75% water changes

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Generally very TRUE....However, one exception: If a tank has been neglected for some period as to promote what's commonly referred to as 'old tank syndrome' a large partial water change can cause such a dramatic change in water chemistry as to shock and stress the fish. In some cases, this could be fatal.
In such cases, it's best to do several small water changes a day at a time until the water reaches a point where larger volume changes are fine.

We do need to mention this more when new people come in with a problem, to check how often and how large their usual water changes are.

I've mentioned in a few places now that when I got into the hobby and took over maintaining my dad's long neglected tank, he'd been solely topping up with very rare water changes for years. Nitrates were so high, they were off the charts so must have been well over 200ppm for a very long time. Luckily I'd read about old tank syndrome and didn't go straight in with a huge water change, but it meant doing many small water changes stretched out days apart to get the nitrates down to even to a readable level, and many more before I could safely do a 50% or more water change on it.

As with most things fish-keeping, even when conditions are bad, slow and steady is often the way to go rather than sudden changes. And it's a good reason to maintain large weekly changes - so the tank water stays chemically close to the source water and a large water change isn't potentially devastating when it is needed.

 

[AbbeysDad]

All to often we hear about "my old fish that are 'fine', but any new fish I add die in two days"... A sure sign the water quality is poor and 'old fish' somehow adapted to the slowly degrading conditions, but new fish are shock/stressed by the poor water quality.

 

[Airwreck]

Oh boy am I going to throw a wrench in to what everybody said here

Every fish keeper needs to read the book

"Ecology of the planted aquarium"

By Diana Walstad.

If you have a balance tank with plants and fish.. you can go 6 months without a water change.

The goal is to have a low maintenance tank.

I could site things the woman says..but it is easier to attach a couple images of pages from her book.

I have followed her method before I knew what the scientific research behind what I was doing..
Everybody can go ahead and shoot me

 

[itiwhetu]

Oh boy am I going to throw a wrench in to what everybody said here

Every fish keeper needs to read the book

"Ecology of the planted aquarium"

By Diana Walstad.

If you have a balance tank with plants and fish.. you can go 6 months without a water change.

The goal is to have a low maintenance tank.

I could site things the woman says..but it is easier to attach a couple images of pages from her book.

I have followed her method before I knew what the scientific research behind what I was doing..
Everybody can go ahead and shoot me

Thank you for your input. I hope you have been reading my other post " anyone up for a challenge"

 

[AbbeysDad]

@Airwreck - The Walstad method only works with a heavily planted (e.g. jungle) tank and an extremely light bio-load. Conditions that just don't exist in the average hobbyist aquarium. Fast growing (especially floating) plants will consume ammonia as their nitrogen source which keeps nitrates low. But then many of the popular plants are slow growing and not much help in this regard.
Goliad Farms in South Texas uses plants only for filtration and top offs only (NO WATER CHANGES) - but check out the plants in his greenhouses!
(btw, posting snapshots of Dianna Walstad's book may be a copyright infringement?)

 

[mbsqw1d]

Oh boy am I going to throw a wrench in to what everybody said here

Every fish keeper needs to read the book

"Ecology of the planted aquarium"

By Diana Walstad.

If you have a balance tank with plants and fish.. you can go 6 months without a water change.

The goal is to have a low maintenance tank.

I could site things the woman says..but it is easier to attach a couple images of pages from her book.

I have followed her method before I knew what the scientific research behind what I was doing..
Everybody can go ahead and shoot me

I'm not sure the goal is to have a low maintenance tank, rather the ecosystem works better when left to its own devices

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I hope this thread doesn't get locked, it is interesting and potentially eye opening.

I agree that I don't think fish should be involved in any testing, but daphnia would be a fine substitute and the Walstad method is certainly very respected in the hobby.

I don't understand the chemistry enough, or have room for a spare 100L tank to participate myself, but I'd like to follow along and learn as much as possible.

 

[HoldenOn]

d u c k w e e d

 

[Airwreck]

@Airwreck -
(btw, posting snapshots of Dianna Walstad's book may be a copyright infringement?)

If she wants to find me on my tropical island.. we can sit on the beach and drink rum.
In this case it's free advertising

 

[itiwhetu]

@Airwreck - The Walstad method only works with a heavily planted (e.g. jungle) tank and an extremely light bio-load. Conditions that just don't exist in the average hobbyist aquarium. Fast growing (especially floating) plants will consume ammonia as their nitrogen source which keeps nitrates low. But then many of the popular plants are slow growing and not much help in this regard.
Goliad Farms in South Texas uses plants only for filtration and top offs only (NO WATER CHANGES) - but check out the plants in his greenhouses!
(btw, posting snapshots of Dianna Walstad's book may be a copyright infringement?)

Shouldn't we be aiming for low maintenance systems that require no or very little help from the outside. Isn't it better to have a few fish breeding and raising their young than fighting diseases and waiting for the next ammonia spike

 

[Lynnzer]

From the perspective of the fish if they could add something themselves, I am blown away by the suggested need to acclimate them before adding them to a tank. A couple of hours with their bag floating in the new tank can't do much for them as I see it. For instance when I do water changes often up to 50% but sometimes more, the water temperature of the added water isn't measured before I pour it in. It could be out by a few degrees lower, or higher. The water will also lack all the stuff that I'm changing it for, ie the chemical makeup and the detritus molecular structure. None of my fish curl up and float as a result of this so why the need for acclimation anyway?
I used to put the water I was using in bottles then stand them in a sink full of hot water and have a thermometer in them to get the exact temperature. It would take ages. I was also worried a bit that by heating the water like that would reduce the oxygen content.

 

[AilyNC]

Shouldn't we be aiming for low maintenance systems that require no or very little help from the outside. Isn't it better to have a few fish breeding and raising their young than fighting diseases and waiting for the next ammonia spike

Have you met my Platy? My tank is being over run by fry every 4 weeks so drops another few

 

[itiwhetu]

Have you met my Platy? My tank is being over run by fry every 4 weeks so drops another few

Well haven't you just got everything working perfectly then, well done, that is what this hobby is about.

 

[AilyNC]

Ah but you see in nature the little fish could swim off & Branch out. In my 58L tank they'll quickly grow too big for the space.

 

[itiwhetu]

Ah but you see in nature the little fish could swim off & Branch out. In my 58L tank they'll quickly grow too big for the space.

They won't because you will choose the correct fish for the space, and when they breed you will remove the young. All is good in your aquarium world