SteveBunlies
New Member
There is a really good discussion on water changes here. I have a more specific question.
I did the Dr. Tim's fishless cycle and it proceeded almost exactly to plan. I say almost because it took a few days longer for the nitrites to come down. No big deal. About a week later I added a couple of clowns, a couple of trochus snails, and a halloween hermit. Everyone was doing well and the water parameters were rock solid. A couple of weeks later I added a small blue hippo tang and a blue leg hermit. Other than the tang being an idiot (getting stuck in the rock work, following the clowns around like he's one of them) everyone seems to be thriving. Water parameters still rock solid. Ammonia - 0, Nitrites - 0, nitrates - 10, pH - 8.1, phosphate - 0.09. I even overfeed a little for the crabs.
The Dr. Tim's guide says to do a 25% water change a couple of days after adding fish. I wonder what the purpose of that is. If anything, I think my tank is a little sterile. I've just started bringing the lights up to encourage a little algae growth for the snails and the tang. It seems to me that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm planning to do a 15% water change in about a week or so before I add more fish. Am I missing something? Is a big water change like that necessary if everything seems to be in balance and everyone is happy?
I did the Dr. Tim's fishless cycle and it proceeded almost exactly to plan. I say almost because it took a few days longer for the nitrites to come down. No big deal. About a week later I added a couple of clowns, a couple of trochus snails, and a halloween hermit. Everyone was doing well and the water parameters were rock solid. A couple of weeks later I added a small blue hippo tang and a blue leg hermit. Other than the tang being an idiot (getting stuck in the rock work, following the clowns around like he's one of them) everyone seems to be thriving. Water parameters still rock solid. Ammonia - 0, Nitrites - 0, nitrates - 10, pH - 8.1, phosphate - 0.09. I even overfeed a little for the crabs.
The Dr. Tim's guide says to do a 25% water change a couple of days after adding fish. I wonder what the purpose of that is. If anything, I think my tank is a little sterile. I've just started bringing the lights up to encourage a little algae growth for the snails and the tang. It seems to me that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm planning to do a 15% water change in about a week or so before I add more fish. Am I missing something? Is a big water change like that necessary if everything seems to be in balance and everyone is happy?
