# When should I do a water change?



## JamesRees05

I ve had my tank set up for 3 weeks now and am wondering when I should do my first water change? and when should I clean the filter first? I ve got a biorb life portrait 60L and it says in the book I should change the filter every 4-8 weeks but I m trying to cycle the tank so does this apply to me?

regards James


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## rob158

You dont need to water change untill the last day of the cycle,
once the bacteria in the filter are able to process 4 or 5 ppm of ammonia back to zero ammonia and nitrite in about 10 to 12 hours, You are cycled. You can continue this for a few days just to make sure it isn't a one time thing and also you need to continue to add ammonia up until the day before you get your fish, 
it takes about a month or two to cycle so at this point your tank will probably have brown algae everywhere and probably cloudy water also, the nitrate reading will also be off the chart as nitrates can only be removed with water changes, Do a large water change, 75 to 90 percent, turn the heater on to the temprature the fish you have decided on will need, and you are ready to add your fish. You can safely add your full fish load at once as your tank will have enough bacteria built up to handle any waste they can produce.


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## SilverShaded

I have allways cycled tanks naturally with a low number of fish and added fish slowly, I do water changes when nitrate levels get high enough to be a worry.

The larger the tank, the easier it is to do this way.


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## Fishyfins

SilverShaded said:


> I have allways cycled tanks naturally with a low number of fish and added fish slowly, I do water changes when nitrate levels get high enough to be a worry.
> 
> The larger the tank, the easier it is to do this way.


the method descibed above by Rob is what we would call a "natural" cycle. fish-in cycles are generally frowned upon these days, as its unfair on the fish to subject them to the harsh conditions of a new tank.
the problem for you is, that you shouldnt do a water change until after the tank has cycled, as doing so will remove the vital food the filter bacteria need to grow (the whole point of a cycle). however, not doing a water change will have huge negative impacts on the fish as they are exposed to toxic chemicals. Its a catch 22 situation. you can either leave it to cycle naturally and probably harm the fish, or do water changes normally, and severely slw down/stall the cycle process


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## SilverShaded

Fishy fins is correct, but if you cycle naturally and carefully and use some bacterial additives, the harmfull nh4 & no2 spikes barely happen. I just up a tank from scratch and nh4 peaked at 1mg/l and nitrites at 0.5 mg/l. You get similar spikes every time you add more fish. The fish are allready breeding (malawis) but my nitrates are now up to 40mg/l (after 2 months) and its time to do a partial water change soon.


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## FishlessCycle

I assume your nitrogen cycle has completed by now. You do not need to change the filter media. Instead, you should avoid it. Filter media holds most of the bacteria required for nitrogen cycle. If you replace it, you crash the cycle, and it starts all over again.

The only thing needs to be changed is activated carbon if you have it in your filter. However, activated carbon is really not needed unless you try to remove medication from the water.

As for water change, we typically do 30~50% partial water change once a week to keep nitrate in check, as well as to restore water buffer and minerals.


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## SilverShaded

After installing SeaChem Matrix in the filter canister my nitrates declined to a few ppm (down from 50ppm) over several weeks. Now the only reason to change water is high phosphates which may help to cause unsightly blue green bacterial growths.

No stressed fish, fry are now 1 inch and growing and adult fish are on second and third broods. All done naturally within 5 months with the right additives and few water changes.


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## Sweet Tweets

If, after six to eight weeks of cycling, your ammonia and nitrite levels aren't satisfactory (well, zero), you need to trouble shoot your situation.

Did you treat the water you added to the tank to remove chlorine and chloramine? If you didn't the chlorine you added to the tank may have killed the bacteria who were trying to start the filter. Or the ammonia in the chloramine could be more than your new bacteria colony can handle.
Did you do water changes regularly? This will remove excess waste before it kills the fish or the beneficial bacteria you are trying to culture.
Did you do extra water changes whenever you saw signs of ammonia stress? Excess ammonia will also slow the growth of the bacteria colony in the biological filter, making the cycling process take longer.
Did you use ammonia removers to try to get the ammonia levels down, rather than using water changes? Ammonia removers can starve the biological filter and cause the cycling process to start over.
Cycling the tank takes between two and eight weeks depending on several factors including:

Concentration of ammonia in the aquarium water for the beneficial bacteria to digest.
Availability of beneficial bacteria in the local atmosphere to colonize filter initialy.
Frequency and relative amount of water changes while the aquarium is cycling.
Reliability of source of waste to feed the developing biological filter (ammonia and nitrite).
Amount of excess decaying matter in tank (dead fish, extra food, plant leaves, etc.).
Presence of toxins/anti-bacterial agents/sanitation chemicals in the fish tank water.
Use of chemicals to remove ammonia from the water. 
:blush2::blush2::blush2:


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## PetloverJo

I change my filter in my Biorb 60 about every 6 months all it needs doing is rinsing in tank water you have taken out once your tank has cycled properly. Yes Reef One tell you to change the whole filter, they would wouldn't they as it's making them more money!!! You can get another filter but what I did is add the new media to the old media under the sponge so that there is still some whatyoucallems there.  I found buying any extra bag of them rock thing helped.


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