Ben Ochart you tube video, Water Changes that Kill

[Country joe]

Just watched this video which I found interesting, I would think a few on here would have seen it as its 6 years old, have a look, and come back on here with your comments on what you think of it.

 

[JCinPA]

Want to put a link to the video?

 

[BanjoFish]

Want to put a link to the video?

If only it was that easy.

 

[MuddyWaters]

There are a few videos by this person that say something like "watch this before you do water changes" - this one has "kill your fish" in the title. I didn't watch the whole thing, but looks like his tank water is way more acidic than his tap water,so he's saying the pH change could kill your fish.

 

[Country joe]

If only it was that easy.

Sorry im not great on the net. I'm rubbish

 

[Essjay]

looks like his tank water is way more acidic than his tap water

@Country joe If the person in the video has tank water very different from his tap water, then yes water changes can harm the fish. This would apply to anyone who alters the water in the tank to suit the fish, and the answer is to prepare the new water outside the tank so that it's the same as the tank water.
For those of us who don't do anything to change the water, water changes, if done regularly, won't harm the fish as regular water changes keep the tank water similar to our tap water. It's when water changes are not done for a long time that the tank water chemistry drifts away from tap water ("old tank syndrome") and then when a water change is done the new water is different from the tank and can harm the fish.

 

[GaryE]

REGULAR water changes don't kill fish. Irregular, haphazard ones can if the tank is neglected enough for major changes to occur in the water. I've unfortunately done that - years ago after a period of sickness in the family I had about 2 months without water changes, and when I tried to catch up too radically, I lost a lot of killies. Lesson learned.

Now, if you look at the city water reports for my soft, not well buffered water, and you test the tanks, it will be very close. All water changes are between 7 and 10 days apart. I stock lightly. Nothing dies from a water change here - quite the opposite.

If I wanted hits on youtube, I would make a video with one of the following titles:
water changes kill fish;
aquariums don't need filters or water movement;
fish makes friends in tanks;
Bettas love to live in vases;
Scientists hate it when we don't do water changes.

Why? People go directly to videos that tell them what they want to hear.

What they don;t want is:
Lazy fishkeeping kills fish.

 

[Country joe]

I like doing water changes it's an important part to me of fish keeping. I may have picked it up wrong. But was he not saying that vacuuming gravel or sand is bad as you are removing bacteria. I have gravel and I vacuum weekly before my water changes. What's your opinion of gravel vacuuming weekly ?

 

[Essjay]

The bacteria live in biofilm which is firmly attached to surfaces. It is not easy to remove all the biofilm by vacuuming the gravel. All vacuuming does is remove fish poop, uneaten food, dead bits of plant etc. Yes there may be bacteria in the 'mess' but they grow slowly and if the 'mess' is removed frequently there won't be time to grow many bacteria. It's the same with cleaning the filter media to remove stuff that collects in it.

 

[Country joe]

The bacteria live in biofilm which is firmly attached to surfaces. It is not easy to remove all the biofilm by vacuuming the gravel. All vacuuming does is remove fish poop, uneaten food, dead bits of plant etc. Yes there may be bacteria in the 'mess' but they grow slowly and if the 'mess' is removed frequently there won't be time to grow many bacteria. It's the same with cleaning the filter media to remove stuff that collects in it.

Sorry for not understanding so is it a good thing to vacuum substrate weekly.

 

[Essjay]

It depends who you listen to. There are those who consider the 'mess' on the tank bottom as fertiliser for their plants. Other consider the 'mess' as ugly and needs to be removed to make the tank look nicer. And others consider it to be a home for 'bad' bacteria so it needs to be removed before the bad bacteria can infect the fish.

It won't do any harm to gently remove it, but unless it gets out of control it's also OK to leave it there. The choice is down to the individual fish keeper.

 

[Country joe]

It depends who you listen to. There are those who consider the 'mess' on the tank bottom as fertiliser for their plants. Other consider the 'mess' as ugly and needs to be removed to make the tank look nicer. And others consider it to be a home for 'bad' bacteria so it needs to be removed before the bad bacteria can infect the fish.

It won't do any harm to gently remove it, but unless it gets out of control it's also OK to leave it there. The choice is down to the individual fish keeper.

Thanks for that. I think I will now gently remove it every fortnight. But will keep up with my weekly water changes.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I have a heavily planted tank so I never gravel vac because it would disturb and damage roots. I don't like the heavy mulm just sitting around though so I find aiming a power head across the tank every now and then lifts the muck up into the water column for the filter to catch and keeps things tidy without manual removal

 

[bgarthe]

Yes……I am one of the gravel vac people who vacs my 3/4” to 1” deep coarse blasting sand with every WC. It keeps the mulm reduced and prevents hydrogen sulfide pockets from developing. After having seen what happens to a tank when a pocket is disturbed , I probably will always both keep shallow substrate and vac it during WCs. But…..we’re all different and I know many others will disagree. Fine by me…..just sharing my perspective.

 

[Country joe]

I have a heavily planted tank so I never gravel vac because it would disturb and damage roots. I don't like the heavy mulm just sitting around though so I find aiming a power head across the tank every now and then lifts the muck up into the water column for the filter to catch and keeps things tidy without manual removal

Goo

I have a heavily planted tank so I never gravel vac because it would disturb and damage roots. I don't like the heavy mulm just sitting around though so I find aiming a power head across the tank every now and then lifts the muck up into the water column for the filter to catch and keeps things tidy without manual removal

Good idea. I dont have a power head, but sometimes use a Turkey baster