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Just did my first WC after almost a year. AMA

10K views 79 replies 21 participants last post by  pandazebra 
#1 ·
AMA = Ask Me Anything (for the non-redditors.

General Specs:
* 75g
* Medium-High planted
* Community Tank w/ Male Betta
* Low-Medium light
* Low Tech w/ Metricide

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#3 ·
Fair question.

My betta has been reclusive lately. He used to be fairly active and always front and center, but now he hides behind decor and didn't even come out to eat.
He seems healthy otherwise, but something must be wrong so I thought I'd do a modest WC. Only about 10g total. 4 of which were distilled water.

I also took the opportunity to rearrange and clean out my HOB filter.

The lights are off until later this evening, but it seems he's more active now.

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#10 ·
My theory was that I could have a healthy tank with minimal WC. I feel like I've largely succeeded but may have found the limit.

Was it worth it? I suppose so. Nothing died because of it, and my tank seems to be free of disease. The time and effort I saved made it worth it to me.

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#13 ·
Only one hundred after 1 year?

35 fish in a 75g. No water changes.

Something is fishy

Just because things are alive does not mean they are living.

I would hope you are monitoring the situation and not neglecting due to laziness.

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#14 ·
Only? Not sure if that's sarcasm or not. Haven't seen any fry since I added the tetras. Before that, they were rampant.

I have:
14 Harlequin Rasbora
14 (I think) Rummynose Tetra
2 Khuli Loaches (2 died at one point or another)
1 Male Betta
1 Bristlenose Pleco

My water doesn't smell and it's totally clear. I test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate periodically and TDS about twice a week.

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#25 ·
I'm curious if you added any new fish in the last few months. I ask because I suspect that your fish slowly became acclimated to your water parameters and that's how they have survived. I would think that any fish introduced into your tank wouldn't be able to survive.
 
#26 ·
I was waiting for this question!

The last fish was the betta. I'm not sure when I got him, but I'd guess at least 3 months ago.

Im considering adding a few more khuli loaches since I only have 2 left after a couple initially died. I've heard they are more sensitive to water quality so I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not in case the other fish simply got used to it.

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#27 ·
You're probably very lucky your fish are still alive, not doing water changes means you get a build up of ammonia and nitrates in the water that your filter cannot get rid of, I feel sorry for your fish swimming around in dirty water for so long, it is quite irresponsible and you could have endangered the fishes lives. I hope your going to do more regular water changes in future for the sake of your fish.
 
#29 ·
Happy to hear of your success in this matter. So far, I personally am on the side of water changes are necessary, but I certainly won't join the crowd calling you an irresponsible monster...haha. I also think it would be a tough point to reach, not having to perform wc's. My current tanks would certainly fail!

1.)What is your ph, tds, kh/gh and any other parameters that you test for, before the water change?
2.) a tougher question maybe (this is why I personally think wc's are necessary, but again I don't judge, it obviously works for some,) but what's your opinion on the build up of other chemicals and debris and "crap" we don't know about? Hormones pheromones, suspended oil particles in the air, even smoke in the air and dust etc etc etc and who really knows what fish and maybe even plants might release into the water and what not. Life is complex, ya know? There's so much more going on than we know. The oils and products on and in our skin when we play in the tank. Etc etc etc etc, lots of "chemicals/contaminants build up over time and not all may or may not be broken down or maybe even something harmless broken down into something hazardous in larger quantities.....you get my point. Just curious what your thoughts on this is as there's not much talk about it.


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#30 ·
I didn't check any levels prior to the WC but I have checked for those things in the past but I quit testing so frequently since the levels always seemed normal. I do check my TDS fairly regularly and it usually falls in the mid 300s.

As far as the particles we don't test for...thats ultimately why I decided to go ahead a change out some of the water. I started worrying about things like dust, mold, etc. and thought it was better to safe than sorry.

My guess, however is that we don't give our plants enough credit. I'd have to imagine that, after a year, those particulates would have already built up to a toxic level. My guess is that my plants actually absorb a lot, if not all, contaminants.

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#32 · (Edited)
This thread has made me reflect on some irony in my own fishkeeping. I usually do weekly WC on my tanks. Things are pretty stable and unless I'm adding something I don't worry about things much beyond that change. This is just "what I do", it is habit. When reading this thread I also realize that I have 3 whiskey barrel ponds on my patio that are perfect eco systems... snails, fish (feeder type goldfish which are known to be big on waste) and lots of plants. I change the water once a year... in April. My youngest fish in these barrels is 4... the oldest 7 (which is the year after I started the barrels), the only fatalities I have had are twice a fish has jumped out after a water change and once a raccoon or other unknown intruder had a little feast. I have often found people that have the rip type tanks do fewer water changes. Now, I have no interest in studying the science and debates about it... mostly because I don't enjoy the science part. Just the result.
 
#34 ·
This thread has made me reflect on some irony in my own fishkeeping. I usually do weekly WC on my tanks. Things are pretty stable and unless I'm adding something I don't worry about things much beyond that change. This is just "what I do", it is habit. When reading this thread I also realize that I have 3 whiskey barrel ponds on my patio that are perfect eco systems... snails, fish (feeder type goldfish at that which are know to be big on the waste) and lots of plants. I change the water once a year... in April. My youngest fish in these barrels is 4... the oldest 7 (which is the year after I started the barrels), the only fatalities I have had are twice a fish has jumped out after a water change and once a raccoon or other unknown intruder had a little feast. I have often found people that have the rip type tanks do fewer water changes. Now, I have no interest in studying the science and debates about it... mostly because I don't enjoy the science part. Just the result.


Whiskey barrel ponds sounds awesome. Do you have a thread about them?
 
#47 ·
I just don't understand the motivation to not do routine partial water changes.
Time, effort, money, bad source water???

EXPERTS ALL AGREE that routine partial water changes ensure the best water chemistry and quality in the aquarium. I'm 'all in' for an eco-system setup that aids in water purification...lighting, plants, filters, substrate, bottom feeders, snails... and perhaps this can result in less frequent or reduced volume of water changes.

However, there simply is no denying that a continued routine partial replacement of old tank water with fresh, clean, pure water is beneficial.

The ideal system would be a drip/overflow system where fresh, pure water is constantly entering the system, replacing old water. Second to that are our weekly or bi-weekly partial water changes with pump or siphon and refill hose or buckets.

To the member that said we don't do water changes on lakes. Nature does, it's called rain and rain runoff. Sometimes the water is filtered through the soil, picks up calcium, magnesium etc. and enters a body of water through springs. Sometimes it's creeks, streams and/or river inlets and outlets. The point is that nature is doing partial water changes all the time...and just as we say that larger tanks are more forgiving, so are the larger ponds and lakes.

Some say their ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are zero-low. But we simply do not have the resources to fully analyze tank water to determine purity.

A well developed 'nearly natural' eco-system can help maintain higher water quality but nothing eliminates the need for pure, fresh water replacement.
 
#48 ·
I agree and am also curious why no water changes.I have been doing this for 40 years and actually enjoy the process and the way things look and the vitality of the fish after a water change. and for any newbies reading this it is not something to try until you have the experience to observe any problems and actually all that testing is more of a pia than changing water.How about when you clean the glass{inside} does all that just go into the mix? Not criticizing just curious...
 
#59 ·
I do not but I have considered it. At this point I probably won't, but I do dose with metricide daily and that may be why I haven't really had any algae.

In fact, I got my Rummynose Tetras from a tank rampant with BBA and I'm sure some ended up in my tank, however none grew so maybe I'm just lucky?

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#54 · (Edited)
The way I look at the no or low WC tanks is a little different than the two sides:
If i have an ecosystem with certain amounts of bacteria, plants, fish, shrimp, snails etc... They can keep each other in fairly good balance for a long time in a well developed and "balanced" aquarium, but that balance is also effected by the tank size. If i only have an excess gain of .0002ppm of nitrates in my tank per day I can easily go for a year before the nitrates increase noticeably. Minerals are added by food, and how much depends on the food. Without building an exhaustive list of possible tank parameters i believe you can have things in balance to where the deficiencies or excess of any tank parameter is going to take a while to become problematic. This is somewhat supported by Diana Walstad.

Is your tap water really always the exact same parameters? Probably not, though they are in some variance of parameters. If the variance of parameters in your tank is less it might cause your fish to be less stressed to be left alone than with a WC until a certain point.

Larger tanks have more capacity to buffer excess, due to the larger volume of water. I think how balanced your tank is will effect how often you should perform a WC. Nature is simply big enough that on a global scale it is largely balanced. The algae blooms in the ocean show however that sometimes nature is unbalanced in places and returns to "normal" after a time.

If someone is keeping up with their tank and checking their coloring, swimming patterns, tank parameters, etc. I would be hesitant to call them irresponsible. They could conceivably go quite a long time without a water change. For any new aquarists though this is a really really really bad idea. It takes time to even know if something is wrong, much less to figure out how to make it stable. I think these highly stable yearly WC tanks are like having a horseshoe standup on end after thrown, possible but highly improbable. The caveat to that is if someone is really paying attention they can balance the tank and standup the horseshoe so to speak. I am trying to go the route of balancing things by looking at the imbalances i have and trying to fix them naturally... Just my 2cents. Cool thread.
 
#66 ·
I have to admit I didn't read 65 entries, so maybe someone mentioned this.

I don't know how anyone could continually "top off" an aquarium for a year without creating an inhabitable concentration of calcium and water hardness. If that was already addressed, my apologies for being redundant.
 
#67 ·
I have to admit I didn't read 65 entries, so maybe someone mentioned this.



I don't know how anyone could continually "top off" an aquarium for a year without creating an inhabitable concentration of calcium and water hardness. If that was already addressed, my apologies for being redundant.


Distilled or RO water
 
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