Point of water changes besides Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite

[hurgerburger]

Recently I've been thinking about the necessity of water changes in really well-cycled tanks. First though, I'm going to tell you about my current 20 gallon tank. So, I started off with a ten gallon tank with a couple nerite snails in it when I was 10. I added a few zebra danios and an albino bristlenose pleco, but the danios all died because I was 10 and forgot to feed them. The pleco survived however, and about a year later I got another pleco because I thought the first one (Zuko) needed a friend (the second one was KitKat). I gave them another year, and completely out of nowhere (I thought they were both female) they started breeding. Every month they had more babies, I upgraded them to a 20 gallon long, and for 4 years now they have been breeding almost every month. The catch is, I didn't know how often you were supposed to do water changes, so throughout all that time, I had been doing a 50% water change maybe once or twice a YEAR when my dad would force me to. The tank isn't planted either, there used to be an Anubias but it died. It does have about an inch of nutritious substrate as well that the plecos kick up sometimes. It has a 50 gallon bioactive filter. But my experiences totally contradict what everyone here says about water changes. I also have a very heavily planted 5.5 gallon with a Betta, I have been following a similar approach with that tank too (my tap water's ammonia is 35 ppm if I remember correctly, so I don't want to stress him out) but I do do 15% water changes ever month or so, the ammonia in each tank is zero. Any thoughts?

 

[nik_n]

In well cycled tanks water changes can be done less often. If the tank has a tone of plants and is not overstocked it will work like it would in nature. But in nature the water constantly moves, through flows, outputs and inputs. So even if the plants clean the water and you have the filter the tank isn't getting any new water. This is why it's necessary to do water changes. Water changes also decrease the chance of illness in your tank, because the "polluted" water is being replaced with fresh water. Water changes are important because they ensure the health of an ecosystem we are responsible for.

To put it in prospective: Imagine that you live in a house with a lot of plants which would produce oxygen for you. You would eventually have to open a window to let the fresh air in. If you you open a window more often, the plants and you would be healthier and happier.

Hope this makes sense and helps

 

[EllRog]

I'm sure that there was a thread around here early last year that explained the importance of water changes. Many of the members which I believe to be the brain boxes contributed to it and explained the dilution of hormones etc in the water. If stress hormones are released into the water from chasing fish around with a net for an hour, then they won't leave until they're diluted from a water change, meaning that fish with remain stressed, which we all know will probably kill them.. so there's a reason

Have a search for the thread, was a very interesting read and will most likely answer your questions

 

[eatyourpeas]

There is a good article on water here:

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[Slaphppy7]

35 PPM ammonia in your tap water??? I hope you don't drink it, though I doubt that reading is accurate...what kind of test kit do you use?

At any rate, WC's are one of the most important maintenance tools we have to properly care for our tanks

Water Changes and Water Quality in Aquariums – Advanced Aquarium Concepts

advancedaquariumconcepts.com

 

[Colin_T]

This is a common thread on fish forums. People don't do water changes and some fish survive for 6 or 12 months, sometimes longer. If the water is tested, the pH is usually acidic and most of the inhabitants have died. The nitrates are usually high too.

You do regular water changes for a number of reasons:
to dilute nutrients like ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.
to keep the pH, GH and KH stable.
to dilute hormones and other chemicals released by the fish.
to dilute disease organisms in the water.

 

[AbbeysDad]

If we look at nature, we see that by in large, freshwater is constantly renewed by rains and snow melt. Run offs, creeks, streams and rivers, run into an out of lakes on the way to the ocean. So much water flows in the amazon river that fresh water can be collected 12 miles out in the ocean!!!
It is sad when fish are forced to survive in polluted water. Oh with advanced bio-filtration and lots of plants, routine partial water changes can be reduced in volume and/or frequency, but NOTHING beats routine partial water changes for emulating nature. Routine partial water changes not only dilute the pollution, but also replenish much needed minerals used by fish and plants. In addition to what @eatyourpeas posted, check out the following....

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mjvaquatics.com

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mjvaquatics.com

And for the deep dive:

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