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Re: What kind of fish in a no-water-change tank?



Well, someone had to pipe up about this one (no water change in 5 years).
One good thing is the low population of fish (sorry I snipped that).  As we
all know, fish waste and decaying food (and decaying plants) are or produce
ammonia which ends up as nitric acid, bringing down the pH.  A tank full of
vigorously growing plants under much light and with all the necessary
minerals (which get depleted over time) could conceivably, although I'm just
guessing, take up the nitric acid, which is plant food.  However, one would
still have to make sure that adequate minerals were replenished.  Possibly
(I'll leave this to you planted aquaria experts) a substrate with adequate
minerals would allow a tank to go a long time, particularly with an
undergravel heater.

I would be interested in knowing what the pH in this tank is.  I would think
that for tanks with lots of fish and few plants, or with fish requiring
exceptional water quality, e.g., very low nitrates, frequent water changes
are required.  I have been doing 25% each week, which is probably too much -
I'm going to try to cut down to 10% per week.  The pH of my tap water is 8.5
to 9 anyways, so changing lots of water is a real pain.

> Subject: What kind of fish in a no-water-change tank?
>
> > > I'm just wondering, for those of you who just do top-offs with r.o.,
and
> >
> > > infrequent or no water changes, what types of fish are you keeping in
> > these
> > > tanks?
> > >
> > > Just curious whether anyone's attempted to keep *sensitive* or
> > *difficult*
> > > fish without diligent attention to water changes.
> >
> My 45g hex hasn't had a water change in five years.  Closed top,
> one power head over UGF, single flurescent tube, I top off once
> every three or four months.  Java moss (HUGE), java fern.