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Hey everybody. It's been a long time since i've got to post on this board! I'm away from my tank for school and my dad is left to feed my fish. I have a 33 gallon tank with 1 electric cichlid, 1 cobalt blue cichlid, and 2 parrot cichlids. Yes, i know it's already overstocked so you can save that. My question is how often should i be changing the water? I typically make it home every other weekend and am sure to change the water when i do come home, however, sometimes it reaches three weeks, and there is a month coming up where it may hit four. Is this ok? How often do you all do it? My typical water change is 40%

Hi,
It sounds like you are doing what you can for the situation
that you are currently in. Be sure that the folks who are
taking care of the tank while you are gone, keep up with
the top off water, and are trained on feeding maintenance
amounts and don't go off the deep end thinking the "poor
things" are starving.

Things should be ok.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Is it really necessary to change the water in an aquarium that often? I vacuum and do a 33% change once a month in my 30 gal that has 2 gouramis, 1 rainbowfish, 2 cats and a loach. Am I not changing the water often enough? Thank you.

Just like people appreaciate fresh air, fish appreaciate fresh water. No one likes to sit in a closed room for days and days, although for the most part you'll be fine it'll be uncomfortable. It's worse for fish. A clean supply of fresh water will always be appreaciated by the tank occupants, however it'll depend on the tank stock, how planted the tank is, filtration, and any number of other factors.
I generally prefer to do smaller changes more frequently. Water changes as large as 40% IMO place alot of stress on the fish, and would also be a daunting task for the keeper/fish sitter.

^_^ [hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

TS this really depends on several things.

1- the bio load of your tank
2- the filtration on your tank
3- planted/nonplanted

What is this "loach" that you have? There are many types of loaches; clown, kuhlii, weather, yoyo, just to name a few.

TS, if all your water params are okay, then I'd just continue what you're doing as far as maint goes. But if your nitrAtes or ammonia is high, I'd say bump the WCs up to every other week at least.

EDIT: AHHH posted at the same time as Babelfish

And in answer to the original question, I think they should be fine.

Last edited by Ferretfish at 14-Feb-2005 12:07

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Thank you for the information. It is a khuli (sp) loach.