No Chemicals, No Medications, No Dechlorinator.

[2Itiwhetu]

I have been working on a system for Twenty years that eliminates the use of all Chemicals in your tank.
The basis of the system is to have a tank that is setup with a neutral natural base, it is heavily planted ( 30-50% of the volume). It is acidic around pH 6.8. If you can get your tank there then it is possible to stop using dechlorinator for your water changes, it is important not to change more than 25% at a time. I only know that this works with town supply that uses Chlorine, I would love to see if it works with Chloramine as well but I haven't tested it.
I stopped using medications years ago when I realized that fish only get sick when they get stressed. The most important thing is to give all your fish a home you would want to live in. An acid tank takes away any chance of Ammonia spikes. Doing everything consistently takes away fear. Change the same volume of water each week in the same way, feed your fish at the same time each day ( I prefer to only feed at night around the same time as I have tea ). Make sure all of your fish have plenty of protection from the other fish ( Caves, plants, Drift wood etc ).
Try not to make this hobby complicated, avoid CO2 and Fertilizers, avoid pH adjusters ( you can adjust pH and hardness naturally).
If you would like to ask questions, please ask. I understand that this goes against the grain, which is fine.
I am in the process of setting up a new 150g tank. Using old time methods and planning it to be a community breeding tank. I am looking at two or three species in it and allowing them to do their thing.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

I did the same, just by using rainwater.

 

[FahakaPapa]

Sounds great! Things like plants and tank mates don't work well with my puffer (Fahaka), as she will literally bite anything in the tank (hands, tools, etc.). So Prime will always be a part of my weekly water changes!

 

[C. Breeze]

How do you keep you tank at 6.8 with that kind of plant density? My water isn’t very soft but nevertheless all my tanks are all over the place depending on what time of day I test the ph. This doesn’t bother me or the fish. I guess what I’m asking is, what is your PH 2 hours after the lights go out and what is your PH 2 hours after they come on?

I do essentially what you described. I have the most complete and diverse ecosystems I can and my fish are all very happy. I haven’t added anything stronger than salt or fish food in a long time.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

duanes kno4te RD.

 

[duanes]

It is vey normal for pH to swing from day to night when a tank is heavily planted with aquatic plant species.
And especially significant if the water has low buffering capacity (low alkalinity).
Usually if tap waters initial pH is as low as high 6s, its buffering capacity is negligible.
While water with a pH around 8 will have plenty of buffering.
During the day plants use CO2 (carbonic acid), and give off O2, so as the day goes along, pH rises as acid is used up.
At night plants use O2 and give off CO2, consequently pH drops, so by early morning pH may be at the lowest.
Although my tanks are heavily planted, pH averages 8.2 so pH barely fluctuates at all.

 

[2Itiwhetu]

How do you keep you tank at 6.8 with that kind of plant density? My water isn’t very soft but nevertheless all my tanks are all over the place depending on what time of day I test the ph. This doesn’t bother me or the fish. I guess what I’m asking is, what is your PH 2 hours after the lights go out and what is your PH 2 hours after they come on?

I do essentially what you described. I have the most complete and diverse ecosystems I can and my fish are all very happy. I haven’t added anything stronger than salt or fish food in a long time.

Honestly, I'm not great for testing things that is why I say around 6.8. Most of my tanks are more acidic than that. Ther is a level of water changing weekly that fits each tank, 25% is a guide. I di know that if you do large water changes weekly you will struggle to have a stable acidic tank off a town supply as the water coming in is almost always Alkaline and the organics in your tank can only handle so much fresh water.

 

[C. Breeze]

I don’t struggle with anything. I don’t worry about trying Maintain a slightly acidic tank- because the plants are always either driving the PH up or down according to their cycle as Duanes explained to you. More acidic is nice when it comes to the difference between ammonium and ammonia- but I’m not worried about a spike either- plenty of plants, etc to prevent that. I compost more Anacharis and hornwort than most pet stores sell in a year. I give away buckets of water lettuce and water hyacinth, frogbit,
WTersprite, guppy grass

and I don’t worry about chlorine. I do 2 30 percent changes a week or daily 10-15% changes. The “chlorine demand” in my systems with massive quantities of plants, sand, mulm, detritus, wood and leaves, far outstrips the “chlorine supply” neutralizing the hypochlorus acid and binding all the hypochlorite ions in contact, when doing those 30 percent or thereabouts water changes using up all the resulting in the absence of free chlorine and thusly no danger to my fish.

 

[2Itiwhetu]

I don’t struggle with anything. I don’t worry about trying Maintain a slightly acidic tank- because the plants are always either driving the PH up or down according to their cycle as Duanes explained to you. More acidic is nice when it comes to the difference between ammonium and ammonia- but I’m not worried about a spike either- plenty of plants, etc to prevent that. I compost more Anacharis and hornwort than most pet stores sell in a year. I give away buckets of water lettuce and water hyacinth, frogbit,
WTersprite, guppy grass

and I don’t worry about chlorine. I do 2 30 percent changes a week or daily 10-15% changes. The “chlorine demand” in my systems with massive quantities of plants, sand, mulm, detritus, wood and leaves, far outstrips the “chlorine supply” neutralizing the hypochlorus acid and binding all the hypochlorite ions in contact, when doing those 30 percent or thereabouts water changes using up all the resulting in the absence of free chlorine and thusly no danger to my fish.

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It is nice to see others doing what I have been for all my fish keeping years. I tried to discuss this on another forum site only to be threatened with being banned and all my threads on the subject locked.

 

[C. Breeze]

It is nice to see others doing what I have been for all my fish keeping years. I tried to discuss this on another forum site only to be threatened with being banned and all my threads on the subject locked.

people don’t know what they don’t know. I Defintely won’t post the whole truth regarding my cavalier attitude about treating water for fear of being “cancelled” hahaha

I was breaking down outdoor vats a couple weeks ago which means getting a bunch of glass tanks up and running inside. I simply filled them with tap water, through in a bunch (what I felt like was about half of what I wanted in there) of hornwort and Anacharis and added the fish minutes later along with the other half the plants. I added the second half of the plants after the initial plant addition becuase a significant portion or maybe all the beneficial hitchhikers ie bacteria etc on the first load died while consuming all the free chlorine. Tanks are all in a building heated to 60 degrees tank temperature all run low to mid 60s except a few with fry I still have up at 68 minimum with heaters.
There is another member here who went through a very elaborate process filled a 10 page thread with equations and postulates and spent 6-8 weeks or more adding ammonia and testing parameters trying to get a bunch of tanks running. Different strokes for differnt folks. I can’t make this complicated and still enjoy it and I know from
Experience that more tampering doesn’t make things better.

I encourage hobbyists to fill a 5 gallon bucket with tap water and then just put there hands in and like washing them in the bucket- then test the chlorine. Do the same thing but squirt a teaspoon of lemon juice into the water, or rinse a head of lettuce off in the water and then test the chlorine. That way no one has to take my word or yours or anyone else’s. It’s easy. When I was a kid we had a swimming pool for years. Keeping the chlorine levels up was a chore. An actual chore that I performed every day. Chlorine is not durable.