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How much water change

1K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  elusive77 
#1 ·
Hi
My tank is 70/70/50cm full of plants 240 watt giesman light/5bps co2/tds 50/all of seachem ferts/good filteration with best media/
70 fishes like cardinal,angel,ramirezi,siamea and some snails
1.is 5bps co2 good or not?tds is 50
2.how much water change should i do werkly??can i change water every 2 week?
3.i use iron/flourish/nitrosen/trace/exel/npk seachem my question is i use eachone twice every week its better to use all of them in same day or use each one in diffrent days??because someone told me if u use in diffrent days they absorb better
4.is my light enough?
 
#2 ·
I would change 50% water weekly, you have a LOT of fish in a 50 gallon tank. You could do water changes bi-weekly but I would expect to see some algae growth, but it would depend on your water parameters. You need to test and monitor your Nitrate levels, these should be kept around 20ppm.
 
#3 ·
As far as the 5bps would depend on how much hardness you have and the PH of your water, Google search for PH and KH CO2 chart. This chart will give you the optimal amount of CO2 for plant cell production. You should be providing 30-40 on the scale. If you are able to provide more without harming your fish, then slowly increase it depending on your plants and fish and see how they react.
 
#4 ·
1. Bps is not a good measurement of how much co2 you actually have in your tank. The PH/KH/Co2 chart is good, but is not always accurate. Your best bet is to use PH drop to determine your Co2 levels. Aim for a 1 point drop in PH. Measure right before co2 turns on and right before lights turn on. A 1 point drop is equal to 30 ppm Co2.

2. Regular water changes are good for planted tanks. As Maroman said, 50% weekly is the general recommendation. It partially depends on how much you are dosing. With low dosing levels you can get away with longer between water changes. But it's better to do them more regularly.

3. You want to do the Macro ferts (Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potassium) on one day, and the micro ferts (flourish, trace, iron) on a separate day. If you do them the same day the phosphates will react with the iron and other trace elements, rendering them useless to the plants. Also trace and flourish are both a micro fert mix. They do essentially the same thing, in probably slighty different ratios, so it's not necessary to dose both of them.

4. I'm not familiar with the Giesman lights, so I can't give you good advice there. Maybe someone else can help with that.
 
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