i was wondering if i can just top off my water or is it important to keep doing my weekly water change? I was thinking of getting an automatic top off system going on
Hot topic! And IMO there isn't a general answer. Depends on your tank set up. On my 55's I do a 50% change weekly because they are high tech and I use the EI method of dosing. On my low tech tanks, I don't do a W/C unless something goes wrong. All I do is top off the tank.
If your tank is really well balanced chemically, you can go for years without a water change. Typically however, different types of waste build up and you will need to change the water at least every 2-3 months.
If using any ferts a weekly water change is a must. Especialy with EI dosing.
IF you have a VERY low bioload, you can go longer, but inevitably water changes are necessary. As much as I love the idea of a walstad type tank, I just don't buy into it all 100%.
A lot of things build up in our tanks that we are NOT testing for. This means that without water changes they just keep building up.
i have an auto top off system. I still do weekly water changes. I use an open lid so the evaporation after a few days is allot. Its just easier with this. It just pulls from a 5gal water bucket under my tank~
I do a water change on all my planted tanks every two weeks. About 30 percent. Unless I have some algae growth then I do bigger water changes cause it helps it go away. Really it does.
I top off between changes.
I get alot of evaporation in one of my tanks because I have open top tank but if I need to during the week I do top up the tank but I still try to do a weekly water change, I find the plants are a bit happier with this......and the algae dosen't trouble me as much as it use too when I was a bit slacker with the water changes....
There really is no one answer to this. For example i have a tiger barb tank that has not had a water change in over 2 years, they look awesome great color. But i also have a guppy tank that if it doesn't get its water change bi weekly fish start dieing, both have a similar bio load, both have few plants. I for the life of me cant explain it, then i have tanks that get 50% weekly without fail(shrimp) just because i dont wanna risk it.Guess it boils down to your tank and what works for it.
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