Water Changes

[katykaye]

Hi

I haven't done any water changes for a couple of weeks because we have had the decorators in.

I did the sats yesterday and they are:

PH = 7.5
NitrAte = 5.0
Nitrite = 0
Amonia = 0
Temp = 80

My water is beautifully clear and sparkly

My question is - Do I need to do water changes regardless of the water qualty? Or can I leave it longer if everything is good?

 

[aaronnorth]

you can leave it longer, it depends on your stocking. if heavily stocked, weekly is good, if lightly stocked then a monthly water change will be fine, water changes are there to remove nitrates and they also help oxygenate your tank. If you have any live plants then still dose your weekly fertiliser or how ever often you do.

 

[katykaye]

you can leave it longer, it depends on your stocking. if heavily stocked, weekly is good, if lightly stocked then a monthly water change will be fine, water changes are there to remove nitrates and they also help oxygenate your tank. If you have any live plants then still dose your weekly fertiliser or how ever often you do.

Thanks

I do have plants but i have never fertilised them? do I need to ?

 

[Duck and Dive]

You dont have to fertilise the plants but if they start to not look very good yes fertillise them. Water changes are essential, you should do a water change every two weeks or so.

 

[CFC]

There is a little bit more to it than just nitrates and clear water. Water changes also replenish the natural buffers in the tank that keep the pH stable and it depends on where you live as to how much buffer your tapwater contains, in softwater areas there can be very little buffer present in the tapwater and without renewing them things can go bad very quickly.
To know how long you can leave water changes safely you need to have an idea of the KH (carbonate hardness) of your water, if its high (over 10dKH) then you will be able to leave your water changes for longer periods but if its lower than that then you will either have to do regular water changes regardless of the nitrate levels or do regular testing of the KH and do water changes when the levels begin to show low.

 

[aaronnorth]

you can leave it longer, it depends on your stocking. if heavily stocked, weekly is good, if lightly stocked then a monthly water change will be fine, water changes are there to remove nitrates and they also help oxygenate your tank. If you have any live plants then still dose your weekly fertiliser or how ever often you do.

Thanks

I do have plants but i have never fertilised them? do I need to ?

It isn't necassery but fertilisation would help, It doses trace elements like NPK (nitrate, phosphate, pottasium) each element helps in different parts of growth (root growth, leaf growth...)