I have been keeping freshwater tanks for 5 years now. When I first started keeping fish, I did water changes every other week. I have always had live plants in my tanks. As time went on, the water changes became less frequent. Initially this was because I had finals or some such thing and didn't have time. As time went on however and I tested water without water changes, I stopped doing them all together. If my understanding and research is correct the purpose for water changes is to remove harmful elements such as ammonia, nitrates and nitrites, and to remove excess nutrients. I test my water once or twice a week. My nitrates, nitrites, ammonia and phosphates are always at 0. My PH stays steady at about 6.8. KH, and GH are about 9. Except for adding water that has evaporated, or adding water when I changed from my 120 to my 210, I have not done a water change in years. I have never had a spike in my nitrates, nitrites or ammonia.Is there a benefit of water changes I have missed? Or have I managed to set up my tank where they are not necessary?
On my 120 and now on my 210 I am running a 18w uv sterilizer, 2 Rena xp3 filters with a tray and a half of biological media, a full tray of peat moss, mechanical filtration in both, and phosphate remover sufficient for 300g. After moving to the 210 the tank is not as heavily planted as the 120 was, however there are still quite a few plants in the tank.
Tank is stocked with 2 electric blue rams, 2 angle blue rams, 2 gold rams, 14 cardinal tetras, 4 cacatuoides apistogrammas, 2 fire red agassizi apistogrammas, 6 saes, 2 elegant algae eating gobies, 2 ancistrus and 30 or so guppies. I'm not losing fish at all other than the occasional female guppy.
Will my fish and plants do better than they already are if I start doing weekly or biweekly changes? Or, given that my fish are all healthy, and even breeding (guppies and the apistogrammas) and my plants are growing well, should I just leave well enough alone?
Any ideas are appreciated.
Thanks,
Helgi
On my 120 and now on my 210 I am running a 18w uv sterilizer, 2 Rena xp3 filters with a tray and a half of biological media, a full tray of peat moss, mechanical filtration in both, and phosphate remover sufficient for 300g. After moving to the 210 the tank is not as heavily planted as the 120 was, however there are still quite a few plants in the tank.
Tank is stocked with 2 electric blue rams, 2 angle blue rams, 2 gold rams, 14 cardinal tetras, 4 cacatuoides apistogrammas, 2 fire red agassizi apistogrammas, 6 saes, 2 elegant algae eating gobies, 2 ancistrus and 30 or so guppies. I'm not losing fish at all other than the occasional female guppy.
Will my fish and plants do better than they already are if I start doing weekly or biweekly changes? Or, given that my fish are all healthy, and even breeding (guppies and the apistogrammas) and my plants are growing well, should I just leave well enough alone?
Any ideas are appreciated.
Thanks,
Helgi
