Time to cut down on Water changes

[wind08]

There are other chemicals that are needed to be removed other than just the nitrogenous waste. Phosphate buildup, residual chlorine / chloramine build up and other trace heavy metals that might be in the water will build up if you just do water top ups.

I've been able to keep my ex-planted tank & ex-shrimp tank healthy without water changes for 6mths. For the planted tank, I suppose it's the plants doing an awesome job (since it's really heavily planted), and for the shrimp tank, I think it's the floating amazonian frogbits that did the job, my CRS were able to breed in the tank with no casualties even with no WC, just top ups.

I've never tried to reduce my WC in big tanks, especially my monster comm and plecos. They just produce too much waste. 50% WC per week is my way to go.

I have a 5x2x2ft tank which equates about 250L for 50% and a 2.5x1.5x1.5 which I change about 80L. That's a 330L waste of water per week. But I use them to water my plants and wash up my balcony.

 

[Oddball]

I would think in Seattle (I'm in Portland) that Oddball's system would provide more than enough water for you if you had a large enough collection system.

Oddball, did you buffer the water at all? What was your rain water chemistry like?

I'm in the boonies away from all major industry. The rainwater is near pH neutral. The replenishment water entered my 300gal prefilter on the main system. That reservoir has net bags of fossil coral frags and limestone chips to give me the alkalinity I need for my africans. The SA tanks don't require any pH fix and the 5-stage filter removes any undesireables from the rainwater.