How often to change water

**Jeremy** · 02-13-2013, 12:56 AM

Hi Guys

I have four fantail goldfish in a 40Gal tank and was just wondering how much water I should be removing each week during my water changes. I know they should be in a bigger tank but when I bought this house the home owner here left 12 in a 12 gal tank. I didnt know alot about fish but I knew that was way to small. We were never able to get a hold of him to come and get the fish because we didn't know how to care for them.

Long story short, we were able to get the bigger 40gal for the time being and I started to try to care for them. 8 of them passed away over the years but we have had these four going strong. I just want to make sure I am changing enough water.

Also can real plants be planted in a goldfish tank? Like I was saying guys I am just trying to learn as I go along as I was kind of thrown into the hobby. I forgot to mention no local stores would take the fish and no luck on the ad listing sites. So Im basically adopting the little fellas ( actually there getting bigger )

**madagascariensis** · 02-13-2013, 02:30 AM

what size are the goldfish currently? just generally, for 4 goldfish in a tank of that size, I would be replacing 50% of the water twice a week. make sure your filter is
a big one too because goldfish are heavy bodied and produce a lot of waste. goldfish are omnivorous and will eat plants, so if you want to put plants in a goldfish tank, you can take two routes:

a) plants that grow fast enough to compensate for munching. these include hornwort, anacharis, cabomba, other fast growing stem plants

b) plants that are tough and taste bad. these include java fern, anubias, african water fern, ...

**MandyK** · 02-13-2013, 02:45 AM

The key to your W/C schedule is your API Test kit! Test the water every other day to watch your nitrate levels. When they start to rise, you know you need to change the water and how much.

**koaladarshana** · 02-13-2013, 04:49 AM

Great advice from MandyK above.

Just test your params often and remember to shoot for keeping your nitrates under 20 ppms; the rest is gravy if you stay on top of your water changes.

**Jeremy** · 02-13-2013, 07:10 PM

Thanks guys

At the moment I have the API Nitrite and Nitrate test strips. Is there a better option? also its showing my nitrates a bit high? is there something I can do to bring that down? I just did a partial water change yesterday.

**jeffs99dime** · 02-13-2013, 07:16 PM

Yes. Get the Freshwater Master test kit from API. The strips are highly inaccurate. I would advise you to test your source water/ tap water as well so that you have a baseline of your levels( ammonia, nitrite and nitrates as well as ph.) before adding water to the tank. What are you considering high nitrates exactly?

**Jeremy** · 02-13-2013, 07:29 PM

I checked my tap water using one of the test strips and it doesn't register anything for nitrates. Its not even pink at all. But using the strips in my tanks im getting closer to 160. that's according to the chart on the bottle

**MandyK** · 02-13-2013, 08:06 PM

Testing with those strips is useless. Any info from them is not credible. I've gone that route myself, and I know from experience just as many others here do that they are trash. Get the API Master Kit as suggested, and you'll be waaay better off. You will save money in the long run, and will know exactly where you are at all times. :)