how many water changes?
- Thread starter hard_hooker
- Start date
I don't believe there is a rule.. as long as you aren't siphoning the substrate when changing the water. also you need to make sure the water temp is the same as what you are taking out so it is less stressful on the fish. let some of the vets here advise you though.. this is my opinion. I have done more than one in a day and been fine.
The ammonia is high but trust me it'll just come back regardless of what you do. Stick to 50% and use the Prime. The stress of having a 100% ater change (and being pulled in and out of the tank) coupled with the ammonia is even more lethal.
You're going to have to continue to do these water changes after the ammonia falls as well. Nitrites while not as immediately lethal are still toxic to fish in that they erode the fish's ability to absorb oxygen. You have a bit of a long haul ahead, getting into a routing of doing 50%/day (when I do water changes I like to do them right after feeding time because the fish are happy and I get any left over gunk from the feeding) will be helpful. And it sounds like at least you have others in the house helping you out
You're going to have to continue to do these water changes after the ammonia falls as well. Nitrites while not as immediately lethal are still toxic to fish in that they erode the fish's ability to absorb oxygen. You have a bit of a long haul ahead, getting into a routing of doing 50%/day (when I do water changes I like to do them right after feeding time because the fish are happy and I get any left over gunk from the feeding) will be helpful. And it sounds like at least you have others in the house helping you out 
There really is no problem in doing a 75% or 90% water change. As long as you're doing regular water changes, the parameters in the tank should be similar enough to your tapwater not to cause shock.
The bacteria that you're trying to cultivate in the tank (the cycle bacteria) are mostly on the hard surfaces of the tank and on the filter media, not in the water, so removing water only removes the bad stuff.
Try to keep both ammonia and nitrites below 1.0ppm. If the fish are looking stressed (gasping at the surface, not swimming much, looking pale or washed out), it's probably time to test and do a water change.
The height of those spikes will depend mostly on how many fish you have (and their size) versus the size of the tank. The more heavily stocked the tank, the more water changes you'll need to do.
The bacteria that you're trying to cultivate in the tank (the cycle bacteria) are mostly on the hard surfaces of the tank and on the filter media, not in the water, so removing water only removes the bad stuff.
Try to keep both ammonia and nitrites below 1.0ppm. If the fish are looking stressed (gasping at the surface, not swimming much, looking pale or washed out), it's probably time to test and do a water change.
The height of those spikes will depend mostly on how many fish you have (and their size) versus the size of the tank. The more heavily stocked the tank, the more water changes you'll need to do.
There were times mine spiked so high that one water change just didn't get it down enough. I've done up to 2 a day many times! My fish aren't even nervous around the siphon anymore. I've never done a 100% at a time though. More like a 50 in the a.m. and then another 25-50 in the p.m. if the levels were still high.