I usually change anywhere from 9 to 15 gallons of water per week in my 36g bowfront which depends mostly on how much fish tank maintenance time I have. I'm thinking it might be more efficient for me to do small water changes (5g) every other day. What do you all think about this schedule? Could frequent water changes be harmful for my aquarium?

It seems more efficient to do a single water change weekly, instead of 3-4 weekly.

Will the water changes mess up your tank? Probably not. Is there a chance, sure.

I have done both. Either way will work. If your water condition change it would be a lot safer making smaller changes. For me that would be more work then I would want to do. I change once every two weeks about 30%. When I was breeding fish I change over 10% every other day. But that gets to be a real pain as time goes on. What ever you do make sure it doesn't become a burdened.

Just depends on what's in the tank and your feeding regimen.

Seriously crowded bare-bottom tanks that house a large number of juvenile fish almost demand 50% daily.

My fairly heavily planted, low-tech 180G with lots of bigger fish does beautifully at about 20% every 5th day. Simply drain and re-fill.

Hello Den...

Never heard of water changes being bad for your fish or anything else that lives there. Large, frequent water changes are best. I have 7 tanks from 20 to 60 gallons and change half the water weekly. Changing this much water, this often guarantees healthy water conditions all the time for the fish and plants.

Pretty simple. It's all about the water.

B