Are Water Changes Really Necessary for Your Aquarium?
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- Опубликовано: 29 янв 2025
- In this video, I dive deep into the topic of water changes and whether they're truly necessary for your aquarium. Should you stop doing water changes? How do you know how much and how often to do them? I address common misconceptions about water changes and explain why they're crucial for almost all aquariums.
Plus, I explore the concept of natural aquariums and discuss whether they could be an exception to the rule. If you've ever questioned the importance of water changes, this video is for you! Don't miss out on key tips for maintaining a healthy and thriving tank.
If you're interested in any of the products used in our aquariums today or shown throughout the video, feel free to check out the affiliate links below.
Equipment for Water Changes:
API Master Test Kit: bulkreefsupply...
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Flipper Float: geni.us/qDPy
Seachem Prime: geni.us/iys7T
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I hope as many people who have just started keeping fish watch this video. Thank you for the very clear information.
I am beginner, Aquarius person and I loved listening to your presentation about changing of the water. You’re very informative. You’re very fair and there’s a lot of people out there that need to listen to you and take into consideration what you are saying I appreciate you and I thank you for sharing. You have beautiful tanks by the way.
This subject has been beaten to death. It varies from tank to tank, no ones water or tank set up is the same. I have tanks that go 6 months without water changes. Why? Because the nitrates don't get close to 40 ppm by then. Heavily planted and stocked. Some need a water change every 3 months. One every 2 weeks. There's no set time or amount to change. My fish are breeding and healthy. Plants grow like mad. Fish live a long happy life. I test every 2 weeks so its not from lack of testing. 47 years in this hobby and I've learned that what works for you don't work for all. Test your water, if it needs changed, change it. If it don't then don't there's no one way period.
I was going to comment but you've summed up pretty much everything here! Gotta feel the rhythm of each aquarium.
Yep, great summary.
I've kept fresh and salt tanks nearly as long, and while each tank is different the science / chemistry is the same. I've encountered plenty of 'get off my lawn' types than insist on doing 50% changes no matter what every week, but what blows my minds are the younger guys who spout nonsense about KH and GH. Had to argue with a kid last week that distilled water can't have a pH of 8. Not sure what's going on in schools, but it's not science. Tik Tok skills I guess.
It’s like not bathing for 3 months 😂😂 in the wild it rains so there’s always fresh water. Fancy being your fish. Getting fresh water twice a year 🤮🤮
@@liam-n8098 imagine. Not your thing and that's fine. Like i said what works for one does not work for all. But when its a constant " YOU GOT TO DO THIS BECAUSE I SAY SO, or THE RULES SAY IF YOU DON'T CHANGE YOUR Water 50XS A MONTH YOUR FISH WILL DIE! " it gets old. Fish are more resilient than ppl realise. Most yes live in streams, lakes, ponds where fresh water is constant. But they still live in NON sterile environments. Plus i havent lost a fish in years and some are close to 6 years old. Must be doing something right, my way. It's not your way or his way or their way.
And there are reasons I am able to keep plants with cichlids, discus in natural aquariums, and aquariums with infrequent water changes. Thank you for trying to clarify an important issue. Clearly your approach is effective. Your ability to explain your system and teach others to achieve your success is legendary.
I appreciate it, and all that you do for the hobby. Keep up the good work and spreading solid information!
Thank You for being a voice of reason. I have several tanks I have set up using the Father Fish method. I neglected my 55 gallon tank for quite some time. It did fine as long as the plants were thriving. Sadly, I put some duckweed in it as a floater for my fry to hide in. Because I didn't keep an eye on the tank, it was in "the other room", the duckweed got very thick and choked out the light going to the plants in the substrate. The planted plants got weak and died. I got frustrated and removed the duckweed. My nitrates skyrocketed and I had a terrible outbreak of hair algae. At first, I thought it looked cool and my shrimp loved hunting the fields of hair algae for bits of food.
I ended up removing the hair algae, not an easy task, as it got out of hand. Soon it became overwhelming because my natural tank was working overtime to keep the nitrates low. Luckily, my tank was sparsely populated except with snails. So the ammonia didn't get out of control. After a short time of fighting the hair algae, I decided to remove my hardscaping. I scrubbed it down really well and soaked it overnight in a couple of 5 gallon buckets filled with hydrogen peroxide water. I dug out every small piece of hair algae I could find in the tank, even stirring the water up a bit and skimming with a large fishnet. I began replanting my tank with fast growing plants, planted and floating, and kept adding them as I could. I am happy to say that my refurbished tank seems to be doing well again. I now have a 60 gallon tank in the living room. So I am reminded to keep an eye on my 55 "in the other room." Being older with ADD is NO fun. I hate squirrels.
Thx man! For this in deep guide :) I hopes to set small natural aquarium with hopes of no change, but now I see what to look and what to aim for much better
Awesome, best of luck!
Your explanation made it so much easier to understand. I always learn so much from your videos! Thanks for the great tips! 👍
Thank you much for this video. As someone new to the hobby this was superhelpful with cutting through all the different hook lines out there. You helped me understand more how the factors of each tank make a difference. I know for people long in the hobby this is old news but for a newbie it was superhelpful.
Thanks for doing this. It all depends on how your tanks are set up.
Hello Troy, I wanted to tell you and your brothers that I appreciate the content. The knowledge you guys have shared with me has definitely saved many of my fish over the 5 years I've been in this hobby. My puffer and I thank you!
That's awesome to hear! Glad to be of help, keep up the good work!
I'm a newbie as well and love this video. It is very informational and helpful. Thanks! I have heard so many varying opinions when it comes to water changes.
I did a lot of experimenting with the nitrate levels in a big 400 gallon lumber pond I built in my greenhouse. It was made to be heat storage device for winter, and thus wasn't filled with tropicals. Koi and weather loaches were the main fish and I tried some white clouds but they never got a foot hold or started breeding. The bottom was fairly complex as I has a number of crates in the water to be enrichment and hides for the fish and some crates boosted the emergent water plants, which ended up being mainly one big umbrella paparus. The bottom had sand and mud parts plus lots of muck from the koi waste, which I rarely syphoned out. The filter was a high output 150gph pump that had a skimmer on one end, and the other end of the pond had a stack of crates with layers if poly floss(top-physical filter) and expanded shale nuggets bio filter) in a wet/dry filter style. The fish did great and bred well and grew large and fast. I tracked the Nitrate mostly, as those other nitrogenous waste were always zero. The nitrate always stayed low, due to the anaerobic muck at the bottom with plenty of organic detritus to feed the denitrifying. This is the classic pond set up, where one usually doesn't worry about water changes, the natural bottom takes care of that. At one point, I noticed a pretty high algae load and couldn't figure out what was causing that with the nicely low nitrates but I got a phosphate test. The phosphates were super high, hence the algae. I thought it was the fish feeding waste, but I also checked by tap water and that water is pretty high in phosphates. This set up required a fair amount of topping up, but I didn't really "change" the water much. Cities often add phosphates along with managing the pH up around 8.3 with calcium to sequester lead in older plumbing from before lead was removed from solder in the 1970's I think it was. So I got some pillow phosphate filters to put into the flow stream for a while. Those got the phosphate down nicely, but after a while I notice that the nitrates seem to be going up. No other changes. It almost seemed that the denitrifying process also liked the phosphate, those bacteria. I stopped removing the phosphate and the nitrate levels went down. I'm sure the emergent Cyprus plant was helping a little with the nitrates, plus that algae, but fish mostly just ate the algae. This was a weird inter relationship between Nitrate/denitrifying and phosphate levels that I had never heard of.
Running a denitrifying filter or set up in a regular tank probably isn't worth the other potential hassles, like it's hard to vacuum a muddy muck bottom tank, if your tap water is good and cheap. I was most interested where the tap is not suitable(high phosphates or TDS) like for soft water tanks and especially for salt water where the cost of water can be pretty high. I've made simple denitrifying filters out up just jars or small buckets of muck mud soil with some peat or organics covered with sand and then gravel to do slow denitrifying via diffusion. They work, but don't have a very high capacity and you have to hid them. Regular technical denitrifying filters I also tried with a long(25feet) coil of tubing inside a jar with a cotton cord pulled through the tubing and slow suction on one end from the big pump intake. In this the cotton supples the cellulose for denitrifying, the carbon source. Most commercial denitrifying filters require some slow injection of a liquid carbon source like methanol early in the intake stream; complicated and potentially dangerous.
your 100% spot on , every aquarium is different, different fish, different needs . well put .
Thanks! 💪🏼
Dude this has been one of the best videos I have watched. Got in the hobby at the ripe age of 42. Been doing it all for about 5 years now. RUclips definitely aids in the addiction and have watched so many videos to learn and also discover new species. This is the best video I have seen on water changes to many times I feel videos are or at least can be viewed to be one size fits all, while the generalities are usually more to content limitations. Hitting this topic in depth and the way you have is going to be very beneficial to anyone that takes this lesson seriously. Very hard to nail all this stuff down perfectly, but once some realizes each individual situation is different it is much easier to learn YOUR OWN situation. Been a subscriber for a few years now love your content as I am an American Cichlid fan myself. This is the 1st time in 5 years I have left a comment on anyone's video. Keep doing what your doing I love seeing what's next.
Love to hear that and really appreciate the support! Best of luck with your cichlid tanks!
Thank you for giving the context and more in depth explanation of water changes: why, when, etc. I've been wanting to do a "natural tank" because I saw Father Fish and I love the idea, but it's been hard finding any in depth information on how to maintain it properly.
Good video bro! Context is the key. I sincerely enjoy watching your videos. Thank you for having this channel!
I appreciate it!
I'm sorry people have been giving you crap for what you do. I watch both your channel and Father fish and everything you said is correct, context matters. From a personal stand point i've been trying to combine your 150 with a FF deep substrate set up. Best of both worlds i hope.
Thanks, Troy, for this very educational video. I think a lot of fishkeepers can learn from this and really help them in the future. It's really great to see the passion you have for this hobby to share with everyone. I absolutely love this video. Thank you! (Full watch here)
Thanks, really appreciate that Joe!
@CichlidBros You're welcome, Troy 👍
Thanks for tackling a heated topic head-on. I would love to keep more live plants, but I manage to kill them off more frequently than my cichlids do.
Until I learn how to better balance light and plant nutrients, my fish and I are happy with 30-50% changes every 7 to 10 days.
Thanks Doug! I think that’s a smart approach. I’ve been in that boat many times haha
I have always hated when I see videos that say "no more water changes" because it is all BS. We used to be told (in the late 70's) to think of water changes as this: not only do you have a build up of stuff in the tank, but you also have the fish using the minerals in the water. So a water change cleanses the water like a constantly moving stream does constantly and at the same time you replenish some of the minerals used by the fish. We are setting up an aquarium soon and I hope to have not only the usual setup but micro and macro fauna in the tank to have a more natural processor of bad stuff as well as natural food for the fish. But I still plan water changes. It is a must.
Keep preaching. I have learned so much from your channel. Thanks.
Love to hear it! Thanks for the support!
Well said. Can’t argue with facts and logic like this. It is what it is
Thank you!
I appreciate you doing this. Might be a bit of a side tangent but I sometimes find myself unable to enjoy myself in fish stores as I often overhear beginners or families who just want to give their kid a pet saying the most incorrect or downright dangerous things about how they plan to set up their tanks. It's frustrating and it's hard to forget how many fish tanks in the world are unattended to. The amount of times I've heard "fish just die, I just go and buy another" when 9/10 times, a person who constantly loses fish soon after they buy them is usually the one doing something wrong. It's a crime to the hobby that a large portion of casual fishkeepers see their tanks as a decoration and rarely anything more. It's one of the biggest problems our hobby faces.
I fully agree.
Great information! I have been doing it the same way as you for years with my nine tanks. I have had great success. Now I am working on tank #10. A 75 gallon which will be an Amazon River theme.
That’s awesome! 👏🏼
I agree with you💯... Out of my 7 tanks, only 2 get a 25-30% weekly water changes. My mosquito fish tank, 50 gallons btw, only get a water change every 4-5 weeks. It does have plenty of plants plus mosquito fish aren't that messy. Just like you said, test your water and determine what needs to be done. Great video explaining and hopefully putting a lot of those myths to bed.
very nice video, completely agree with you. I would just like to add, that it would be good to test the tap water beforehand. Then you can calculate far better, how much water you need to change (it is a big difference, if the water comes out of your tap with 3 ppm or 10 ppm nitrates). thanks and take care
Great point! Thanks for watching
Thanks for emphasizing that one size fits all doesn’t apply here. We need to take responsibility for the maintenance each of our aquariums needs, and not what people believe they need, based on limited information.
Yes meaning the method your running down is a size, maybe listen first.
Epic explanation and we totally agree with the water changes and follow a very similar approach to our fish room!!
Thanks for watching!
Wowee! The first common sense information that doesn’t say “you must do a 50% water change every week or your tank is doomed!!!” Love it. My heavily planted tank doesn’t get above 10 nitrates nearly ever and no algae. I thought I was silly holding out on water changes for weeks. My other tank I need to change every couple of weeks. Great video. Legend.
@@davidcori2440 really appreciate it! And likewise, love to hear when someone understands the context!
Common sense says don't aim for no algae.
Not when your plants are thriving and have less than 10 ppm nitrates…
Excellent video. For my well stocked and well fed 150 gallon discus tank I do a 1/3rd water change every week (no real plants). For my other tanks 1-2 weeks. Where I live in S Florida the water is heavily treated so I have 2- 32 gallon garbage cans I fill with water every week and let sit on my 2nd floor balcony for 24-48 hours with air pump and heaters. Then let gravity do its work to add the water from above.
Commented exactly this on your Facebook post. Couldn't agree with you more.
Appreciate ya!
I have done both types of set-ups and totally agree with you.
The Stingray @5:40 ROCKS!
Thanks! 💪🏼
My peacock tank needs a 50% water change every week while my planted community tank only needs a 25% change every week four weeks or so. Like you said, all tanks are different.
good explanation and useful for beginners like me 😅, thanks
Mannnnnn yall do 2 much I been in dis hobby 35+yrs i never test water but I do water changes every two weeks 40% because I love a healthy environment n my fish seems happier after a water change ijs dats what I do
👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾on video great info
Excellent show, very well explained, keep up the good work in the new year, happy new year to you and family.
Thank you so much! Happy New Year to you and yours as well!
Great video on water changes, awesome, hopefully this clears up the confused lol, I also went to the datz store you visited, great place and fish , thanks man
That’s awesome! I need to go back soon lol
The Professor!
Great video, love these guys.
Thanks! Appreciate that!
Very well said!
Very good explanation 👍🏼‼️
Your aquariums are absolutely beautiful 😍 good advice!
Thank you!
All good points made on this video.
Basically how I explain water changes is what’s the difference between a swamp and a lake?
Swamp is stagnant due to no feed of fresh, clean water as in a lake is constantly being replenished. Fired Up Discussion that probably never be settled lol.
If the water in a swamp isn't being replenished, how did it get there in the first place?
@ do you know how swamp is formed? During the rainy season when a river overflows banks that water gets trapped and naturally filtered down to the ground or evaporation. Which, during this process, the water will become stagnant.
Great points Troy So i have many planted tanks some are dirted tanks some are sand and some are planted substrates. And up until recently I never did water changes on those tanks just top offs. As my nitrates were very minimal at best. But I have very hard water here so I decided to test my tanks TDS levels and I was shocked to see one of my tanks was well over 600 in TDS so I did about a 75% water change and brought the TDS levels into the 220 range. And its my own fault as just topping off I do believe just keeps building more and more TDS levels due to my hard water. So for now I plan on once a month to start with and see where it brings me.
That is a great point that I wish I had covered in the video. Thanks for sharing!
Love the video! Definitely helpful for new comers into the hobby. I chuckled a little when you got a little more stern but I feel the same way!
Haha thank you!
Man you are hitting facts in everything
💪🏼💪🏼
You sir are spot on.
I’d love to see the tanks of people who claim they never do water changes. In the reef tank hobby, most amazing-looking tanks usually belong to people who perform water changes at least twice a week. Plus, isn’t the maintenance part of the fun? Being hands-on with your tank and feeling proud when you see your hard work paying off is incredibly rewarding. Regular water changes provide that hands-on experience. If you don’t want to put any effort into your tank, why not just visit a public aquarium instead? Your water bill and electrical bill will thank you for that at least.
This is the best comment. Spot on 😊
Great video and information in a very good way
Thank you!
Thank you for the knowledge, very helpful and understood. 💯👍
Glad it was helpful!
I do a 20-25% water change every week for my 100 gallon Cichlid tank. Even though my tests on the water are pretty much the same every week, it’s just a routine thing for me now plus the care for my fish to give them fresh water. I do a 2 week water change on my community tank as routine as this is quite heavily planted but still a routine for the care of the fish.
Great video as always.
Happy New Year to you all.
Beautiful fish set ups and of course the ray stunning
Appreciate it! 🙏🏼
superb video! Thank you very much for the excellent explanation!
Thanks!!
Thank you for this very informative video.
I do 60-80% change every week or two but no matter what I can’t get the nitrate level down , however I’m not sure what the accuracy is, so I do need to get this test kit. Thanks again, your awesome and your tanks are amazing.
Your tap water probably has a lot of notrites
Great video !!! Helped me a lot !! Thank you :)
No problem, thanks for watching!
I change the water every 4 days 30%. Thanks for the advice.
I followed some videos that suggested to not do water changes in a planted tank when I first started. The videos didn't teach me how the water hardness would go up if I needed to top off from evaporation and I unfortunately lost fish after misdiagnosing the issue. All of the comments that suggest water changes aren't necessary without context are irresponsible. It is not a good suggestion for beginners.
Great info. In nature most lakes will have in flows and out flows, affected by rain. Water change. Rivers, constant flow. Water change.
And when they don’t have that natural water change system they end up with an algae bloom and the algae lowers the nitrates
@@bluecollarfox913 Nitrates aren't the only pollutant, there are many DOC compounds that we do NOT measure that are pollutants.
dude this is a dumb analogy,you have a water box with fish in it, even the so called 'natural ' aquarium isn't not natural, its all artificial .lakes and rivers have temperature fluctuations through out the day and seasons,periods of dry and rainy sesson , etc..do you re create all these in your aquarium too?
In nature, most lakes will have areas of no flow as well...
@@codymoe4986 You're really comparing your 50G to a lake with millions of gallons?
Good video .All well said👍 thank you
Thanks for watching!
love this video, it's been debated quite a bit in the shrimp keeping community also. thanks for your explanations, everyone's setup is different and there's a lot of variable parameters
Thank you for the video.
Context is king.
Troy,
Wow I love you got heated there for a moment. I have multiple tanks just like everyone else. All my tanks I do water changes on different schedules. My 120 gal CA SA tank I do water changes every 2 weeks. My planted 55 gal I do water changes every 4 to 6 weeks. That is just because I want to replace the minerals and ph and stuff. My 20 gal long planted tank I could get away probably every 2 months. I just setup a MBUNA tank. It’s 100 gal. I only have 12 juveniles in there so I don’t expect to do any water changes for a while plus I have to let the tank get seasoned. I am sure once I get it stocked up I will have to do once a week or once every other week. Every tank is different and for people to say never do a water change etc etc. is misleading. Because I can’t keep plants in two of my tanks.
Admittedly I’m lazy when it comes to testing. I just practice the 30% per week rule and watch how my fish swim and colour up. It’s just easier for me to manage on fixed schedule as to monitoring it everyday. Otherwise test kits are amazing especially compared to test strips that are not so consistent in my experience. That being said I have overstocked tanks that need it and if I were to wait it would save time but I’m putting them at risk over my convenience. Great video and stay happy and healthy my friend!
Agreed. I currently have 3 tanks. 33 long heavily planted with 3 Otocinclus, NeoCaradina Shrimp, Snails, and 12 Neon Tetra. One 30 percent water change all year). Nitrates stay between 20ppm - 50ppm with weekly fertilizer. 60 Breeder medium stock of fish and plants. Same 20 ppm - 50 ppm nitrates. I breed live bearers out of this tank, so it gets dirty sometimes with multiple daily feedings to new fry. I keep anywhere from 30- 50 fish at a time in this tank. So a 25 percent water change every 4-6 weeks keeps parameters in check. Last a 5 gallon quarantine and fry grow out tank. I’ve been keeping aquariums for 40 plus years. My best advice is keep your pre or main filters clean, sett all of your lights on mechanical timers and keep a log book for tank parameters when you are new. Most tanks will settle into a predictable cycle. Keeping a log book will help you calculate and keep track of these patterns.
Sounds like you’ve got a good system! Love the log book!
That clip from Armageddon was classic lol
😂😂
Very informative.
Glad it was helpful!
I completely agree. I have big cichlids and do regular 60% water changes every 5-7 days. No live plants because the fish eat them quickly. I feed lettuce 2 days before every water change because the fish shred the lettuce and make a mess. I like doing water changes more often than less. fish are always much happier after a water change. Also, as much fish influences say that Fluval fx6 filters can be cleaned less and show videos with longer time periods than 3 months between cleanings, I have found with big cichlids that this is not desirable and can lead to unhealthy conditions which can promote diseases such as Epistylis. Just my experience. There is no substitute for regular consistent maintenance. To keep me on track, I keep a log on everything I do to the tanks.
Thank you for this!!! I am a big fan and I love your channel. I have African cichlids and can you please tell me what filter you use for them?
Thanks for watching! I usually go with sumps or canister filters
Depends on tank and set up determines the frequency of water changes, some set ups with plants mean you never need to water change but i find those look messy, i just use rocks which forces me to water change every month but i like it tbh, sunday spent playing with my test kits and coming up with new scapes, checking on the fry and enforcing snail control lol i just have gupperinos and neon and ember tets so it's pretty easy.
Yesterday i just ordered some aquarium plant holders from Amazon.. All my tanks are african cichlids and im not thrilled about pathos growing everywhere but im growing a little tired of having to do big water changes every 2-3 weeks so ill give the pothos a try to help reduce my water changes
Theres some other plants that work aswell. Peace Lillies (Spathiphyllum), philodendrons, lucky bamboo all will do a similar job. Do not do actual lillies if you have cats, they are deathly alergic to true lillies but Spaths not really.
Sweet potato goes crazy aswell but you have to be careful not to rot the potato part.
Pothos can get absolutely massive though too. We have them in most tanks. But the biggest one was in our 5ft tank and its now 20+feet long on one runner and another 2 runners about 10ft long. Couple of others are 10ft plus too.
Personally I'm beginning to switch to philodendrons as they are more manageable. P. Xanadu and P New Yorker seem to work well. As more clumping its also easier to maintain light on them.
Dude, your fish look amazing. My first aquarium was a natural aquarium - about one year old now. Pretty easy. Just plant a lot of different plants and see what goes well in your tank. It will go well enough for all the ones that die. People who find it difficult are the ones who want to keep very specific stuff. If you have snails and shrimp, you don't have to worry too much about overfeeding. Pretty easy to keep, if you just want an aquarium that is actually natural, like a little aquatic jungle.
When you grow in the hobby you understand this concept. Especially if you develop multi tank syndrome. I have 7 tanks and they all have a different water change schedule because they’re all different. Besides that I’m not lazy and love the way my tanks look after a change so i do what works for me. I also don’t beat myself up when i don’t do it. Grace
You should explore automation as a means to reduce your workload. I have five tanks, all of them run the Neptune APEX controller. All the tanks have a raw water and discharge water line. Based on the needs of the tank a small portion of the tank water is discharged hourly to facilitate a constant water change. The discharge rate is increased as the nitrate testing shows elevated levels. I let the the automation take care of the time consuming water changes allowing me more time to enjoy the tanks. You should consider a video on the use of automations.
I have a 70 litre tank and I don't really need to do too many water changes in regards to water readings, but I end up doing around a 20-25% water change through vacuuming fish poop that gathers in one corner of the tank in particular. Along with a tidy up of dead leaves from plants and controlling the water lettuce growth on the surface.
This is one of the best videos on the reason to water change. It is obvious you understand the cycle, the beneficial bacteria, and how it works. So many people just parrot what they have heard without understanding the full nitrogen cycle. My bigger tanks are 30 to 50 gallons and I have been able to set up larger canisters like the Fluval FX6 on my 50 gallon with enough biomedia to grow both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. I also have a heavily planted tank. One thing you didn’t mention is water conditioners that neutralize ammonia and nitrites will kill off anaerobic bacteria. So once you have established the aerobic bacteria where you have ammonia and nitrites at 0, you need to switch to a water conditioner that just removes chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals which will then allow anaerobic bacteria to establish. It takes maybe a few months as anaerobic bacteria grows slowly and is very sensitive and easy to kill off. Even with the filtration which is fully cycled, as you said you still need to do water changes, but with anaerobic bacteria you can reduce the timeframe when you have to do water changes. The challenge will be a rising TDS and phosphates which will eventually cause issues unless you do water changes.
If you think about it, Mother Nature does water changes all the time, small rain showers are like top offs, and bigger rain storms and floods are equivalent to water changes. If Mother Nature thinks it is important, well…. Besides there are a lot of fish that won’t spawn without big cooler water changes. Most aquarists need to do water changes.
Troy, love your channel and look forward to every new video! Would it be possible to do a short video on your tap water parameters? Where I live in Rhode Island the ph out of the tap is very high (over 8.8) but the kh out of the tap is super low (1 or less). If the tap water is left to stand overnight the ph plummets to 6.6 because the kh is so low. Perhaps your water parameters are much more ideal for water changes. Thanks!
Great video
Great video.
Thanks!
Love you you see the details.
great video; I have a 5 gal tank; fishes include one Otocinclus, 2 sparkling gouramis, and 4 ember tetras; also snails and a couple cherry shrimp; I replace a half gal of water weekly; seems to keep nitrates at around 20 mg/L
Much respect 👍
Well said.
I don’t care what anyone says I do 60-80 % water changes every 6-7 days I’ve never lost a fish nor stressed them, quite the contrary my fish get more energy and more food driven after every water change, thanks Troy for your inputs agree 100%
Far too many water changes that are not necessary.
Too many sudden changes in temperature/environment and water quality can stress fish.
@ not my fish, I don’t know what type of delicate fragile fish you have but my fish are 6 years old and counting still the same fish and still the same 180 gallon tank and still the same water change routine for years and I highly doubt I’m going to change a routine that’s been working for me for years.
Great content, thanks for the video.
But I'd like to point you forgot to mention to use the water at the same parameters for your aquarium/fauna, I mean at around the same temperature, GH and pH, which to me is the most important thing in fish keeping, keep those parameters according to the your fauna.
With that being said, could you tell me the GH and pH of your aquariums with South Americans cyclids. On my experience using sand increase the pH and GH of the water.
A lot of fish I own are found in streams so I like to do a water change once a week
Love the tanks
Thanks!
Water changes for me must serve a purpose. I have a forrest of wisteria, rotala, and spread of crypts. I have to dose ferts to keep the nitrates in a decent range. However phospahtes do be building up so i change about 10-25% every other month to keep phospahtes under 5ppm. My shrimp tank gets a water change once a year and only because my hard water minerals build up in water top off
I like your take on it. I agree with most of it. There are a few wrong facts in a scientific point of view. Only one is crucial for fish health. If one have not done water shanges for a very long time the buffer may be depleated. When buffer runs out ph drops, nitrification stops and all nitrogen build up as non toxic ammonium. If water changes is done in this case, ph will increase and the non toxic ammonium will convert to toxic ammonia. In this case fish will instantly die from a partial watershange. I have seen it happen several times. So it may make sense to pull back a little bit on the water shanges is always good and never dangerous message. I do not blame, you do the right thing and has never experienced this situation. You are totally right, understanding the concept and measuring the water is the key to success.....Even in buffer depleated tanks.😀👍
When refilling your water i use a temperature probe to get a accurate temperature reading and also to test how accurate the heaters are set at, to calibrate just place into boiling water to see how accurate the probe is much safer than using your hand....😊
I've had ongoing problems for years with microbubble saturation taking out fish after water changes. Most of what you find on the Internet about the problem is wrong, so I'm not surprised when it's not mentioned. With my well water in winter it's particularly bad (although I experienced it with city water as well). Can let the water acclimate in stock tanks or barrels for over 48 hours and still may have some regardless of whether I use a pump to transfer the water or gravity. And the temperature of the water is the exact same. I only share so people who experience it don't feel like they're going crazy when they're told they should never have fish die from a water change.
lol Troy, I so enjoyed this video. Common sense. Peace.
I have a 200l aquarium , before I was doing water changes every month, now I found the perfect balance I do twice a year only, and works perfectly which is amazing.
I would like to know the GH and KH levels on tanks with no water changes, only top off.
Underrated point.
Great looking tank I don't test my water just change it when it looks bad . And I've been keeping fish since 1976
I was doing a 50 % water change on my aquarium weekly for about a year without testing thinking all was okay. To my surprise i found that nitrates were creeping up and even after a 50 % water change my nitrates were sitting around 40ppm. I'm going to be adding 2 additional larger water changes monthly to combat the creep.
I want to keep nitrate levels below 20ppm it's what I'm comfortable with. Oh and I'll be testing a bit more often to keep up with necessary water changes.
I always test my tap water before I do a Large water change on my bigger tanks. Have heard nightmare stories about fish dying after a water change because of something the water company had changed in the water, such as an addition of extra chemicals to flush out the lines. Thanks for the videos you guys do, love the channel.
Bet your tap water is already high in nitrates!
@@rara5212 5ppm nitrates using the api master test kit in my tap water.
@rara5212 my tap water has 5ppm nitrate using api test kit.
Nitrates are like cig smoke, doesn't kill fast, but sure isn't good for you. Doing a water change is like getting you out of a smoke filled room and into a room full of healthy fresh air. How is that possibly a bad thing??
What does it matter if you allow the room to fill back up with "smoke" again?
Why not plug in some air purifiers, AKA plans?
Imagine your self living with 10 ppl, and no any window or door for oxygen , hope this will explain for everyone new to this great hoppy
Thanks for your awesome videos and Happy new year for ALL 🎉❤
Imagine taking the time to get some plants growing that will take care of that problem for you?
Informatives Video zum Thema "Wasserwechsel im Aquarium"! Man kann die "Wasserwechsel-Methode" nicht pauschalieren. Jedes Aquarium hat für sich ein anderes "System" ..viel Fische - wenig Fische, viel Pflanzen - wenig Pflanzen, etc. Wenn dein Aquarium vernünftig funktioniert, musst du auch nix mit Gewalt daran ändern, denn "Never change a running system!". 😉
@norberthoens3561 The most sensible comment. Experience enables people to do things differently but with the same end result.
Father Fish taught us to NOT to do water change, UNLESS the water start to get foul.
So basically, your ways of changing water based on water parameters is right. Each tank has its own capacity to handle the waste. A tank that understock, thick substrate and overstock living plants likely doesnt require that much water change in a year, probably never need even. But tank like yours definitely need water changes due to the less amount of live plants.