water changes

[Matuva]

Hi all,

 

I was wondering what is the good rate for water changes.

 

I mean, : is it absolutely necessary to go on a weekly rate, or is it enough, let's say every 2-4 weeks, as long as water parameters are fine, especially N02, No3, TDS, but also GH KH PH?

[ineke]

The water changes depend on a lot of variations, the type of shrimp, the type of filtration , the population number and the size of the tank and how much you feed . I keep a variety of shrimp mostly in 60 litre tanks and in general I do 10-15% water change each week with a top up of straight RO water if there is much evaporation. I have been on holidays for over 8 weeks and had a family member come in once a week and only do RO topups during that period - my tanks went really well with lots of berried shrimp when I came home. I do a monthly water test as my tanks have been setup for some time but the minute I notice any different behaviour in the shrimp the first thing I do is a water test. I always test my TDS weekly. I test monthly for all the others and maybe twice a year for calcium but that generally hasn't ever changed.

Some people only ever do topups but the TDS does creep up if you don't do water changes. The main thing to remember with shrimp especially the higher end types is stability. You should change like for like- I usually try and keep the TDS very close to what I take out unless the TDS went up then I would lower the new water slightly to get it closer to where I want it by adjusting how much minerals I put into the new water, the temp should also be very close to what you take out -in winter I will warm a container of water and slowly add it to the bucket of new water until it reaches the same temp as in the tank -I use a little laser temp guide so it's easy to do. If the new water is not close to what you take out then it's best to drip the new water into the tank the same as you would do when you acclimatise new shrimp.

Other people may do it differently in the end it is up to you - there is no right or wrong way just better ways.  . 

[kizshrimp]

What Ineke said. 

 

I don't adjust the temperature of the new water but always drip it in anyway, so it makes no difference to the system temperature. My new rack will be on constant water change (about 8% per week) via a reservoir and float valve - as Dean outlined in the "boss rack" thread. Brilliant idea but can't comment on its success for me as I haven't stocked the system yet. 

[Matuva]

Thanks for the inputs ;)

 

I have 5 tanks, cycled for only 4-6 months. The one with my 80~100 red cherries is a 140l, one with the 7 sunkist is a 65l, the one with natives (10) is a 50l, and the 2 others with 9 blue pearls and 7 yellow are 120l (in fact a 240l with a separator)

 

All of them are with No2 and No3 = 0, GH is between 4-6°d, KH 3-5°d, Cl2 = 0

 

The TDH : 140l  is 103, the 240l 120, 65l 83, and the 50l is 92. Are these safe values?

 

The red cherries came to 80-100 F1 from 1 male and 4 females. The male died just after fertilising the females. The F1 just come mature enough now, and I saw several of them berried. For the others, I'm still waiting, I received them only 2 weeks ago. Blue and yellow females have saddles, nothing yet for the sunkist.

Everything goes just fine for now.

 

I was wondering that because, when I started the red cherries tank few months ago, I lost 3 shrimps on 10 after a water change. I have reduced the changes to 10% every 2 weeks, keeping an eye on TDS - which doesn't move a lot from the reading I reported-

I have a 240l with 4 discus and several tetra + native shrimps on which I change 20% every 3 months, and everybody is going just fine.

 

On each tank, I run a double filtration:

1 round foam filter with air bubbles

1 3 stages bio box filter

Edited April 5, 2015 by Matuva