Are Water Changes Needed Even With Great Water Test Results?

[convict360]

it'd give me peace of mind, doing a weekly water change; regardless of the readings lol. Just means if you accidentally forget a water change cause you have a hectic weekend, that you have the flexibility and don't have to worry about it crashing etc

 

[Jakob]

After years of fishkeeping I have to admit I almost never test my water. I just do weekly w/c.

 

[xraycer]

After years of fishkeeping I have to admit I almost never test my water.

Same here. I test once.......maybe twice a year at best

 

[BriansAquariumCare]

If your car isn't overheating stop changing the oil.

Water changes keep things right. I am skeptical of 0 water changes. Even when it 'works' most likely the tank would have done even better with water changes. The tank may still do well with reduced size or even frequency, but I would never stop no matter how good the numbers are.

It isn't just nitrate that builds up and harms the fish. There are growth inhibiting hormones and dissolved organic compounds that we don't have test kits for. These generally correlate with nitrate unless something is removing nitrate specifically (live plants, certain filter medias, etc.).

 

[Pomatomus]

As mentioned, you should still do water changes to replenish lost minerals (this goes double for planted tanks) and eliminate waste products that you are not testing for (e.g. phosphates). Though your nitrate is low, NO3 isn't a good thing at all. In low amounts it still functions as an endocrine disruptor.

Keep changing water. Maybe you can just do smaller changes or less frequently? Since your tank has only been running for two months I would say that your chemistry will probably get a little worse with more time.

 

[Oddball]

Water changes don't just remove wastes. The change also replenishes dissolved minerals and removes fish hormones (which retard growth in con-specifics).