Water Changes

[hoyfoys]

Hi,

I have a fairly heavily planted tank which is basically fully stocked, although only 3 months old. I have 12 Amano shrimps and 2 butterfly plecos. Ammonia and Nitrites are consistently 0 and I'm finding that the Nitrate rarely goes up much or if it does then very slowly. Are water changes only used to keep Nitrates low? If so do I only need to do a water change when they get high (above 40ppm?) or are there other reasons to keep doing them? At the moment I'd say that going by the Nitrate levels I'd only need to do a water change every fortnight or maybe even once a month.

Thanks

 

[Tizer]

The primary reason for a water change is to lower the nitrates yes, but to some degree tap water does contain beneficial substances (which i cant go into to much depth on coz im thick) that are good for both fish and plants. Might do better to move this post to the planted section for a more educated answer.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

I have the same problem, i do a water chnage in my 350L every 7 days of 30-50% even after 7 days im looking at maybe 5-10ppm Nitrate. Main reasons why i still do the water changes is the fish realese a growth homoan if this gets to high it could slow develpoment of the fish. from this week im moving 2 week chnages see how we go

 

[Fishy friend2]

I do water changes weeky and not just when the nitrates go up

 

[XeroTolerance]

Do weekly water changes just so the fish get some "new" water. The nitrates should stay low because you said your tank was heavily planted, but make sure to still test once in a while to see whats going on in your tank. When you do a water change make sure to watch out for the roots of your plants, because you don't want to uproot one of them on accident.

 

[Geoff-]

nitrate is only one parameter that is easily measured by the fishkeeper, it's the canary in the coal mine if you like. High nitrates mean the water is stale and has a lot of other organic wastes in it, depleted trace elements etc. All of that stuff we DON'T measure for!!

 

[hoyfoys]

Brilliant, thanks everyone, a great help