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i have a 29 gallon tall tank, an aquaclear 50 gallon filter,and the only live plant in it is some java moss, the rest are artificial. the lighting is not on very much, only about half an hour a day. it also recives in direct daylight from a window located about 8 feet away.

my water peramiters are stable, ph holding at 7.0.

with a load of 8 tiger barbs,6 corys,a south american bumblebee cat, and a bristlenose pleco, how much water and how often should it be changed?

none of the fish are full grown with the exception of 4 out of the 6 corys. i feed once every two days, and the fish are healthy, eat well, without producing a whole lot of waste, none of the food i give to the barbs makes it to the bottom, and the shrimp pellets and vegtable flakes i feed the corys and cat are promptly eaten, and the pleco takes care of excess algae and recives zuchinni slices once a week to add to the diet(she occasionally muches the vegtable flakes, and sometimes tries to swipe a shrimp pellet), i was told i need add the zuchinni only once a week as she is still only 1.5" long.

hopefully i am doing correct feeding and water changes currently, but over the long haul, will 20% water changes once a week be enough? yes, i know i am prolly overstocked for this tank, and once the barbs,cat,all the corys,and DEFINATLY the pleco reach larger sizes i will have to upgrade, but i hope for a year i will be set as long as i rutinely replace the carbon and ammonia inserts on the filter and keep consistent water changes.

any thoughts?

Yes, i think that a 20% weekly water change will be fine.
Why only 30 min of lightning?.


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Reun,

It sounds like you have yourself a good routine. I presume that you have had no algae problems from the direct sunlight.

Test your nitrates or take a water sample to your lfs and ask them to test your nitrates. If you see the readings increase week over week then you need to increase either the amount of the frequency of your water changes.

Doing a 20% water change twice each week as opposed to once each week will improve your water quality more than 100%.

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ok, thanks! and i only have it on for 30 minutes due to the only plant in the tank being java moss, and i dont want to encourage algae growth. the tank is in the living room, and is positioned in the middle of the living room, and has a window on one side of the room 8ft away, and on the other side in the kitchen it gets in direct lighting from about 15 ft away. there is no direct light, but the room is very bright.

20% will certainly be ample. I was also confused about the lighting time but you have answered that. If it is working for you dont change it, personally I would like to have it on for a lot longer.

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Keith

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wow..thats a short time for the light..but if u can enjoy ur tank with the light coming from outside..then, thats just fine.