The Puffer Forum

How many water changes can I do in a day?

My nitrite and nitrate levels were extremely high yesterday after doing my first water change. So I did another this morning, and it helped but the levels are still unacceptable. I want to know if it would be safe for me to do another tonight and either 1 or 2 more tomorrow depending on my levels. I really want to get the levels under control asap. The tank houses a f8 puffer and 2 black mollies.

As many as you need to do. Be sure to clean the substrate well, underneath all decor.

You can do them constantly, one after the other. I like doing this (I'm a bit weird). You can purge all waste out and give nice clean water. It's a bit pricier and takes more forward planning on a s/w tank though I can tell you lol, you gotta mix loads of water at your desired sg at your disposal

Just be sure to use Prime, every time.

+1 to the above but as your brackish make sure not to raise the salinity more than .02 a week or you will risk destroying the benefical bateria in your tank and have to start your cycling process over again.

Yeah I have been adding prime to all of my water batches. Anyhow. I did another water change today and my nitrites were 0 YAY! My ammonia is 0 and pH is 7.8. My nitrates are around 80. Do I need to worry about the nitrate level being that high?

Yes. Once your tank's cycle is fully established your nitrate levels are your queue to do waterchanges. You want to keep these under 20ppm.