Water Changes....Why?

[softturtle]

yeah, if I test my water and everything comes up zero... I go buy a different test kit. To good to be true(atleast in my tanks).

 

[Bderick67]

Test kit is good. The zero nitrates is correct

 

[soggysandwich]

My 135 hasn't had a wc in over 2 months.

same with my 20gallon, but probably longer, the last time i put new water in was from the water that evaporated

 

[ewurm]

If the plants take care of the nitrogenous waste, don't do it. Add a trace element supplement, and you're good to go. Looks like you have a pretty low bioload.

 

[guppy]

You have a freak tank,
I was lucky enough to have one once, I was afraid to touch it.
Recheck your params with a different test kit, if it agrees with yours, personally I would not mess with it.
I would check it a couple times a week and seriously watch for plant die offs (that happens you will get a major nitrate) spike, if a fish dies watch your ammonia as even if you remove immediately, for some reason you can get bacterial die off.
Mine lasted over a year.

 

[fishnutham]

one of my planted tanks had very low nitrate readings could barely read it .
i did a 10% w/c a month this was fine then i started to notice my fish developing lateral line erosion and and what looked like hith.
I immediately went back to regular water changes all the problems cleared up.
Never did find out what the cause was.

 

[Bderick67]

You have a freak tank,
I was lucky enough to have one once, I was afraid to touch it.
Recheck your params with a different test kit, if it agrees with yours, personally I would not mess with it.
I would check it a couple times a week and seriously watch for plant die offs (that happens you will get a major nitrate) spike, if a fish dies watch your ammonia as even if you remove immediately, for some reason you can get bacterial die off.
Mine lasted over a year.

The test kit is good, API brand I test between 6-10 times weekly on 7 different tanks and confirm once a week against a Jungle brand quick dip test strip.

As far as a "nitrate spike" not sure how this would ever happen, since it is a product of ammonia, nitrites and beneficial bacteria. As for the fish death creating ammonia yes, bacterial die off? Well your beneficial feeds of ammonia so I'm not sure what you are implying here.

If the plants take care of the nitrogenous waste, don't do it. Add a trace element supplement, and you're good to go. Looks like you have a pretty low bio load.

Thanks for the info, I'm going to research the trace element supps and the ferts as Wyldfya suggested.

As far as a low bio load I disagree the tank has over 80 fish in it.

2- 5-6" marbel angels
3- 2-3" firemouth cichlids
4 3" yo yo loaches
8 chinese algae eaters
10 cherry barbs
15 misc tetras
and over 40 livebearers that I was givin' a couple weeks ago
mostly mollies but some swords and platies

 

[Mr Pleco]

zero nitrates....get a new kit....every tank should show trace amounts if the cycle is working properly.....zero - zero - zero is not reality....it's a goal, even tap water has nitrates....R/O water add trace elements, life is not meant to be sterile.....

 

[guppy]

Sorry, nitrite spike was meant, the plants can start to die Browning and soft spots and the nitrites will rise (not nitrates unless you ignore it) my misprint, sorry.
As to why I had a BB die off after a relatively small fish died? I have no idea, but it happened. If I had not had healthy media on hand to replace it with I am pretty sure I would have lost the entire tank community.
By the way, whenI say you have a freak tank, this is meant in tne definition of freak meaning very rare, not anything derogatory.
To get a tank so well balanced is a wonderful thing.

 

[Bderick67]

zero nitrates....get a new kit....every tank should show trace amounts if the cycle is working properly.....zero - zero - zero is not reality....it's a goal, even tap water has nitrates....R/O water add trace elements, life is not meant to be sterile.....

per my 2 different test kit readings Nitratets are

My tap water 5 ppm
My R/O water 0 ppm
My 72g planted tank 0 ppm
My 85g discus tank before W/C -10 ppm after W/C +5ppm
My 75g with Silver aro before W/c 20ppm after W/C +10ppm
My 65g RBP tank before W/C 20ppm after W/C +10ppm
My 75g SA cichlid tank before W/C 40 ppm after W/C 20 ppm
My 55g Convct tank Before W/C 40ppm after W/C 20 ppm

What test kit do you suggest?

I do not and no one should use straigh R/O water, the tanks I use R/O on are mixed with varying ratios of tap water.