lazy... or is there really a need, to do it weekly... water change schedule...

[Magnum Man]

so I'm not saying we don't need to change water.. . but in the 6 months that I've been doing 1/3 water changes, most of the tanks have really gotten stable, and seem to have found their rhythm... I've been really busy lately, and had to skip a few weekly water changes , with what looks like no ill effects... I still have tons of plants , and mostly open top tanks, so I'm adding back 10% water weekly to keep the filters quiet...

I'm sure doing the water changes in the 1st place, got the tanks into their rhythm and I know to a point the amount of fish will have an effect, but once the tanks have found their balance, it would seem that water changes could be reduced some... thoughts???

for the last couple months my tanks have gone from 1/3 weekly water changes to 1/3 water changes every 2-3 weeks with no noted negative effects...

 

[gwand]

Nitrate, hormones and other deleterious substances accumulate in between water changes. Some fish are more sensitive to these chemicals than others. I don’t think changing water every three weeks would work for German Rams. You will never know if you are reducing life expectancy by a few months or a year.

 

[GaryE]

Nothing in tanks is permanent. If you have achieved what you see as a balance with 1/3 water changes, then that's what you've done. Take away the 1/3 changes and in a relatively short time, the water quality you're happy with now will deteriorate.

When we were in full drought, I scaled back my water changes to every 12-14 days for a few weeks. In my large set up, I rarely have fish die for mysterious reasons. Losses are generally of fish I have had a long time (or new fish in quarantine), and that have grown old here. A few weeks ago, I saw some mystery floaters again. I went back to a tighter 7-10 day schedule (since we had suddenly started having large rainfalls) and I stopped seeing weird, inexplicable deaths. This suggests those deaths could be explained.

I was at fault.

Bear in mind this is an anecdote, but that with the size of my set up, I have 250ish fish spread over 40 plus tanks. It's a large population, but tank by tank, not crazy stocking. A lot of those fish are very young and small. I remove one or two dead fish per month, on a bad month. Sometimes I go months without "deads". In about 3 years, I'll have what will appear to be a run of the Black Death, as most of my small fish are from the last couple of years since I moved, and they'll age out in a bloc. But if I stay on the tedious water changes, they'll do fine til then.

I walk the dog and pick up after her, I play ball with her when it's really not what I want to do, I change water in the tanks, and I feed all the beasts I choose to take on here. We're trapped by our choices, as are our fish. To me, it's worth it, although when I used to be changing water at midnight knowing I had to get up for work at 5:30, I asked myself some questions.

 

[Colin_T]

If you do them regularly it allows you to skip the odd water change every now and then without any major problems. Eventually though, if the tank is heavily stocked or well fed, and you start skipping water changes or doing them less frequently, the balance can go out of whack.

It does depend on how many fish are in the tank, how much food goes in, and how the fish get along with each other. As a general rule though, you want to try and do them regularly so you know they have been done. If people do water changes every Saturday, then they know the water should be good. If you skip it this week and maybe next week, you might end up with problems.

 

[Magnum Man]

I pump, both in and out...so it's really a piece of cake for me... all, not just the bigger group of tanks can be done in a half hour, without lifting a bucket ( but that's literally how busy I am, for at least the next month ) but also thinking about areas with water shortages... and wondering if anyone is willing to admit going longer, or may have tested water, with going to extended water changes...

I had seen a video from another country on Discus fish, and I don't recall the frequency ( but it may have been daily ) but they literally pumped the tanks down to the fish laying on their sides on the bare bottom of the tanks, then began pumping water back in the tanks...

so there are all kinds of ways to skin a cat... I like doing them weekly, when I can... but after 6 months of my regular, I'm not seeing any issues skipping a week or two..

 

[TwoTankAmin]

There is an old saying about falling of the roof of a 10 story building. It isn't the fall that kills you, it is the landing.

So you have a tank with lots of plants and these do a good deal in keeping a tank healthy. And the plants grow, meaning the plant mass increases. And then the time comes to prune the jungle. So you remove about 1/3 or more of the plants and suddenly the chemistry in the tank changes.

And then there is this, how many fish have been killed because their water was too clean? (Not too pure, just free from nasty thongs.)

 

[Colin_T]

I had seen a video from another country on Discus fish, and I don't recall the frequency ( but it may have been daily ) but they literally pumped the tanks down to the fish laying on their sides on the bare bottom of the tanks, then began pumping water back in the tanks...

I saw that on YouTube. it was daily in a pet shop in Asia somewhere. They simply drained and refilled each tank.

 

[gwand]

When you take a bath how much poop do you want in the water? None I assume. That is my guiding mantra on water change.

 

[AJ356]

When you take a bath how much poop do you want in the water? None I assume. That is my guiding mantra on water change.

I draw the line at anything over 1 inch

 

[Magnum Man]

I don't really like the poop in the bath comparison... even a snow melt cold mountain stream is not pure, and contains ameba, bacteria, as well as parts of many animal poops, let alone a lake clean enough to swim in, is often much "dirtier" than our aquariums... most healthy tanks have enough mulm to keep micro crustations, which then become a food source... that is the balance of which I speaking