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water change question

651 views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  vance71975 
#1 ·
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
 
#3 ·
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.
 
#5 ·
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.
 
#7 ·
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~

easy~

chris
 
#8 ·
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.
 
#9 ·
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....
 
#10 ·
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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