It's been a week since my last water change, I usually change 10-15% on Wednesday, and this time I thought I'd test the water before hand...
Ammonia: 0, Nitrate: 5ppm, TDS: 46ppm.
Tank in question is the one in my sig; 2000 litres, big sump with 20L of pond matrix, poret foam and pothos. Stocked with a 12 medium sized plecs and a bunch other small-medium sized fish fed 2-3 times daily on NLS food.
I'm going to do a water change anyway as I need to vacuum up some sawdust, but it does make me wonder if I'm gaining anything by changing any more water than is needed to do the vacuum, or am I just jacking up my power bill. I'm perfectly happy only having to perform small water changes, mainly because we rely on rain water to supply our house and only have one 25kL storage tank, and if we have a dry summer it can get pretty low, but also because of the time and electricity involved (especially over winter). It also means I don't have to stress about who looks after the tank when I go away on holiday, I've left it two weeks with no wc and the parameters were still very good. Magic stuff that pothos...
I'm sure someone out there will insist they'd still do 50% weekly on this tank regardless of the test results, but if it were up to you would you even bother doing a wc?
Ammonia: 0, Nitrate: 5ppm, TDS: 46ppm.
Tank in question is the one in my sig; 2000 litres, big sump with 20L of pond matrix, poret foam and pothos. Stocked with a 12 medium sized plecs and a bunch other small-medium sized fish fed 2-3 times daily on NLS food.
I'm going to do a water change anyway as I need to vacuum up some sawdust, but it does make me wonder if I'm gaining anything by changing any more water than is needed to do the vacuum, or am I just jacking up my power bill. I'm perfectly happy only having to perform small water changes, mainly because we rely on rain water to supply our house and only have one 25kL storage tank, and if we have a dry summer it can get pretty low, but also because of the time and electricity involved (especially over winter). It also means I don't have to stress about who looks after the tank when I go away on holiday, I've left it two weeks with no wc and the parameters were still very good. Magic stuff that pothos...
I'm sure someone out there will insist they'd still do 50% weekly on this tank regardless of the test results, but if it were up to you would you even bother doing a wc?