Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V5 #116 (water changes)

[Saman <wmaster26 at yahoo_com>]

Tony wrote: 
 
> 50 % weekly water changes are far too much,
> especially with a planted tank 
> You are asking for a nice bacterial bloom which will
> take weeks to clear. 10 % weekly/or 25 % monthly is
> more realistic.

This post interested me in part because I am in the
midst of designing an "automated" water change system;
and I was pondering the disadvantages of doing larger
water changes (other than having to readjust traces
and the water bill).  Although 50% weekly seems a bit
extreme to me (I would prefer to do a daily water
change rather than one large water change every week).
 I was thinking of something like 15% daily water
change (7-8 gallons a day out of the 50G).  I don't
quite follow the reasoning behind the bacterial bloom.
 Could you please elaborate on it?  Also, I thought
that the biological filter (aka good bacteria) might
not appreciate this too much because now you are
starving them even more (although I do have a
moderately heavy fish load...which inspired the water
changes to begin with).  Are there other aspects of
this that I am missing???

Thanks,
Saman in Los Angeles

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