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I doan gotta do no stinkin' water changes....



At 03:48 PM 6/3/00 -0400,  Amy <amyh at atl_mediaone.net> asked:
>Subject: Walstad's methods
>Just bought Diana Walstad's new book and must say I'm sorta shocked. In
>it, she advocates nearly NO water changes and says she changes the water
>in her tanks oh, about once every six months. While I'm used to
>conflicting advice and methods in aquaria, the one thing that has seemed
>to be a hard-and-fast rule is frequent water changes. Is anyone using
>her methods?

I don't know about Diana Walstad's methods, but I am in the midst of an 
experiment to discover:

1.  How long can I go without a water change?
2.  What will be the first symptom of not changing water?
3.  Can that be traced to a build-up of something in the water?

So far I am about six months in.   The SAEs and rosy barbs look fine (10 
fish in a 50tall).   I feed every 2-4 days.  Any questions?

BTW, after six months of scrupulous avoidance of any phosphate (except for 
a bit of contamination from the occasional Jobe's spike), I finally ran out 
and got severely restricted higher plant growth plus a brownish "scum" 
algae on the older plant leaves.  Adding KH2PO4 has started serious 
pearling thanks to Steve Dixon.  Stay tuned.



--
Dave Gomberg, San Francisco            mailto:gomberg at wcf_com
Jobe's Fern and Palm Spikes FREE        http://www.wcf.com/pam

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