Mike, Been at this over 40 years. Learned something I never heard before from the owner of Kordon. When you use meds, did you know if your water conditioner is sulfur based, you should not use it with meds? It reduces the med's effectiveness. New one for me.
Michael, looking good bro! Love the video, simple and easy to understand! Personally I check my water weekly. Usually I do a water change every other week, and I clean my filters weekly.. Most of the time I do a 50% change only because my water turns green from too much algae/ sunlight. Tap water, Fritz Complete, Fritzyme 7. I’m good. I believe in KISS! Good job Michael!
Looking and sounding better!!! Continue good wishes! You are so right it’s such a subjective too the tank and the keepers habits and 40ppm is a common hit point. A 50% would be a strong start not only temp, but all the trace chemical that come with the change! But again you’re so right in this video and the KISS. technic. By the way I like my Powered By Bacon t-shirt
Agreed with everything except : Not sure if I'm right or not but I use fritz complete and only dose for the water I'm changing instead Of the tanks volume. Directions say to treat based on tanks volume only if treating for ammonia, Nitrite, and/or nitrate. Fun video to watch!
Thank you! I have heavily planted tanks plus floaters. My tank is 7.2-7.4 ph, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 0 nitrate and several people have told me my tanks not cycled. Weird considering month after month I get the same reading
I always top off my tanks, before a water change. This is mainly in my 125 African Chiclid tank. It keeps the minerals more stable. I may go to RO then I will have to add more additives. Good luck on your continuing recovery.
I change the same again that has evaporated each time. I have plants so only do it to try and keep tds a bit lower for my blue bolt shrimp. If I feel particularly lazy I just top up.
Right, it's for each situation! I feed my guppies anywhere from 6-10 small feedings a day, so because I feed so often i do 10-15% water changes every 2 weeks or so and its all good! Big beautiful fat gups, pristine water, parameters all good tons of babies!
KISS - and here I thought you were giving out smooches… Green tea and clam chowder. As you said; whatever works for you. We can only offer a guide for newbs. 90% every 3-4 weeks. My moderately planted tanks 50-60% every 4-5 weeks. I have a 1.75” pvc pipe that drains to the garden. My 180g isn’t drilled, so when I put the 1.75” overflow in the tank and connect it, I have to use my shop vac to start the siphon. Drains my 180 in 7 minutes though!
Because I kept so many tanks of different species of fish, I didn't wait to do water changes based on nitrates. I found it easier to just get into a routine of weekly changes. The percentage of water changed was based on what fish was in the tank. I did however see a change in growth rate when I tried to stretch out the changes. The fish grew slower in water with higher nitrates. ( Higher being subjective. They were higher than when I was doing weekly changes. ) 👍
I do buckets on my 20 long and my 5 gal and 20 tall because they are to small for a pump really and not that hard really to fill up. On my 98 gal and my 55 gal I use a hygger pump I pump water out and into my bathtub or outside on grass if needed. Than I fill up my bath tub and reverse the pump and pump the clean water back in to the tank. So much better than bucket brigade and way less time consuming.
I used to do the ole read the temperature of the water, now just stick my hand in and guess, If the fish don't swim and hide from the incoming water I figure it is good to go!
Great video and information. I’m not expert but probably an avid fish keeper, and I learned something new. Chlorine and chloramine show up as ammonia in a test. Good to know. Thanks! Also, I’ve been wondering about the way people back in the day would leave the buckets of water out overnight or however long it takes to allow all the toxins to evaporate, and I wanted to know if we could still do that even though we now have bottled chemicals to speed up the process? Trying to save money and go more natural if possible but not at the expense of my fishies! Any info is appreciated! 🐠🐟
Chloramine doesn't evaporate. If you don't want to use dechlorinator you can get an RO unit but then you'll need to remineralize your water before using it for fish.
Deep dirted substrate lots of plants and fish no nitrates. Two very small water changes in about 4 months. Five corys and nine CPD's lots of snails and some scuds in a 10 gallon.
I use a python type thingy, I used to use buckets but yeah fuck that shit, i water change maybe once or twice a year and top up every week on about 11 tanks and always use Prime and API Stress Zyme after. How many fish, shrimp and other things have i lost from this method?... 0. How many fish have i lost on a small tank that i forgot to turn the C02 off = 1. People are so anal about everything, just do what works for you.
Hey fish dude, Glad to see your finding your groove again. Entertaining...Bro your one step away from doing stand up !! Good common sense vid....if anyone can't get your explanation tell them you can fix STUPIDITY...but its going to hurt. I also like the brand name slipped in the examples...smoooth....keep the faith bro !!
