About water changes - what are your thoughts on this?

[Galactik]

Just saw this yesterday and was wondering what are other people's take on this here.

I am on the same boat as to not be chasing parameters in order to favor stability but im not entirely sure about going a month or more without wc. Especially with big fish.

 

[kno4te]

Somewhat agree. The title is misleading as a water change is needed eventually. Should be titled reduce ur water changes. I think the discussion is more on people who are doing water changes for fluctuating PH, GH and KH. A bit after the six minute mark did mention that more stocked tanks need more than once a month water changes. I do believe that steenfolt aquatics has limited stock for breeding purposes and resale. Plant filtration in there too. So less water changes has better savings for them. Each tank is specific and has its own water change needs. Do what works for your fish and you.

 

[neutrino]

A few things are valid, but I TOTALLY disagree with some things they say, to the extent I stopped watching it halfway through-- these people are just wasting my time. I don't have time to write a dissertation on water changes, I'm sure others will chime in, but here are two examples (paraphrased) of why I stopped watching:

Example 1: 'weekly or bi-weekly water changes are the worst thing you can do' This is nonsense, the claim that doing this creates an unbalanced tank or prevents your tank from "seasoning is nonsense and I have decades worth of experience to prove it. There's no special secret in the term "seasoning." It's a vague, somewhat magical sounding term and all it really means is over time your tank should become stable and balanced. There's nothing special, erudite, or exclusively old school about calling it "seasoning." Call it that if it suits you, but I first did fish in the 1960s and I don't call it "seasoning." Do I like to leave a new, lightly stocked tank alone somewhat, not mess with it too much while it stabilizes? Sure, but that doesn't mean reasonable water changes will somehow prevent it from "seasoning."

Example 2: 'if you do weekly water changes you won't get biofilm in your tank' This is absolute nonsense... 'and scavengers won't have anything to eat' Nonsense again.

Can you have a setup that balances tank size, fish stock, feeding, plants, algae and other elements and do minimal water changes, perhaps once a month or less? Absolutely.

I've always said there is no one-size-fits-all formula for water changes. My own tanks are on different schedules, since I don't like to waste time or energy if I don't need to. Do what works for your tank(s), your fish, your water source, etc. It can take some tinkering to work out the best regimen for your own tank(s). But, as much as I'd say don't be shamed into doing someone else's ambitious water change regimen if your tank doesn't need it, don't be duped into thinking you're doing something wrong by doing large, weekly, or bi-weekly, or more frequent water changes.

Same with "chasing parameters." People have differing philosophies on this, there's no single right or wrong here. Most fish are adaptable to a forgiving range of conditions, as long as you avoid extremes. This includes some "blackwater species" but not others-- some of them really won't fare as well without soft, acidic water, but that's another topic.

 

[neutrino]

...As I get more infuriated reflecting on the video-- one of my biggest pet peeves in the hobby is when someone decides their personal approach or preferences in the hobby-- filtration, water changes, or whatever-- constitutes some cosmic truth or secret that everyone else needs to know and follow and everything else is "wrong." It's more than obvious that more than one way works.

 

[esoxlucius]

The title is a little shocking to us, but that's how it needs to be in the world of you tube I suppose. I believe he is referring to, in the main, lightly stocked planted tanks, so yes water changes could be minimal. He does say around the 6.5 min mark that if you have a 10g with 50 fish in it then you probably need to up your water changes. Which is basically saying what we all know, that overstocked tanks certainly need frequent water changes. So he did sort of redeem himself.

neutrino has nailed it in post #4. If the way you run your set ups is working for you then you carry on running them that way. Just because someone else does this, that or the other, and it's different to the way you do it, it doesn't mean in the slightest bit that you are somehow wrong.

If your tanks look well, and your fish are healthy, and you're happy with the way you go about running your tanks, then carry on.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If you are going to YouTube for your fish keeping advice, the odds are you will end up with sick or dead fish. The internet has no filter. Nobody facts check anything posted there. So whoever this guy making the vid is, he caused me to stop watching very quickly.

Water changes do not prevent a system from becoming established unless you are doing a fishless cycle. Most of the microorganisms we want in a tank live in our filter media and/or our substrate not free swimming in the water.

Here is the thing. You can look for info on Youtube or you could look for it in the science. I spend more time finding information I need in the hobby on Google Scholar then on any other search.

In nature there are no regular water changes. Rivers have new water on a continuous basis. Other water bodies tend to have way more volume than any fish tank in a home. Ecosystems that are mostly self sustaining are large. They will not operate in a confined space.

How many water changes are needed in any tank is a function of multiple considerations:
1. Size of tank.
2. Number of fish.
3. Size of the fish.
4. Needs of the fish.
5. Source of the water used in the tank and its parameters.
6. Age of the tank.
7. Additives used in the tank.
8. Ability to have plants in a tank. Some fish wont permit plants.
9. Purpose of the tank--> community, spawning, grow out, quarantine, hospital, fresh, brackish or salt water.
10. Need for and ability to keep stable parameters.
11. Evaporation--> Not everything in water comes out when water evaporates. An example is salt. If all one does is to top off, saodium chloride can accumulate, even if the amount involved is very minimal. This is why salties top off tanks with distilled or RO water which contains no salt. Another example is Nitrate/Nitrite which do not evaporate.

The above are just a few of the more important considerations.

I do not operate a store. But when somebody says they have run a store for 20 years and never done a single water change, I am inclined not to trust that. I have only been at this for a few months over 20 years. Most of the fish I now keep are very expansive B&W Hypancistrus plecos which spawn. The rest are planted communities. For the most part in all that time I have been doing weekly water changes. Vacation time and downtime for health reasons are why I have missed some small number of changes. I never have issues with fish dying or getting sick etc. after a water change. However, I have excellent well water, never use dechlor or other additives save for plants ferts and one tank where I do alter the tap parameters in order to keep wild Altum angels.

There are a few things I do know for sure.
1. There are very few hard and fast rules in keeping fish. One would be they need to be in water another is they need to be fed.
2. Tanks must be maintained, and this involves changing water.
3. Overstocked tanks need more water changes than understocked tanks.
4. I have yet to read any science that indicates fish do better in "dirty" water
5. I have not read any science that suggests living in "clean" water kills fish.
6. There are many things dissolved in tank water for which we cannot detect nor test for on a hobby level. Water changes are normally the way to insure things needed that are used up will be replaced and things not used or needed cannot build up.
7. Nitrate is not good for fish and the higher it gets the worse it becomes. It is not good for many plants either.*

My advice to readers here would be not to watch that vid at all. It will not make you a better fish keeper but it may make you a lazier one.

* Min, F.; Zuo, J.; Zhang, Y.; Lin, Q.; Liu, B.; Sun, J.; Zeng, L.; He, F.; Wu, Z. The Biomass and Physiological Responses of Vallisneria natans (Lour.) Hara to Epiphytic Algae and Different Nitrate-N Concentrations in the Water Column. Water 2017, 9, 863. https://doi.org/10.3390/w9110863

 

[JAYBIRD1011]

What occurs to me, is that a large percentage of average people, especially new or inexperienced fish keepers, will not bother to dig into each approach in depth and understand what is actually being discussed. They're just going to pick the parts of each that suit them, and forget the rest. I.E.; Cool! I only have to do my water changes once or twice a year. Then they will learn the hard way just like the rest of us.

 

[eon aquatics]

is it possible to have a heavily planted aquarium that doesn't need water changes or filtration?

 

[Galactik]

What occurs to me, is that a large percentage of average people, especially new or inexperienced fish keepers, will not bother to dig into each approach in depth and understand what is actually being discussed. They're just going to pick the parts of each that suit them, and forget the rest. I.E.; Cool! I only have to do my water changes once or twice a year. Then they will learn the hard way just like the rest of us.

Man is that on point. Sadly people do that with most things it seems.

 

[twentyleagues]

is it possible to have a heavily planted aquarium that doesn't need water changes or filtration?

I would say yes it's possible, but it's not probable. Like stated above there are many factors like fish load, water parameters, and so on. If you focus on keeping plants and not the fish and supplament the plants accordingly with the things they need and only have a few small fish it's possible. I ask are you trying to keep a fish tank or an aquatic garden? If it's a fish tank I think waterchanges are needed and your focus will be more fish related. Some plants will suffer in a fish tank for various reasons. As would some fish suffer in the perfect aquatic garden. Can you mix the two? Obviously, but your care will focus one way or the other and so will your choices on what can be kept. One of the biggest things I am thinking of is CO2 levels. Plants need co2 and to get that stunning aquatic garden you'll need to add it. Fish don't use co2 to much is not good for fish. But can you use plants to help reduce your maintenance.....the right plants in the right places to a point. Completely remove the need for filtration or waterchanges no.