"Water change"-less tank

[scarf]

Gah, don't you just hate it when you just write an entire post for MIE to stuff up on you so you have to write it all over again?

Anyways, just a briefer version of what I had before:

I am just thinking about the idea of a tank without water changes. I wouldn't likely do it myself, but the concept is interesting to me.

It would require using a relatively small amount of low bioload fish (eg neon tetras,etc) and putting them into a heavily planted tank. The excess nitrate would be absorbed by the plants, and just add ferts for the plants.

Hoping to get some opinions on this idea.

 

[azn_fishy55]

I think water changes are vital to a fishes health by taking away some nitrites,nitrates,and ammonia as well as other stuff such as minerals and trace elements in the water.So for essential fish health.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

With heavily planted, you will probably have to add nitrates, as the low bioload may not produce enough. Also, no matter what, PWC's are essential for good health of fish. You may not have to do PWC's near as often, but you still need them.

 

[rich311k]

You need to change 50% of the water each week in a heavily planted tank. Nitrates are not the only things that biuld up.

 

[scarf]

What other stuff may build up if I don't do water changes out of curiousity?

 

[jsoong]

You are talking about "natural aquariums".

In these setup, there is no need of filters. Plants remove fish waste & the fish eat the plants. All is in balance. In theory, you won't need to do water change, just make up for evaporation. If you have everything in perfect balance, you could in theory have a totally sealed system with no need of any maintanance.

In practice, there will be some maintanance required ..... but it could be much less than the typical tank .... or much more - plants can be finicky . Google "natural aquarium" for some examples.

 

[hashbaz]

Do plants absorb DOC? I think you might be able to get away with a "low maintenance" tank but not a "no maintenance" tank. With a no maintenance tank, there will most likely be something that builds up. You will also need to top-off with DI water to prevent increasing water hardness.

Another problem I see is fertilizing the plants. Most planted tank people depend on large water changes to prevent "over fertilizing." Over- or Under- fertilizing will result in algae.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I found this on Natural Aquariums. Pretty interesting stuff.

http://www.malloftheworld.com/aquarium/part1.htm
http://www.malloftheworld.com/aquarium/part2.htm
http://www.malloftheworld.com/aquarium/part3.htm

 

[malkore]

No, plants cannot deal with all the DOC's. Natural aquariums are possible, where you might do a small water change once a year, and the rest of the time you're topping off with RO water (to avoid building up minerals, but likely you'll occasionally add some baking soda, dechlor'd tap water, or otherwise reconstituted RO to make sure you don't have mineral deficiencies).

Its a very very specific kind of setup to achieve this, but doable. Usually heavily planted, but not high light (mainly to avoid algae issues related to macro nutrient imbalances)

Since I keep planted tanks, my weekly water changes are when I prune plants, replant, etc.

 

[wright4lfe]

definately possible with low bioload fish, but not realistic at all if you enjoy the larger freshwater fish available to the public (oscars, arrowanas, flowerhorns, etc)

 

[scarf]

thanks for the replies guys.

yea it's just a thought I had. As wright4lfe says, i personally wouldn't do it as I would like to see a wide variety of fish in my tanks but the concept is interesting to me.