Water Changes
- Thread starter ryanlee
- Start date
moby
Member
You really don't want to do a water change until the end of the cycle.
This insures a sufficient amount of ammonia is present in the beginning to start the cycle. By changing the water you will prolong the time it takes to complete the entire process.
It is generally accepted to wait until the ammonia and nitrite is no longer present in measureable amounts.
Hope this helps, welcome to the forums and this insanely fun/ interesting hobby.
Moby
This insures a sufficient amount of ammonia is present in the beginning to start the cycle. By changing the water you will prolong the time it takes to complete the entire process.
It is generally accepted to wait until the ammonia and nitrite is no longer present in measureable amounts.
Hope this helps, welcome to the forums and this insanely fun/ interesting hobby.
Moby
N
nereef
Guest
good post Moby
ryanlee
Member
Thanks for the helpful information. I was just curious because I read somewhere on the Drs site (Foster & Smith) about adding live rock to a new tank which said something about doing weekly water changes as soon as the live rock was added and the cycle started. I wasn't sure how that would affect the cycle in any way.
N
nereef
Guest
i would think that would make the ammonia and nitrite levels inadequate in order to form adequate nitrate producing bacteria.
N
nereef
Guest
during a cycle, the important thing is to have an ammonia spike and drop, followed by a nitrite spike and drop, and finally a slow increase in nitrate levels. once a week water changes will than keep you nitrate levels in check after the cycle has finished.
have you started cycling yet?
have you started cycling yet?
bang guy
Moderator
Originally Posted by RyanLee
I have heard of people doing something like 30 to 50% water changes once a week during the cycle. Does this speed up it up or slow it down?
Changing water when Ammonia is high does not significantly speed up nor slow down the cycle. It does allow for a lot more hitchhikers to survive the cycle.
If ammonia gets too high it will begin to kill off the small animals living in the rock. This will make the rock less effective as filtration and reduces the diversity of the animals in your live rock.
If Ammonia gets really high it will start to slow down the cycle as it hinders the growth of the bacteria in the nitrogen cycle.
When I cycle a tank I try to maintain Ammonia under 0.5ppm. If Ammona climbs above this level I do an appropriately sized waterchange, ie. if ammona = 1.0ppm I'd do a 50% waterchange to get it below 0.5ppm.
I have heard of people doing something like 30 to 50% water changes once a week during the cycle. Does this speed up it up or slow it down?
Changing water when Ammonia is high does not significantly speed up nor slow down the cycle. It does allow for a lot more hitchhikers to survive the cycle.
If ammonia gets too high it will begin to kill off the small animals living in the rock. This will make the rock less effective as filtration and reduces the diversity of the animals in your live rock.
If Ammonia gets really high it will start to slow down the cycle as it hinders the growth of the bacteria in the nitrogen cycle.
When I cycle a tank I try to maintain Ammonia under 0.5ppm. If Ammona climbs above this level I do an appropriately sized waterchange, ie. if ammona = 1.0ppm I'd do a 50% waterchange to get it below 0.5ppm.
ryanlee
Member
If ammonia gets too high it will begin to kill off the small animals living in the rock. This will make the rock less effective as filtration and reduces the diversity of the animals in your live rock.
Does that include bacteria? And to answer NEreef's question, no I haven't cycled my tank yet. I'm still waiting for my LR. I'm not wanting to make any errors when I do start cycling though.
Does that include bacteria? And to answer NEreef's question, no I haven't cycled my tank yet. I'm still waiting for my LR. I'm not wanting to make any errors when I do start cycling though.
N
nereef
Guest
its a good decision to wait until you know how you want to do it.
bang guy, that's pretty interesting, as always.
bang guy, that's pretty interesting, as always.
moby
Member
If ammonia gets too high it will begin to kill off the small animals living in the rock. This will make the rock less effective as filtration and reduces the diversity of the animals in your live rock.
Hey Bang Guy, I agree, but IMO this would be the only time I think you would change the water until the cycle was over.
Moby
Hey Bang Guy, I agree, but IMO this would be the only time I think you would change the water until the cycle was over.
Moby
dogstar
Active Member
As Bang said, the high amounts of ammonia or nitrates or other toxins leaking from rocks ect. will cause hitchhickers to start to die off and that will cause "more ammonia" and that will make the cycle take longer....no need to too much bacteria if your not goimg to provide that much livestock to substain it. Lack of bio-load will cause the extra bacteria to die off anyway. The cycle is to grow enough bacteria you need to put in a few fish safely and as you slowly add livestock then the bacteria will keep up. Best to feed a cycleing/cycled tank a small amount of fish food for a while to simulate haveing fish and to balance the amounts of bacteria, while doing water changes and running filters, skimmers and lights as well.
