Come on Meb...
Work with me on this. Unless the tank keeper is attempting to raise rare fish, there's no point in testing the water out of the tap. The fish the vast majority of us keep will do fine in most public water supplies. The fish will adapt, they have for many decades. All we need to do is use a water treatment. There are exceptions to this rule, but those are extremely rare. I've kept a lot of different fish for more than a decade and don't test the water, I simply remove and replace a lot of it weekly. I don't believe I have the only good water source in the country. The problems most water keepers run into is they can't or don't take care of the water.
The chemical makeup of the tap water isn't important, keeping dissolved wastes from the fish poop out of the water is. This is all you need to do to keep a healthy, successful tank.
Sorry, I'm beating a "dead" horse on my posts. But, it's not brain surgery. Just change the water.
B
Hi B. I can sympathise with your claims a little bit. Your method of keeping up on regular water changes of half the tank volume is admirable and constantly doing this is probably 80% of what it takes to keep fish healthy. It is no coincidence that you have managed to keep tanks healthy and sick free for 10 years practicing this large weekly water change and I'm glad this has worked out for you.
The most important aspect to remember about this hobby is to remember that everyone's tank and setup is unique. Unfortunately, one size can only fit all if all is one size. All is not one size when it comes to fish keeping.
With respect, I gather from information in many of your previous posts, that you don't keep the most sophisticated of tanks in the world. You seem to stick to what you know which is undoubtedly in my mind the easier side of fish keeping, let me elaborate.
You always seem to recommend and sway towards the hardy and more forgiving species such as live bearing fish. And I've heard you say many of times that you keep lots of these fish.
You seem to stick with the 'dark green' plants that don't need much light and successfully grow them with no fertilisation under shop lighting.
You always tell people to stay away from 'the lighter green' plants. Is this because you have struggled to keep them in the past?
Let me tell you about the impression you give about some of your tanks, why I think they are unique to you and why I think you have success keeping them healthy.
From what I can gather, it would appear that you are fortunate enough to have relativity hard tap water that is sufficient or abundant in minerals and nutrients that plants require. This enables you to grow low light plants under shop lighting wavelengths. Less light, less nutrient requirement slow growth.
I can tell you that it is impossible for me to keep even low light plants alive without supplementing in my very soft tap water.
You are right that most fish will adapt to most water supplies but may of the live bearing fish such as platies, molly's, guppies and swordtails are some of the most popularly distributed aquarium fish due to thehe forgiving nature towards poorer conditions. This is because in the wild fish like guppies have been found adapting and thriving in many different environments where as molly's and such although again very adaptable are usually found in hard alkaline freshwater bodies and even brackish so it would not be surprising that you keep these kinds of fish successfully. Forgive me if I am way off here but since you never really talk much about your tanks and your set ups one has to assume. The only tank you have mentioned is your controversial and highly contradictive no water change which, no surprise, contains guppies and dark green plants.
The fact is, the impression we other members seem to get is that you are trying to mould everyone else's tank in to your set up and sometimes you give advice without caring or knowing the stock or anything about another person's tap water. As stated, some people are using wells or bottled water or tap water with an inline softener or RODI water. Some people want to grow different species of attractive high light plants instead. Some people don't like hornwort.
I'm not having a go here. I've been sympathetic to your setup and the needs of your tank. we are just asking you to be sympathetic towards everyone else's but above all, show an interest in their tanks rather than wondering what all the fuss is about when you are in your own bubble that it's unique to you.
There is nothing wrong with keeping things simple. Sometimes less is more but you cannot assume that there is one philosophy towards fish keeping that works or is gonna sit well with people that would love to have it easy but can't because their Tap water is high in nitrates.
That what happens when a soccer manager tries to inflict their philosophy on how to play when they move to another country and suddenly it doesn't work. The clever managers adapt and move with the game but the stubborn ones who try to make it work don't last long.
No matter what and how you think. This hobby is so diverse. One would be forgiven to think that you can chuck fish in a tank of water and it will be fine but as we all know and some of us have found out the hard way, that is simply not the case.
Please take some of this friendly advice on board.
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