Enough plants to stop water changes in 29g

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I'd be more worried about a Nitrate spike. I have a reasonably planted lowlight 29g, with a few platies, endlers and cories, filtered with a AC50 and Whisper30, and I have a hard time keeping the nitrates in check after more than a couple weeks.
 
rhstranger;4762024; said:
I'd be more worried about a Nitrate spike. I have a reasonably planted lowlight 29g, with a few platies, endlers and cories, filtered with a AC50 and Whisper30, and I have a hard time keeping the nitrates in check after more than a couple weeks.
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How do you get a nitrate spike? Is that even possible? The nitrates in my tanks rise slowly... they only get to between 5-10 ppm before my weekly water change. None of my tanks see nitrates higher than 10. I don't see how they can "spike" in a short period. Ammonia, well that's another story.
 
was'nt saying it can't be done. only the reason. can't see the reason for a 29 gal. tank unless it's to see if it can be done on his tank. he said he wanted to cut down on maintenence. I spend 30-40 min. twice a week on my 120. once a week would probably be enough, but I'm retired and have nothing but time. I realize that most people have busy lives, but if you can't spend 15 min. a week cleaning your tank then get a cat.
 
geronimo69;4762036; said:
How do you get a nitrate spike? Is that even possible? The nitrates in my tanks rise slowly... they only get to between 5-10 ppm before my weekly water change. None of my tanks see nitrates higher than 10. I don't see how they can "spike" in a short period. Ammonia, well that's another story.
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Sorry. Bad choice of words. "Build up". There. fixed.
 
3dees;4761929; said:
I don't understand this. are you doing this just to see if it can be done? man, it's only a 29 gal. one 5 gal. bucket give you a 20% wc. if you can't find the time for that then maybe you should look for another hobby. nitrates are'nt the only thing that can foul your water. don't mean to sound like a jerk, but I just don't get it.
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It's all about the "can it be done?" aspect of it. I do at least one water change per week, but am getting into plants, and want to mess around a bit. Gotta have something fun to play around with...
 
I have run my 10g for 2 months without doing an h2o change.

Nitrates were below 15ppm.

So it can be done, with proper feeding, filtration, and stocking for sure.
 
3dees;4762130; said:
was'nt saying it can't be done. only the reason. can't see the reason for a 29 gal. tank unless it's to see if it can be done on his tank. he said he wanted to cut down on maintenence. I spend 30-40 min. twice a week on my 120. once a week would probably be enough, but I'm retired and have nothing but time. I realize that most people have busy lives, but if you can't spend 15 min. a week cleaning your tank then get a cat.
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And again on this, I spend plenty of time messing around with my tank... and my nitrates are never above 10-20 ppm. It's not about saving time, it's more about seeing if I have a highly planted tank with minimal stocking, I can offset the nitrates. Currently there are 2 rams in it that are 1-1.5" long, and that's it. The neons or cardinals or something are going to be added, but I was just curious how much of an effect a highly planted tank can have on the parameters.

Another thread I read somewhere had people growing plants out of an overflow on the rear of the tank. Not something I'm even interested in, but cool idea. In that tank, the nitrates were completely offset by the plants, aka according to the OP of it, after about a month he was at 0ppm with no WC.
 
Try it, and just do the testing.

If h2o parameters start getting above a level you feel is okay for the fish, do an h2o change.

Best way to find out with your specific setup is to try it.
 
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