newbie water change question

[twisty223]

First off appologies if this has been answered elsewhere, I couldnt see where.

If I perform daily water changes to imitate rain or the “wet season†isn’t that going to reduce the bacteria in the water? Would it be better if I drained say 20% and kept in a bucket overnight to cool down and then pour it back in the next day after removing another 20% keeping that in a different bucket?

I attached a photo of my setup. Its a 2ft tank purely for BN and Cherry Shrimp. At the moment, in that same tank I have 3 slate caves from Breamlegend, CRS, 1 male and 2 female adult albino BN and 4 baby pep BN who are too young to sex.

My plan is to try and breed the albinos and hopefully get a breeding pair of out the 4 peps.

 

[macvsog23]

The “Rain season” is not just cooler water
Rain has no Kh in it so it will have a rather unstable PH.
This is the trigger for the fish. Over time evolution removed any species that failed to spawn during or after a storm, by natural selection the fish that spawned during a storm had fry that had a better chance to survive so they became dominant.

The reasons for spawning during or after a rain storm are many for fish it is mainly that food in the form of vegetable matter and small insects are washed in to the river and after a few days will start to break down providing easily eaten food for small fish.

I.e. soft and manky stuff.

Also of relevance is that a storm will disturb the river bed and create cover for fish when they spawn.
I use neat RO and as cold as possible I also drop my tanks temp buy cutting the heater and I add a few almond leaves at the time of the water change
A 15% to 20 % water change is all I do for spawning.

 

[Irene0100]

I guess i do about 10% a day, but 20-30% if a storm coming too. but I agree with above, its not just about cooler water. it removes nitrates. I dont use neat RO or neat Rain water, I use RO and add a bit of mineral back otherwise they loose minerals. TDS meter is useful cos I can keep an eye on mineral levels and adjust the RO accordingly.

 

[macvsog23]

I use neat RO just for triggering a spawn any other times Ro and HMA mix with minerals for normal water changes 10% every 2 or 3 days

 

[Doodles]

Just to add, tank water hardly contains any of the bacteria found in tanks. The bacteria is fairly 'sticky' and can be found on any surface that the water touches, hence why for example changing substrates completely can result in a mini cycle

 

[scatz]

Just to add, tank water hardly contains any of the bacteria found in tanks.

Exactly right, you can change virtually all of the water on a regular basis and still only lose a tiny fraction of the bacteria, the vast majority is held in the filter or substrate.