So we know the purpose of water changes are to reduce nitrate levels in a tank or pond...but I always thought it was to also dilute the organic matters in the water(oil from food, fish urine, etc.) My tap water has 40ppm of nitrates to begin with, so am I wasting water & money if I perform a...
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
Never fails,
RD.
I come on here to browse around, take a peek through the New Posts section, kill some time, maybe post here or there if I feel like it.
And then, I happen to find a thread with an interesting title like this one. I open it...read through it...post a bit...and prepare to leave to get on with other things...
...and then you post a link to another thread pertaining to the same topic...and that thread contains yet more links to yet more threads and papers and studies and...and...and...
...and the next thing I know, 2 hours have passed, the dog is whining for his supper, my wife is announcing that our dinner is ready, it's pitch dark outside, I need to build a fire, and there's a stinky bowl of thawed krill on the counter that has been at room temperature now for most of those two hours...
This is the conclusion that, hopefully, we all arrive at.
The thing that gets me is that "father fish" is an extremely experienced hobbyist who, let's face it, people are going to listen too. Now that's not so bad if you are experienced yourself, you can take what he says with a pinch of salt. But newcomers to the hobby are going to start believing his preachings to be gospel.
And the same with the guy on "aquarium science". By and large I've found it to be a decent site, it covers all sorts of stuff. He comes across as pretty clued up, almost science boffin like, especially when they start quoting studies and such which, understandably, is going to throw mere mortals. I mean science studies are like gospel, right, they must be correct? Hmmm.
I think I'm done with the whole nitrate thing now. Whether it's harmless, mildly toxic or completely radioactive, I don't care. I'm just going to carry on with my water changes and do what's right for me, and my fish.
I think that's all we can do.
The Fishy Father isn't the first of his ilk... certainly won't be the last. At least he isn't selling kitty litter.
I have been more or less done with the whole nitrate thing for a long time. I consider them what they are, i.e. an easily measured indicator of how much my fish are pooping and pissing and farting and generally polluting their water. And once nitrate readings give me an indication of just how fast all those bodily excretions are collecting, I pretty much ignore them. The only testing I have done is on my stock tanks when I first set them up outside in the spring...and that's mostly for pH and hardness. I doubt I will do even that this year, as the results were pretty consistent the past couple of springs.
Here's the thing: I don't care if somebody actually points me to a study that proves conclusively that I don't need to change water. I think I have a decent handle on the accepted theory of biofiltration, and I'm happy with my generally good success.
I give my fish food and I see it go in the front end of each one. I also see the solid waste coming out the back end of each one, and I know that there's a whole bunch of other invisible stuff coming out at both ends. I
want to change that water...I don't understand how anyone could
not want to...and I don't really give a rat's a** how many scientists tell me I don't
need to. I don't
need to keep aquariums at all; I do it because it makes me happy.
If water becomes too expensive or otherwise prohibitive to replace, I will stop keeping fish.
...I have never bothered with the vast majority of social media platforms. No facebook, no instagram, no twitter, no tik tok, etc.
I'm a simple man, MFK gives me all the drama that I need in my life. lol...
Hear! Hear! Lol...
