Water changes

[siester53]

I have had my 200l tropical freshwater tank now for about 5 weeks and have about 35 mixed inhabitants with a large plant life, I have never done a water change as I've been told by my lfs that because my local water is very hard it is not recommended, my fish all look very happy and I have 3 filters. The water looks very clean but after a poly filter test it turned brown (I was told this was copper in my water) is water changing really as important as I have read or should I listen to my lfs?

 

[fort384]

If there was that much copper in your water you would have other issues.

What are your nitrates testing at?

PWCs are part of running a healthy tank. Forgoing them is not good advice. Without doing water changes, and just topping off from evaporation, you would actually be exacerbating hard water issues as the solids/ions that make your water hard do not evaporate. Every time you add more water to the tank without doing a water change, you are making the water even harder.

 

[siester53]

The nitrate levels are about 2