water conditioners

[amaruq]

Just wondering what you are using? I also think I'm over cleaning my tanks again. How much of a water change are you doing? I do once a week and a deep vacum? I was trold that is too much and I'm stressing out my fish?

[Surfcity]

I did monthly 30 % water changes for a 15 gallon , I know have a 38 gallon and changing 10% weekly.

[CACAdmin]

Frequency of water changes can depend upon tank size and stocking levels. Also heavily planted tanks use up a lot of nitrates which help too. In general, because my stocking levels can be high at times (before I move some fish), I do mainly weekly waterchanges (about 50-60%) and gravel vac every second waterchange. However, this varies from tank to tank.

In addition to the weekly waterchange, on my fry/juvie grow-out tanks, I do about a 5-10% waterchange once or twice in between (to reduce growth hormone buildup in the tanks). In the 29g (in which I only have 5 fish), I do a 30% waterchange every 3 weeks. The 70g can easily go two weeks (if I don't overfeed:rolleyes: ). I was away for 12 days and fish had just one small feeding per day and when I returned, I tested the water and the nitrates were only at 20.

Keep in mind that large waterchanges can be stressful on your fish if your tap water differs greatly from your tank water. Hope this helps somewhat.

And to answer your first question, I use AquaPlus water conditioner and add Kent's liquid calcium and a small amount of aquarium salt at waterchanges.

[Melody]

Waterchange frequency varies for me from tank to tank, based on load and tank size. I use Amquel+ conditioner often as I got into the habit when I used it to ship fish (now I use Bag Buddies). I also use 'Splash Aqua', a brand I pick up at Puppies, Fish & Critters when I can't get over to Petsmart. It has done a fine job and tackles everything, plus it's concentrated. My criteria is that it tackles chlorine, chloramines and preferrably heavy metals.

[Surfcity]

As for water conditioners I use AquaSafe by Tetra using it for many moons :smile: .

[goldfish]

i use api stress/zyme once a week and do a 20% water change twice a week:spinny:

[hp10BII]

I use Seachem Prime for my larger tanks, API Water Conditioner for the smaller and none for the tank that gets daily 50% water changes. For that tank, I have a trash can where the water is heated and aerated 24 hours, enough to dissipate chlorine so no conditioner required. All other tanks varies as Jay said, depending on stocking density so could be anywhere from 2 x 40% weekly to 50% weekly. Whatever the schedule, the fish gets used to your routine...never heard a fish complain yet.

[CACAdmin]

...never heard a fish complain yet.
:laugh:

[GaryofMontreal]

I do once weekly 25% water changes in all my tanks, except for fry tanks which get 40%. I have an order of priority system - some tanks (Geophagus, West Africans and fry) have to be done every week, even when I'm super busy. Others will occasionally skip a week, but I'd say I get them all 7 weeks on 8.
Here comes my heresy... I dechlorinate for some delicate species, just as I cure water in separate containers for some. But for my big community and cichlid tanks, I pour it from the tap. I don't have to deal with chloramines, and 25% chlorinated water splashed out of a python hose doesn't seem to bother the fish in the least. I'm sitting here writing this with African tetras spawning in the tank beside the computer, 24 hours after an undechlorinated change.
I always dechlorinate in any tank under 15 gallons. I assume because I use air filtration small tanks, it matters there.
I also have a 20 gallon reservoir in my garage (where most of my fish live) that I use for water changes in my small tanks. Since I keep almost all the fish at room temperature, water storage is a breeze. I cheat on substrtaes. My Geophagus tanks don't need vacuuming - the fish turn the sand over weekly. And I really like low light, 'attach the rhizome to a piece of wood' type plants, so I keep thin substrates. My only rooted plants are some Cryptocorynes.