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Hello,
... I am very lazy, I NEVER do water changes except for my biannual trips, or if the tank gets really dirty. Am i special or am i lucky, The only paremetrs wrong with my tank are my hardness is wierd and my Ph is sometimes wierd. I have a Bio-Wheel. My question is Will water changes adjust my Ph and hardness? Thanks.

Chris

im not too sure about hardness, but i know that a lack of water changes will affect your ph. Ive read that over the course of a couple of months, a ph of 7 could easily drop to 5, and i have noticed this first-hand, back when i didnt do water changes often. my tap ph is 7.4, but the ph in my tank was 5.8, which made me believe that ph tests were broken, but it turned out that it the low ph was the result of not doing water changes.

EDIT: I believe that a lack of water changes may also lower hardness, as the kh of my tank before i do a water change is lower than after i do one.

lets face it, alot of your tanks are overstocked, so it is really important to keep up with those water changes. what are the exact numbers and for what types of fish? as some fish like upper ph ranges.

did u look at dry goods? their are alot of chems for ph down, but water changes will of course make the water much better for them.

betta you crack me up... Always right to the point. Okay yeah so my 10g and possible 30g are overcrowded. My 10g is going to turn into a Neon tank soon and my friend stocked te 30g. I just figured the PROPER way to siphon tanks so now i can do it properly... All the numbers of fish are in my profile, those are up to date and my Ph is usually low and i have Ph up...

Chris

Water changes are possibly the single most important maintenance procedure you can do for your fish. Please don't slack off.

Hardness will most likely go up, as when you top off your tank due to evaporation, you're just adding more minerals to the tank.

PH will go down due to the buildup of organic waste, and as stated above, can quickly get out of control.

And to think I thought I was neglecting my Pandas during my recent convalescence because they only got one water change a week instead of two ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

You say that your tank parameters are fine except pH and hardness. Just curious, what is your Nitrate reading? It should be pretty high.

Acctually... It is at zero. I have a bio-Wheel 100 and it does an excellent job keeping the nitrate a zero. Thats a special thing the wheel does.

Chris

I have a hard time believing that your nitrate is at 0. Are you sure you arent confusing nitrate with nitrite? Nitrate doesnt just disappear, you need to dilute it with clean water.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Well its on the 5 in 1 tetra test kit. I am pretty sure it is nitrate. It says its fine and the Bio-wheel is supposed to keep it at that.

Chris

Test strips are unreliable.
Get yourself some liquid tests. Aquarium pharmeceuticals makes a master testkit and its pretty cheap. (not compared to aus though!)
Here is a link. Master Testkit

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Great thanks.

Chris

Or better yet, spend that time cleaning your tank instead.

A biowheel filter does not lower nitrates. In fact many people have noticed nitrates going up faster with a biowheel filter because it's so efficient at changing ammonia to nitrites to nitrates. Unless your tanks are just packed with plants your test strips are no doubt inaccurate. Test strips should never be relied on and they are especially off when testing harder water. They are only useful for checking if ammonia or nitrites exist in the first place and not for accurate numbers. The ph and nitrate are always off when I compare them to any good liquid kit. Also just topping off a tank without any water changes will eventually increase hardness and possibly ph. If your starting with hardwater in the first place you could end up going beyond the range most fish can adjust to.