Regular Water Changes
One of the simplest ways to keep both fish and your aquarium healthily is to carry out regular water changes. If you are stocking your aquarium sensibly then water changes don’t have to be a chore that you dread every week, you should only have to change a maximum of 30% of the water. If you are having to carry out 50 or 60% water changes every week, you obviously have too many fish, or maybe you need to look at other factors such as overfeeding.
One of the main reasons why we carry out water changes to remove/reduce nitrate levels. Nitrate is a byproduct of ammonia and nitrite. Whereas it isn’t anywhere near as toxic as ammonia nitrite, it must be kept as low as possible. When nitrate levels get very high, it can be very stressful for fish. Stress can be a major contributor to disease and illness. There are many conflicting reports that will lead you to believe that nitrate is a killer of fish if it rises above 20 ppm. This information isn’t strictly true, all it does is worry people unduly. There are a few books and websites around that will give you maximum figures that nitrate level should not exceed. These are between 40 and 50 ppm. Now, 50 ppm is a little high in my books, however, 40 ppm is by no means dangerous to your fish. However, the lower the nitrate levels in your tank, the better. If your tank is big enough, isn’t overstocked and you feed your fish sensibly then you shouldn’t have any problem in keeping your nitrate levels well under 40 ppm for most of the week. I myself can keep nitrate levels under 40 quite easily. At the end of the two week period when a water change is carried out, my 300 gallon tank sometimes approaches 40 ppm but that doesn’t worry me whatsoever.
Because some fish keepers tapwater contains nitrate, they have no choice but to keep their fish in fairly high nitrate levels exceeding 40 ppm occasionally. In situations like this, extra tank maintenance will keep everything under control. Like me, my tapwater contains no nitrate at all. It is actually a very good idea to test your water for toxins, you can save a lot of frustration if you are getting unsuitable readings and you can’t work out why it is happening. there are products on the market that removed nitrate from your water. The following links will take you to two companies that sell nitrate filter. Before you go out and buy one of these filters, please understand that they are not like any other filter, you can’t just put them on your tank and expect them to do the job, most of them need setting up properly. Some of them can also have an effect on your pH so this is something else that you need to take into account before using one of these filters. Only use these filters if they are absolutely necessary, nine times out of 10, nitrate can be controlled quite easily with regular water changes. http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/catalogue/nitrate-filters.asp#product490
http://www.aquaripure.com/
I would suggest any newcomer tests as water on a regular basis for the first few weeks after the tank has cycled properly, and especially when the fish are growing. If you’re tank has a properly established biological filter, you shouldn’t have to worry about ammonia or nitrite. On the other hand, the nitrate level will slowly rise day by day until water changes necessary. You will get to the stage where you can work out when water changes are necessary.
Because water changes are so important, it is probably best to pick a day each week when you carry out your water change. I suppose it’s a bit like having a regular appointment,at least it’s not going to get forgotten if you know exactly when you’re doing it.
Remember that Oscars are large messy fish, they produce a lot of waste. You must be prepared to carry out extra tank maintenance if necessary. Oscars are not the sort of fish that tolerate very poor water conditions. They are very susceptible to various kinds of disease so keep your water quality in good condition and you shouldn’t have anything to worry about
