Cleaning

just wandering how often every1 does water changes on there axies. im currently changing 20% every 3 days but not sure if this is to much.

That sounds like to much to me. I clean my mudpuppy tank once a week (15-20%).

I do mine once a week.

depends on if your tank is filtered or unfiltered and water parameters. Our unfiltered tanks get changed every 2-3 days, dependant on water test parameters, while our filtered tanks get done weekly - all about 20-30%

both are filtered tanks one is at 19 degrees C the other at 14 degrees C, could to many water changes harm them in anyway.

Do you test your tanks then change them or just do the waterchanges every 3 days no tests? Maybe you should test your tanks every 3 days and if the ammonia or nitrite shows then do your waterchange accordingly; otherwise if filter is good and your ammonia/nitrite is 0 then leave it for the week and just do spot cleaning with a turkey baster.

It would only really harm them if you did major inconsistent % waterchanges in the space of a few days: ie: 30% one day, 50-90% next and subsequent days or all within space of a week. This method can throw out an established/cycled tank and cause it to cycle again, which invariably will stress your axies if you haven't realised it is cycling and drop back to doing weekly waterchanges.

Occasionally we may do 20-30% waterchanges daily if the ammonia and nitrite are above 0, to bring them back to safe levels.



(Message edited by kapo on March 22, 2007)

dont normally test them before i change the water but will do from now on, thanks for your help.