I'm starting to wonder....

[Brookster123]

A guy I work with got sick of hearing about my tanks and looking at my pics so he went out and got a 29 gal. I have him seeded media and he added fish the next day.. pretty sure he has about 7-9 fish, all tetras and platys. Maybe a black molly?? Has only lost one fish in 6 months.. here's the kicker... not a single wc?? Only top offs with spring water.. i give up..

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[Mebbid]

A guy I work with got sick of hearing about my tanks and looking at my pics so he went out and got a 29 gal. I have him seeded media and he added fish the next day.. pretty sure he has about 7-9 fish, all tetras and platys. Maybe a black molly?? Has only lost one fish in 6 months.. here's the kicker... not a single wc?? Only top offs with spring water.. i give up..

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I've done 1 water change in the last 3 months or so on my 20g betta tank. It houses a betta and 10 neon tetras currently along with some wild neocardinia heteropoda shrimp. It's a dirted tank with a sand cap. I run an air powered sponge filter on the tank and top off with tap water.

My tank is healthy because I have a ton of plants compared to the relatively small bio load. I harvest obscene amounts of frogbit from the tank. I also have Ludwigia repens, water sprite, and some red root floaters soaking up nitrate in the tank. The plants keep the nitrate well within acceptable levels.

I never planned on it being slim to none on the water changes, it just happened that way.

 

[Andy Sager]

A guy I work with got sick of hearing about my tanks and looking at my pics so he went out and got a 29 gal. I have him seeded media and he added fish the next day.. pretty sure he has about 7-9 fish, all tetras and platys. Maybe a black molly?? Has only lost one fish in 6 months.. here's the kicker... not a single wc?? Only top offs with spring water.. i give up..

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There is an old fish keeping proverb: "The less you mess, the greater the success!" but it really comes down to producers vs consumers. If you have more consumers than producers, you get to delay things. Reverse the order and corrections need to happen more often. For example: 2 small fish in a 100 gal tank needs less corrections than 100 small fish in a 100 gal tank.
In your buddy's tank, he will need to keep track of his nitrate level as it will keep climbing ( unless there are things like live plants in the tank to consume them) which is the most common result of no water changes. Nitrate reduction is the most common reason for doing water changes.
In prior threads, I used to get hammered because I suggested only needing to do a 10%-15% of volume water change as I always did and do since the 60s. In my tanks, I kept the bioload low so that that small amount of water change more than sufficed. If you want to overload your bioload, you will need to do higher volumes just to keep up.

So don't "give up". The only time you should really compare your tank(s) to someone else's is when they are exactly the same. Same water volume, same water source, same bioload, same filtration, same foods, same feeding regimen, etc. Otherwise, you are always comparing apples and oranges.

Isn't fish keeping fun!!!

 

[BBradbury]

No Water Changes

Hello Brook...

Back in the day, water changes were considered bad for fish. It was believed that old, very seasoned water was the way to keep a tank. As a result, the very hardy fish adapted to the higher nitrogen level in the water. If you ever replaced the old water with new, it shocked the fish and they all went belly up.

So, this approach to tank keeping doesn't really surprise me.

On a side note, my no water change 55 G I set up a few months ago was running very well until last night. My Red Wag and Sunset Platys decided to drop some fry. To make room, I did a quick 50 percent water change on this low maintenance tank and will move the new fry asap. Had new Guppy fry in the tank already.

Just sayin' this no water change tank will work. Have fun!

B

 

[J.Mcpeak]

I agree, the no water change tank will crash once GH/Kh depletion occurs.
It will be quick when it happens, most likely everything will perish.

The no nitrate example with mud, this most likely has the final phase of the nitrogen cycle occurring, nitrate to nitrogen. Mud is very good for this type of set up, you must know about miracle mud!
Again, those tests will look ok but the inevitable is just waiting to happen.

I have two tanks with no or very low No3 reading, but they still get 2-3 and every other day water changes.

I guess we will know if the fish live as long as is suggested?

 

[fish wrangler]

Is he using a drip system maybe??

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[NigelK8485]

So don't "give up".

I think you should give up and give all your stuff to me.


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[Brookster123]

I don't give up.. i don't want mollies, guppies and platys... i want rams and apistos and high tech tanks!! No slacking there
Gave up on him... waiting for the "why Is my fish doing ........" questions to start..
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[mikem691]

My daughters Hybrid that I now have had for about 4 or 5 months is a Parachromis managuensis x Herichthys cyanoguttatus and about 10" and has lived in a 55 gallon for about 3 of the last 4 years of its life. Now to confuse this even more I do about 75% water changes on this tank every 5 days and this keeps the NitrAte between 10 (after a water change) and 50 (right before a water change) Now here is the crazy thing My daughter has never has a test kit and water changes before I had him were 10gallons every 3 months and that is just an average. He has never shown any sighs of HITH or HLLE. There are no plants and all media was washed in tap water when it was cleaned. Why this fish has no problems is beyond me. I by no means would recommend not doing water changes.

 

[michellev512]

I don't give up.. i don't want mollies, guppies and platys... i want rams and apistos and high tech tanks!! No slacking there
Gave up on him... waiting for the "why Is my fish doing ........" questions to start..
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I refused to sell my empty 20 gallon yesterday, to a kid who said he was going to put 5 goldfish in it...I tried to explain why this was a bad idea and got an attitude in return. I also give up....on ignorant people that is ?


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[Mattfinn]

I have only checked the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels three times on my tank all were when I first set it up. Since I just change 10-15% every week, I have it planted and keep a GBR pair that spawn frequently. Last time I lost a fish was when I went away for a 5 days, fed them a lot prior.

 

[Andy Sager]

I don't give up.. i don't want mollies, guppies and platys... i want rams and apistos and high tech tanks!! No slacking there
Gave up on him... waiting for the "why Is my fish doing ........" questions to start..
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...OR, you can avoid those questions coming by offering the advice that what he is doing will eventually, over an undetermined amount of time, add up and cause problems BUT, if he keeps track of his nitrate level through testing, and act accordingly when the level reaches a certain point, you might just save yourself the "Why" questions and most likely save the guy's fish as well. Whether common or exotic, all fish have the right to at least some form of decent water quality don't ya think?
I didn't think you were giving up on fish keeping..I just figured you were comparing "Why am I doing all the work I do?" to "This guy doesn't do hardly anything." As I said before, different tanks require different needs.

 

[Nils]

My 10 gallon I had before I ripped it down was fine for over 8 months, and I never did a water change, ever. My fish were fine, and there were only 5 cory's, a little overstocked but 4/5 are still alive today, the last one died to the whirling disease, strange. Anyway, if you have a lot of plants and a nice, strong filter, you should be fine with hardier fish species and not doing water changes. Although, with apistos and GBR and the such, you better keep up with them!

Nils

 

[Mar23]

I had a large tank growing up (about 75 gallons?). My father cared for it. It was planted and had a filter that looked like a canister but sat inside the tank. I never saw my father do water changes. Ever. I know he didn't. The only time we lost fish was when we went away for the summer and the filter broke. The person we left caring for the tank just let everything die. When we returned, the water was green, all the dead fish were still in the tank, half of the water had evaporated and the only fish still alive was our black goldfish. A trooper. When my dad emptied that aquarium to clean it and start over is the only time I ever saw him taking water in or out of that tank.


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