrimp at 5, and fdbw/beefheart at 8 this should be sufficient correct?? Granted the tetra flakes. :/ Along with 50-75% wc at 3 after there feeding when I get home. Ahh and I will be buying earthworms for fishing and cutting into minute hunks as a food source as well. My wc will be done everyday and I will have 6 2.75-3" juvies in 29g bb. Now that you know everything have at it!! Btw I finally get to pick them up tomorrow.

[Nikkitine]

I have a general fear of using auto feeders from a horrible past experience. My autofeeder for my community tank went haywire and dumped EVERYTHING it had in a matter of 2 hours and when I got home, my tank was so cloudy and yellow with leftover food, I couldn't even water change fast enough and lost two of my fish the next day. Any trusted brand of autofeeder that you guys use?

[ericatdallas]

I use Eheim's. You can adjust the cover to control how much it dumps. I suppose if it goes haywire though it could keep turning until all the food dumps out. I think most people will recommend Eheims.

[moon_knight1971]

Think about switching the beefheart to the last meal before your water change. It'll keep the water cleaner that much longer.....

Joey!

[zchauvin]

Problem I have is the only auto feeder I found from eheim was 80$!!! It's the programmable for like 8 feeding a day. I may pick one up at petsmart tomorrow off brand

[zchauvin]

Think about switching the beefheart to the last meal before your water change. It'll keep the water cleaner that much longer.....

Joey!
Yep, thought about that after reading a little more ill do the brine shrimp in morning and beefheart for night. It should work better for them too. More nutrition for the night hours when not fed

[judy]

that is a nice mix of food, but if you can, feed at least six times a day, ideally eight times, in *small* amounts. they have tiny tummies and need to be fed very often. many people feed beefheart mixtures they make up themselves. But your diet should do just fine.

[zchauvin]

that is a nice mix of food, but if you can, feed at least six times a day, ideally eight times, in *small* amounts. they have tiny tummies and need to be fed very often. many people feed beefheart mixtures they make up themselves. But your diet should do just fine.

ok good deal, I was more worried about the flakes though. It's just the regular yellow can with brown sliding thing on lid. I believe its some kind of tetra flakes. I will probably pick up some kind of granuel food also.

[Darrell Ward]

Thanks so much for the great replies, looks like i have way more WCs ahead of me! Yes it is bb, I siphon out all the gunk everyday and just top off the water so i don't really count that as a major water change. I'm glad to know they'd get used to it so I'll up the WCs to 80% a day right when i get home from work and before the ignorant bf comes home. He hates seeing me do water changes saying its a waste of water and that they don't need it so i gotta do it quick to save myself an argument! I feed 3 times a day with a variety of tetra colorbits, als fdbw, hikari fbw, and new spectrum discus formula. Is that diet/amount alright? Thanks!

I think you need a new bf!

[Skip]

I think you need a new bf!
:thumbsup:

[gerrard00]

I started out doing 30% wcs three times a week and then did a few daily changes after a mini-cycle. The difference in the fish was night and day and I've done daily > 50% changes ever since.

[ericatdallas]

Problem I have is the only auto feeder I found from eheim was 80$!!! It's the programmable for like 8 feeding a day. I may pick one up at petsmart tomorrow off brand

I bought mine used for $20/each. I bought a knock-off, it was okay, but didn't fit on my tank rim and it was very light. It did come with double-sided adhesive, but I didn't feel like doing that.


I'm glad to know they'd get used to it so I'll up the WCs to 80% a day right when i get home from work and before the ignorant bf comes home. He hates seeing me do water changes saying its a waste of water and that they don't need it so i gotta do it quick to save myself an argument! I feed 3 times a day with a variety of tetra colorbits, als fdbw, hikari fbw, and new spectrum discus formula. Is that diet/amount alright? Thanks!

My wife thought I was wasting a lot of water but she didn't give me a hard time about it. I also did the calculations for her on the cost... I first gave her an example that her two baths a day probably took more water than my one WC a day. I don't know where you live, but a quick search in Google places the cost of water at $1.50 per 1000G. Let's just for the sake of argument triple that to strengthen our case and make the mind math easier...

A 100% WC per day on a 100G tank comes out to be $0.50 per day or $15 month. Pretty reasonable and a non-issue unless you have a lot of tanks. Also keep in mind, I tripled the cost of 1000G of water based on what I found. The cost will vary by location, but I'm pretty sure you'll find similar costs anywhere in this country.

Using the $1.50 figure and the fact at the time I had ONE 75G tank, it came out to be around $3-4/month for my WC (75*30*1.5/1000).

I think you need a new bf!

+1, there are certainly 'better' things to argue about in a relationship.

[ericatdallas]

Just looked back to see the volume of your tank...

40G * 30 (days/month) * ($1.50/1000G) = $1.80/day or $6/day (using the inflated price per gallon rate).

[seanyuki]

Ehiem got two models.......single & twin feeder....model 3581 and easy to understand lol........also got the twin feeder 3582 and the manual with 61 pages and gave up reading it.....perhaps give it to someone for Christmas present.




Problem I have is the only auto feeder I found from eheim was 80$!!! It's the programmable for like 8 feeding a day. I may pick one up at petsmart tomorrow off brand

[ericatdallas]

Just looked back to see the volume of your tank...

40G * 30 (days/month) * ($1.50/1000G) = $1.80/day or $6/day (using the inflated price per gallon rate).

Err I meant ... = $1.80/month or $6/month (using the inflated price per gallon rate).