Hi all, just a question about my tank!

[SilverDollar_03]

Hello, i have a 55 gallon tank containing 4 silver dollars (4 inches), 3 marbled hatchets (1 inch), 5 dwarf neon rainbows (1.5 inch), 4 aeneus corydoras (1.5 inch), and 1 redtailed black shark (4 inches).

ok, after that info, maybe my question could be answered. i keep testing my nitrate, and it remains at zero these days. after my tank finished cycling 4 months ago, it has always been low. i just tested it tonight (dec. 12th) and it is still at a complete zero, along with ammonia, and nitrite as well of course.

heres the big news, i havent changed water in 3 weeks! i cant believe it. do i still need to change the water though if it keeps remaining this low?? because i always change it when it gets to about 15, and its remained at zero for 3 weeks. if it is at zero, there is no other reason to change it right??

hope you guys can help, i was just amazed that it can stay so low for this long! and happy of course, takes the load off me. by the way, i have 2 filters on it, 1 being an aquaclear 300, the other a topfin60 (for up to 60 gallons)(it came with the kit).

thanks guys!!!

 

[Tempestuousfury]

What comes to mind is:

Your fish are amzingly clean
Your test kit is old and/or doesn't work
You have an incredibly large amount of plants in your tank (and I mean very very many plants)

 

[CFC]

With the aquatic lawn mowers (aka silver dollars) in the tank my money is with option number 2.

What type of test kit are you using and how old is it? Unless you are using R/O water and never feeding your fish or using a nitrate adsorbing media then it is impossible for your tank to have 0 nitrates. Most tapwater supplies at least have a trace ammount of nitrate in them.

Also with a 0 reading of nitrates there are still reasons to change water regularly. The main reason is to replace used acid buffers and prevent the pH from crashing, nitrification releases organic acids into the water which attach themselves to the buffers in the water, when these buffers are all used up the pH can drop dramatically over night.

 

[SilverDollar_03]

ok thanks. the funny thing is, i know for a fact the nitrate test isnt broken. i test my betta tank and it always comed back as like 20 before i change the water. so its not broken, and i have fake plants, remember? so it couldnt be them....

anyways, if the nitrate always stays at zero, when do you think i should change the water? monthly?? ill keep testing weekly to make sure nothing goes wrong as well, to make sure it is still at zero.

its amazing.... .

 

[BobK]

Why wait a whole month. I change water weekly but you could do a pwc every other week, right? My point is, just because we don't test for it doesn't mean it's not bad for the fish. There could be other things building up in the water that may be bad for fish. How about some types of diseases or maybe some ich bacteria. At low levels it wouldn't really effect healthy fish but if allowed to build up it could be more than a fish, particularly an old or weak fish, could take. I believe there are pathogens present in every tank and healthy fish with good immune systems have no problem fighting them off. But what if these are allowed to build up? Of course, that's just my opinion but maybe it's something to consider.

 

[moneywastedonfish]

there are so many factors affecting your fish, and most if not all are involoved in the water that is there respiratory medium. So try to think of it as water keeping and your fish will 'keep' themselves.
A lot of fish books refer to 'old' water as a potential problem for certain species, particulary some cichlids, possibly causing popeye, poor color etc.
As stated above water has a buffering capacity that could be hiding potential problems from.

just on a personal note planted tanks are incredible, have you considered ditching the dollars and going for a planted setup?

 

[SilverDollar_03]

thanks guys. yeah, i know what you mean. i wont wait monthly are anything, i will change it every 2 weeks at least even with no nitrates, because i wouldnt think the other factors we dont test would be too perfect...

no, i wouldnt ditch the dollars for plants. i know how amazing a natural setup would look, im just not willing to make the changes to my tank, and im kindof too lazy to look after plants all the time.... plus, i have zero experience with the wholel aquatic plant deal

thanks again guys