[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Why am I changing so much water?
Well, I, for one, have not done a water change on any of my three tanks (a
ten gallon gf, with a whisper 3, a 25 gal community, with a emperor(the
smaller model) and a 45 gal tank with 2 oscars, which has an aq300 and a
fluval 203). They all stay at nil in the ammonia dept, and my fish are all
going swimingly. I do do top offs, which replenish trace elements, whenever
evaporation has lowered the water level too much.
So, why do we change water? Well, in the beginning, getting a tank started,
I think that it is more important, to help control ammonia spikes, algea,
etc., however I really can't warrent it with my tanks.
Simon Frank
> Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2000 07:58:12 -0600
> From: Rod Hanks <rhanks at benchbuilt_com>
> Subject: Why am I changing so much water?
>
> I don't want to start a religious war, but I have an honest
> question. Why am I changing so much water every week?
>
> I'm not doing it to remove nitrates (the way I would in any
> non-plant tank). I need to ADD more nitrates. The nitrate
> levels (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate) are never detectable.
>
> I'm not doing it to replace the buffer capacity. The local
> water has 8 degrees of KH and even 30-40 ppm of CO2
> won't take it down to 7.0PH. I wouldn't mind LOOSING
> some buffer capacity.
>
> I'm adding trace elements every day.
>
> I could guess that I am trying to remove proteins, pheromones,
> or other metabolites from the fish (or even from the plants),
> or that I am trying to replace some trace elements that are not
> in my mix (currently using Leaf Zone, and Red Sea's Flora Fe
> and Flora Vit)
>
> Does anybody actually know? I get the impression we just
> do it from habit, because everything says to do it, or maybe
> because we have some experience where we stopped doing
> it and bad things happened. If so, I wouldn't mind hearing
> about those.
>
> Thanks,
> Rod