No Water Change Needed

[K_Hedin]

So I tested my water after week and a half of not doing a water change and both my 10 and 55 gallon tanks had zeros on ammonia and nitrites and nitrates that read anywhere from 0 to 10. It was very exciting to see my HOB filters and plants doing what they were meant to do. I will be testing again in a week and hopefully the nitrates go up a little bit and remain steady between 20 and 40. If this doesn't happen then it is time to add more fish or start adding some nitrates to the water for the plants. It has been many months of water changes and trimming but the pay off of just having to top them off this week was so worth it. Thought I would share. How many of you with planted tanks just have to top off?

 

[lljdma06]

On some systems, I've been able to go for 1-3 months with just top-offs, but I found that my cryptocorynes didn't like this, so I didn't do this often. My current system has gone a couple of weeks, but again, it's crypt-heavy, so I feel better changing the water more frequently. SuperColey1 went about a year or so with no waterchanges, just top-offs, so others have done it with great success. OM, at livebearers has a Walstad-style tank that doesn't require much maintenance either.