splendidbetta Posted December 31, 2006 Report Share Posted December 31, 2006 Some breeders seem to perform large water changes (80%) in their fry tanks, and apparently without harm to the biological filtration system. Whenever I performed a large water change in my fry tanks, my reward would be an ammonia or nitrite spike. Are water changes supposed to affect the biological filtration? Is there a way to perform a large water change without harming the filter? My guess is that there is no way, and that it would be better to replace a smaller amount (say, 10-20%) daily, (once the fry tank has been gradually filled after the fry are a couple weeks old). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callatya Posted December 31, 2006 Report Share Posted December 31, 2006 If you do large changes every day, the ammonia has veery little time to spike, and what is left of the filtration keeps it all in check. Discus keepers do a similar thing, never been certain how they keep it cycled but the changes happen with such regularity I don't know if it matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted December 31, 2006 Report Share Posted December 31, 2006 the bacteria colonises surfaces rather than the water column, so theoretically while some may live in the water column doing a large change shouldn't damage the colony unless the time taken for the change allows a significant proportion of the surfaces to dry out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callatya Posted January 1, 2007 Report Share Posted January 1, 2007 The lack of substrate would also contribute to a minicycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splendidbetta Posted January 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2007 Thanks :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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