Water changes?

[adpierin11]

Ok, so I have had a tank now for over a year, with the same fishies in it, minus one, he died because of the power outage we had, but anyway. Once again I am starting a cichlid tank hopefully within the next two months.
I have bought some books to understand the cichlid fishies better, and in my book it says that a 60% water change everyday is ideal, but most people don't have the time for that so at least 60% a week is good.
Now when I talk to the ppl at my LFS they say about 10% every two weeks, and others from forums have said 20-30% every week is good.
I just recently bought the No Spill aquarium maintenance system, and I will say it's the best thing ever, but with it I can do 60% water changes everyday.
So what do you guys think about water changes? Should I go by the books I have read specifically about cichlids, or with the ppl at my LFS, or the ppl on the forums?

[mgamer20o0]

first a good idea is never listen to the people at the LFS. now they are not all bad but majority of them have no clue.

in a tank that isnt over stocked 10-20% weekly should be fine. i do weekly 50% wc in my tanks. the water changes wont hurt if you want to do them every day go for it. should be fine with weekly water changes though.

[emc7]

It depends on how much food you're putting in the tank and how clean you need the water to be. Right now I'm doing 2 20% water changes daily on my 5 with baby angels because they need clean water and I'm feeding heavily so the tiny fish can find something to eat. Testing nitrate is a good way to tell if you are changing enough water. Adjust your water changes until you keep the nitrate at a low, steady level. Of course this only works for unplanted tanks.

[jones57742]

AD:

If you have only lost one fish in a year of fish keeping you are doing good!

As I am sure you are aware the "rules of keeping community fish" do not port seamlessly to "the rules of keeping cichlids" as they are very aggressive fish.

You have received good advice in this thread with respect to water changes but I may be able to contribute also.

1) Unless you are 100% certain that your tap water parameters do not vary then 60% weekly water changes are not appropriate.
Where I am coming from here is that in San Angelo, TX our potable water is produced from several surface reservoirs but is not blended from these reservoirs and the water parameters of each reservoir vary.
Hence if a raw water source is altered a 60% water change from tap water would produce an instantaneous change in tank water parameters and possibly significant stress to the "fishies".

2) 60% water changes can induce significant reduction in the quantity of digestion bacteria in the biological filtration process.

3) 25% water weekly water changes are "somewhat" typical.

TR

[Danh]

IMO it's really up to you. Keep an eye on the nitrates and moreso keep an eye on your fish. I have gone months (maybe close to two at most) without a water change in some tanks. The fish were fine and I haven't seen any ill effect months later. They were big hearty cichlids. Then when I have time, I do 50% two or three times a week. Good mechanical filtration is a good thing to have to reduce water changes. So, all in all, imo it is up to you. It's good to do more, but often times you can go for longer periods without harming the fish. But then again, some fish need VERY low nitrates, and require constant changes.