STEM PLANTS BUNDLE SALE - Over 75 plants - 15 Species for $59! Limited Time OFFER so HURRY! father-fish-aquarium.myshopify.com/ For Special Soil Supplements, Plants, FIsh & Merch in your country: fatherfish.fish/
These explanations and analogies are what every fishkeeper (new and seasoned) needs to hear - thank you so much for this and for everything you do for the hobby!
@@FatherFish I also think people misunderstand beneficial bacteria in your tank vs a Nitrogen cycle.....a cycle is a self sustaining thing.....No Plants or Algae....no cycle They remove the Nitrates! Plant growth = completion of cycle...Right? Am I crazy?? I don't have nitrates I have plants growing like mad though... Everyone always state how often to do water changes vs do you do water changes and what is causing the problem..... I last did this 22 years ago, (Back into it now) but don't remember this being a thing save for Ammonia spikes if you overstocked
I think a lot of the fixation by aquarists to change water so frequently comes from a compulsion to interact with their tanks on a regular basis. Nitrates, even though not demonstrably bad, are an excuse for people to get their hands wet. More people need to internalize that more work does not equal a better result in this hobby! Love everything you're teaching. Subscribing and sharing the video with friends. Much love!
@@FatherFish Sharing the beauty, basking in the balance, and continuing the sacred web of life is the reward I seek. I use all the time i save skipping water changes to propagate more plants and set up another tank, lol!! I stock heavy, I plant heavy, and integrate terrestrial plants as "wetland" filtration. Willow cuttings will sprout red roots from barnacle looking nodes, so pretty covered in blue shrimp!
The new videos looks amazing! Love all the arts and music 🎶 !!! Super chilled 😌👍 even though its a pre recorded video I felt like I was right there watching a live stream 😅 love it 💕 😊 most importantly it’s kids friendly! I can watch it with my daughter and teach her about nature! 😇🥰
I was getting sick fish after sick fish doing the 20% for nitrates water changing. I decided a few months ago to try to just keep water hardness down by cutting ro water in to replace the evaporated water. To keep the hardness at 6 instead off gradually going up 12 So now I’m basically topping it up with rain water and haven’t lost a fish for a long time
you might want to be careful that you aren't slowly lowering your kH, which is the buffering ability of the water to maintain pH. RO water with proper GH can still have a pH crash if it doesnt have enough kH
@@Eric_Allen great point. nothing wrong with the RO, just need to watch the tests. I use only RODI water, remineralized with Equalibrium and Alkaline Buffer
Greetings from Slovakia. I found your channel maybe about year ago and I re-did almost all my tanks to 2" of sand and 1" of lake substrate (stuff bought at hobby market in garden section). I was always looking to build an ecosystem not an high-cost, high-tech and high-maintenance display case. Now I can say I achieved my goals thanks to your debunking of most common myths in fish keeping. So thank you for providing all this usefull information through this platform.
The clip of those angel fish from 8.46 till the neon rainbow fish is mine😀. They are my free give away clips. I am really happy that the clip is been used to explain such an important discussion of the aquarium and fish keeping.
Emmanuel We are very grateful for your clips on Discord. They help us make videos that are interesting because they include tanks from around the world
So, these Tetra Easy Strips that every pet store & aquarium store tells us to use showing that your nitrates & nitrites are too high for my fish are fake and lie to us? Do I need to stop worrying about my fish because I keep fighting nitrates in my tank. They are always high.
I like your ideas and am giving them a go atm. I noticed some of your tanks are not crystal clear, but wouldn't that be due to no water changes or maybe filtration. I understand your fish are happy and healthy, but I want to keep something pleasing to look at, scaped, crystal clear "art" if you get what I mean.
Great discussion on a very important topic. Water is the source of our life and the life around us. Letting nature take care of our tanks has a way of humbling us to the great mystery of life on earth . Thank you Father Fish and the research team.
what does this mean? should i stop using the kits for testing nitrates? i mean this is what i understood from all of this am i wrong in any way? thank u
No disrespect intended, but why invite people on just to talk over them and state your position? She was totally unnecessary and underutilized. lol 🤷🏽♀️
Thank you Laura and Father fish!!! Literally throwing out the baby with the bath water 💧 😂😂😂 Dig up your dirt, clean it, put it back ahhahahahhaha😂😂😂😂❤❤❤ pure gold!
I never change the water, I always just top off. Only two of my many tanks are tightly closed, the rest have some openings or are totally open so I just replace what evaporates. Pothos and peace lilly grow out most of my tanks and all have tons of java moss and some other plants keeping everyone healthy.
Hello from Ontario, Father Fish! Just want to thank you for sharing all your knowledge with us. You have helped me make a deeper connection to my tanks, plants, and fish - and they have never been anywhere near as prosperous as they are since I have adopted the Father Fish ways. I recommend your channel to everybody that I speak to about the hobby and of course I am already in the Shoal. It took me 26 years to find a hobby that I actually enjoy, but you helped take my interest in fishkeeping to the next level, making me want to delve into the ecology of the tanks and also our natural water bodies and fish. I fully believe you are helping me to find more of a purpose in life and I sincerely thank you for that.
I’m old school and back in the mid 1980’s I had a 55 gallon aquarium along with a hang on back filter and used an undergravel filter. I had only one red Piranha but after 5 years it got to be around 8” or so. Never once did I have a problem with water quality and truthfully only remember doing a few 30% water changes and that’s because my ammonia levels reached around 1 ppm because I left uneaten food in the tank for a couple days. You could even smell the ammonia if you got close to the tank. I never checked for nitrites or nitrates back then because I can’t recall anyone saying they were harmful to fish. Then again piranhas are very hardy fish and can handle water qualities probably of lesser quality. At least short term. They are messy eaters so live feeding is something I stopped within my first year. Now I recently bought 75 gallon and still use the under gravel filter along with 2, Seachem Tidal 110’s. Been almost a year and I have very good water parameters and yes, I have a nice bunch of java fern and a good sized anubia species. I also bought a UV sterilizer that truly did a great job one time early on with algae in the water making it somewhat hazy green. Only thing now it watching my nitrates. I can never seem to get them below 40ppm but guess what? It’s not a big deal like so many make it out to be. I highly recommend using the undergravel filter and with the money I saved I was able to buy a really nice, bluetooth Fluval light and much more. I forgot to mention I have 4 red bellied piranhas living in the tank that are around 5” in length. They were only maybe 3/4” when I got them.
HELLO I DO NOW EVERY WEEK WATER CHANGE ALL THE TIMES IK DID THE THINGS YOU SAY I HAD BACTERIAL INFECTIONS AND MORE.... this is just my experience but i still like your channel
Oh well, it is official; thanks to this guy and his great thoughts about aquariums has made be started up with the hobby...again. Great video as always.
1:35 Technically water actually can change from what is in it, and it commonly happens for example with acids and bases. Acidifying the water changes H2O molecules by turning the H's in the molecule into free hydrogen ions, and basifying breaks the H2O into free OH ions. Anyways, might be a bit nit picky, but yeah most water mostly stays water in the aquarium
Had an ah-ha moment, While a fairly neutral PH and very low PPM for ammonia and Nitrite are what we want, having 0 ppm of nitrate would actually mean my plants would not be faring so well?
Can you recommend books about water, fish, aquarium? whatever you consider important for an aquarist who left chemical aquarism to switch to natural aquarism.
I got a nitrite spike of 1ppm last week because my power went out for 2 hours. I noticed all my malaysian trumpet snails coming out of the substrate & climbing the plants.
Ooops. I was messing things up by changing my water when I saw nitrites and nitrates show up 😫. No wonder some of my plants have been looking sad lately
I watched this video a month ago and so much went over my head. This time after a month of enjoying my planted tank, everything now makes sense. Thank you so much FF❤️
Awesome video great insight Mr fish, lemme ask you this, when i do water changes its every two weeks to a month , the fish love a fresh water change makes them even more active , u say water changes not necessary , but regardless of changing water introducing crap water to established healthy water as u say, the fish clearly love it , so my question is , is the water change not good for them when they clearly show they they love it? Lemme know thanks
When I top-off water, the fish become very active as well. Likely, the fish think they're gonna get fed, and actually there may be a good biological reason for that. In nature, rain water washes fresh organic food sources into the water, which is why fish often hang out in high flow areas.
Is biofilm and brown gunk in the bottom of aquarium fine? Though Nitries and nitrates are 0 on test strips... Basically nitrifing Bacteria is what saving the fishes? Do i need to siphon the bottom decaying food or plants and gunk?
right at this moment I tested the water today and it indicate the Nitrite is high. I will leave it as it is. I have a lot of plants and floating plants in the tank and good substrat with sand over it.. I have a 10 g tank with two nano fish and 8 shrimps only.
I do believe in water changes while still recognizing how disruptive they are, I would still #1 say that taking out some dissolved or suspended material out can be good and #2 say that the system, depending on it’s maturity can be very resilient. And nitrogen stinks. Water is in a shape similar to the triangle forms that they put in the front of architecture like if there are pillars in front with a concrete triangle on top - same angles. It is in the shape of the golden ratio, 1.62 to 1 or so. The triangle has angles of 36, 36, and 108. Three of these triangles can be arranged/overlaid to form a five pointed star aka pentagram (which also inscribes a pentagon). My thoughts on pentagrams are that they can be used as a template for golden ratio and while I don’t really believe in a difference between white and black magick, I DO believe in the difference between empirical knowledge and strange practices. Sorry, too much, but I like fish tanks and geometry. Chlorine is a gas at room temperature, much more so at 78 or 80 degrees. It only stays in our tap water cause it’s trapped in pressurized pipes. Let it run over the filter a couple times and it is gone, and it has no chance to put much of a dent in the teaming mass of bacteria in a fish tank.
LOL Nitrogen is, of course, odorless. Maintaining water quality, that is, controlling the nutrients in the water is critical to maintaining a no water change system.
The properties of water are part of why it’s possible to clean up chemical contaminants. It doesn’t bond with the molecules of pollutants…imagine trying to clean up an oil spill if that were the case! In my scientific water is wowza! Lol.
4:10 To participate in your study (Nitrate NO3) here are some figures validated in France: remember :1 PPM corresponds to 1 part per million, or 1 mg/liter of water. To give you an example: no centenarian in France has consumed between the age of 1 and the age of 60 more than 8 mg/Liter of NO3 in the water. Humans Water suppliers can legally go up to 50mg of NO3 per liter in France. 800 ppm is letal for Guppies, 800 ppm = 800mg/Liter of water!The same amount for human beings! During the world championship of guppies, a winner has never won with a breeding having water with more than 8 mg/liter of NO3.
Keep in mind it is impossible to create a body of water outside a laboratory with more than 400 mg nitrate. It is invaded instantly by algae which drop it to lower and lower levels.
I am gradually learning SO MUCH after subscribing and watching Father Fish videos. Since I love this hobby so much and want to keep my existing aquarium running healthily, Father Fish is whom I'd turn to. Thank you so much SIR.
Last comment…there. Is an unfortunate way of “cleaning” pollutants in soil by super heating it and capturing the gasses. This kills everything beneficial as well.
Hi from Scotland, I have finally found a fishkeeping sanctuary and endless natural imformation, if you listen and try to understand what nature has always tried to tell us all along, fishkeeping is a natural destresser and will bring us closer to the true nature that is all around us, follow what nature father fish is trying to explane to us, a 20 year old tank says it all, thank you so much.
Yes but what's the long-term effects of nitrates I tested my Creek water and it's always at zero nitrates or close to it you have to remember to if you take a fish from one aquarium with low nitrates and put in an aquarium with high nitrates it might still do damage nitrate shock
I've been saying "throw the baby out with the bathwater" when it comes to water changes since I started learning about natural aquariums 😉 I've been watching some videos on aquarium plant fertilization recently where even though these people have heavily planted very lightly stocked tanks, they still recommend 50% water changes every week because they purposely over-fertilize to essentially throw the kitchen sink at the plants to make sure they have everything they need, but keeping it simple at the same time. I'm sure it grows plants very well with next to no algae; The high tech aquascapes are very good at that. But of course even if we discount the idea that it may not be the healthiest thing to do for the ecosystem, it would get to be expensive and a pain even for nano tanks after a while, let alone large tanks. It's just one more way these guys throw money at their problems, even when they buy dry salts.
Can you post a link to the study from Steven the biologist please because if it’s the study I’m thinking of it was only conducted over 3 days with non aquarium fish. They showed that less than 50% of fish died within the three days so they concluded that nitrate wasn’t an issue for fish. Seems like a pretty low standard if that’s the test you’re talking about. Secondly, I don’t understand the logic here. You’re saying not to “over stock” your aquarium and that you must use plants and a deep substrate which are two known nitrate removers yet you say that nitrates aren’t an issue. I’m confused. If nitrates aren’t an issue why do we need plants and a deep substrate?
Hello, mister Father fish. Thanks for your wonderful videos very much. Because of you I stopped charging water in my 30 fish tanks and already see difference!!! I have a problem with Gidras . Maybe you have a secret how to getting rid of this annoying creature. Last time I used fenbendozole , but I not sure if I Have to change water after treatment..... Thanks again, best regards Alex
I have a problem with Gidras too. The Asian youth community is enamored of Marx. Why is this? Are they that stupid? Chemicals will not solve the problem. It is a hearts and minds isssue.
My 40 breeder tank that I breed my blue micky mouse platy fish in gets a single home depot bucket water change around every 3 to 4 months. Plenty of plants and driftwood help keep things very stable. 2 types of small snails, MTS and bladder snails for micro cleaning, and two types of larger snails, rabbit and mystery snails for larger decomposition, help keep things breaking down constantly. It all goes into the eco complete capped dirt substrate we're it feeds the plants, most dwarf sage and valisenaria. But a top mat of ducked combine with a ton of hornwart to keep the water column clear and to give the fish nice hiding spots. The only other friends of the platy fish are a bristle nose pleco and one very lazy betta. Needless to say the platy fish are constantly breeding and there is a steady stream of fry coming in and out of the tank. Put nature in and mature it, then take what's grown and share it. I do use a hob filter for water flow though, the platy fish really enjoy a little flow. But really a bit of water movement keeps the water nice and oxygenated. I do have to top the tank off here and there but its is very slow evaporation process. Just let the tank take care of itself and it will balence itself out in the end. Just be sure to test your water at least once a week to make sure no action is needed. But so far my tank has been running for almost a year and it has flourished with basically no maintenance. Also how the fish are acting is a great indicator to the health of the tank. They should be swimming freely with their fins extended and eating healthy. I do feed the tank every day though because the fry need a crazy amount of food to grow and color up, but its only enough that the school can eat it in under a minute or so. The snails take care of whatever else is missed and goes to the bottom. They also get a once weekly veggy for the pleco and snails sake. They love it.
My situation. 2 month old heavily planted tank. Dirted tank sand cap. Nitrites are high. I checked for dead fish, but hard to determine because lots of plants. Ph is not acidic. Will the nitrite eventually correct itself?
Hi, relatively new to fishkeeping, i have an 80ltr planted which im enjoying so much i made a nano, trying to learn and understand about water parameters, as with most im told regular water changes etc I have a test kit but was wondering if you would perhaps inform or make a video on acceptable parameters and possible rectification for being out? Thanks
So I have a 20 gallon tank with one dwarf, sucker fish in it and it is planted. It has a substrate of sand and dirt and I cannot get my nitrates to go down and I cannot get very many of the new plants that I put in there to grow. They wither up and disintegrate only the plants that I had had established before are the surviving ones and even those are starting to get brown leaves on them. What am I doing wrong?
I will email you the schematic of my ideal tank system. Errybody seems to be doing some kind of sump thing and I don’t like it, now, there are structural considerations, but I think I could do something with like a crud hopper above the tank, then you have gravity working FOR you, rather than a stupid sump. Tesla valve type design with a crud collection cone with a drain on the bottom, bang, just drain out some straight sludge every month or so.
@@FatherFish cool, I just spent about 20 minutes typing out a bunch of stuff and lost it all in an instant by touching the screen in the wrong place and I was almost done. New format response coming, I.e. I’m ma gonna draw up some schematics, like, why pump from the floor sump to the tank when you can pump the same height up from the tank and do some creative stuff with gravity as your friend.
Thankyou so much for the valuable information. This has helped me see water in a whole new light. I have just set up a new tank and was going to dispose of all the 'mature water' from my old aquarium. Now after watching this I see how crazy that idea actually is and I am now going to include the mature water into the new set up. I also really appreciate the information about nitrate. I have been over here worrying about 100ppm of nitrate 0ppm nitrite and actually now I can see that it shows that my old aquarium had found its own equilibrium which I should have been celebrating. Thank you so much for your valuable information. You have a future follower from me!!!
I had a situation yesterday where all my fish died due to my filter releasing some kind of stinky oil substrate. I finished changing the water so I took a nap and before falling asleep I noticed my fish were all at the surface gulping air and didn't mind it. Slept for a hour, looked over to the fish tank and noticed the water was really cloudy so i jumped out of bed and opened the lid and smelt oil. 😢.
#fatherfisharmy 🐠🐟❤️👍 let’s go!!!! One million subs!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉 come join the family on discord! It’s 24/7 non stop aquatic actions and everything in between! 😉 don’t believe me come see for yourself my friend! ❤️👍💯🔥🤫🤫🤫
I have only heard that there can be Nitrate Shock... Suddenly raising or lowering Nitrates more than say 45 ppm. -Massive water changes in a really high nitrate tank... or moving a fish from a clean tank into high nitrates too quickly. Otherwise, I have not heard any evidence to say that nitrates kill fish. Funny, how much controversy this can cause... as your tanks have little to nearly Zero nitrates. Lol.
Amazing, agreed. The reason has nothing to do with nitrates. It has to do with justifying substantial, routine water changes. The SCRUB / FLUSH / SANITIZE school of bathroom fish keeping is screaming with fear!
I notice you have plants in all of your tanks. What about people who keep fish that won't tolerate plants? Like mbuna cichlids? I've tried keeping various plants in my mbuna tank, and the fish always destroy the plants. So how am I supposed to achieve the "balance" you're talking about without plants?
Algaes are plants. Mbunas eat plants. That is a primary food source in the wild. Feed green leafy vegetables and allow algae to grow. Certain plants will not be bothered. Try large Amazon Swords.
I was told the water change was to drop the bacteria load - i heard you mention cloudy water in betta tanks but i think the bacteria count in the water column can go up before that invisibly and suck oxygen.
I just ordered some of your soil! But my tanks are all stocked and full of water. Can I scoop the gravel out and add mud and sand with water in? I know it would be murky for a bit, but I don't know where I would put all my fish while I do this....
I once made a mistake that killed fish, I set up a tank, did everything correctly, left the water to mature for three weeks before adding fish, did not over stock, then I got a test kit after a fish showed stress, maybe I was overfeeding slightly or something rotted but the Nitrites went high, so I did a water change, it went down, then after three days the Nitrites seem to shoot up again despite starving the fish of food. It ended up being the municiple water supply that was the problem. Instead of using dissolved gaseous Chlorine which dissipates rapidly from the water they were using Chloramine a chemical compound containing Chlorine bonded to Nitrogen what was happening was the water changes worked for the first two days or so, then all of a sudden the Chloramine degraded leaving the Nitrogen to form Nitrites, so it was the water changes that were raising the nitrite levels and killing fish, I should have use rain water and mineralized it or good spring water.
I am very intrigued by the things you talk about. What about a cichlid tank where they tear the plants up? I tried to keep plants for almost a year, and they kept dying due to the abuse from the cichlids. I'm going to put some floating plants in their tanks (a 55 and 75) but is that enough to remove the nitrates? How can I effectively house cichlids wo changing their water? My community and neo shrimp tanks are highly planted... I'm going to attempt this for them. I would love to not do weekly water changes
Such an interesting video, until I watched this video I did weekly water change to keep my nitrates low. But now I understand why it's not good. But what I don't understand is why, if I don't do a water change, my fish will die, especially in my grow out tank? Thank you in advance for your response.
Your grow out probably has a very high nutrient exchange beyond the capacity of the substrate and filtration to maintain. Normal with that type of system.
@@FatherFish Thank you for your answer but I still don't understand what kill's my fish because when I test there is always 0ppm of ammoniac and 0ppm of nitrite and you said that nitrates where harmless . So what's killing the fish we I don't change water? There must be a correlation between the nitrate level and something else which kill's my fish but which is not ammoniac, nitrite and nitrate.
I have a new 30 gallon aquarium. It's been set up for 6 days. I have 8 neon tetras and 3 Danios. I have 8 plants. I tested water and NITRITES are high at 5.0, Everything else is ok i think. Should I add some salt?
@@FatherFish Thanks for the advice. It seems I am stressing out about my fish being stressed and I should chill out and just keep adding more plants. BTW, I've started a couple of resurrection jars per your advice. I'm doing everything you recommend. I even ordered your AAA substrate concoction and its mixed in with my substrate. I'm so thankful I have you to set me straight!
After this and some of my own research, Im definitely going to back off on the water changes, I've been doing 25% weekly water changes for the past 8 years to keep my no3 below 40ppm. I regularly take hand fulls of Java Fern out because of the level of growth, I'm going to stop doing that, also my pothos vine has no leaves on any of the lower vines, I assume because the no3 level isn't high enough I'm going to change to monthly water changes and just top up evaporation, I don't want to go cold turkey on the wc's just yet, it's something I'll need to work up to, gotta teach my brain to massive water changes aren't necessary...
STEM PLANTS BUNDLE SALE - Over 75 plants - 15 Species for $59! Limited Time OFFER so HURRY!
father-fish-aquarium.myshopify.com/
For Special Soil Supplements, Plants, FIsh & Merch in your country:
fatherfish.fish/
These explanations and analogies are what every fishkeeper (new and seasoned) needs to hear - thank you so much for this and for everything you do for the hobby!
Appreciate your support DC.
Which is why i'm here! To protect my $1000 Discus. I'm planted with alot of plant and floaters but I still want to learn more.
But then how do just get rid of the bad stuff?
What bad stuff?
I think the main problem is that too many people over stock their tanks. Balance is key. Good discussion, very enjoyable.
Thank you Jon. I agree. Overstocking fish is not supportable unless plants are extremely overstocked.
@@FatherFish I also think people misunderstand beneficial bacteria in your tank vs a Nitrogen cycle.....a cycle is a self sustaining thing.....No Plants or Algae....no cycle
They remove the Nitrates! Plant growth = completion of cycle...Right? Am I crazy?? I don't have nitrates I have plants growing like mad though...
Everyone always state how often to do water changes vs do you do water changes and what is causing the problem.....
I last did this 22 years ago, (Back into it now) but don't remember this being a thing save for Ammonia spikes if you overstocked
@@FatherFishare marbled cat sharks good for ten gallon tanks or do they need a bigger tank
@@jennifermcfadden8713 They cost $300. and grow to upwards of 4 feet long. What is the aegis of you question?
@@Cougar139tweak Excellent study Watch This.
I think a lot of the fixation by aquarists to change water so frequently comes from a compulsion to interact with their tanks on a regular basis. Nitrates, even though not demonstrably bad, are an excuse for people to get their hands wet. More people need to internalize that more work does not equal a better result in this hobby!
Love everything you're teaching. Subscribing and sharing the video with friends. Much love!
True. Some have complained they have nothing to do after setting up a stable tank. I encourage meditation! lol
@@FatherFish Sharing the beauty, basking in the balance, and continuing the sacred web of life is the reward I seek. I use all the time i save skipping water changes to propagate more plants and set up another tank, lol!! I stock heavy, I plant heavy, and integrate terrestrial plants as "wetland" filtration. Willow cuttings will sprout red roots from barnacle looking nodes, so pretty covered in blue shrimp!
Did you hire an editor? Your videos have sure stepped up.
The new videos looks amazing! Love all the arts and music 🎶 !!! Super chilled 😌👍 even though its a pre recorded video I felt like I was right there watching a live stream 😅 love it 💕 😊 most importantly it’s kids friendly! I can watch it with my daughter and teach her about nature! 😇🥰
Yes. The new vids are your ticket to an easy 100k subs!🎈 -Scotty on Maui. 🌈
I was getting sick fish after sick fish doing the 20% for nitrates water changing. I decided a few months ago to try to just keep water hardness down by cutting ro water in to replace the evaporated water.
To keep the hardness at 6 instead off gradually going up 12
So now I’m basically topping it up with rain water and haven’t lost a fish for a long time
Excellent content
you might want to be careful that you aren't slowly lowering your kH, which is the buffering ability of the water to maintain pH. RO water with proper GH can still have a pH crash if it doesnt have enough kH
@@Eric_Allen yeah that’s the only one’s I do gh kh and ph now
@@Eric_Allen great point. nothing wrong with the RO, just need to watch the tests. I use only RODI water, remineralized with Equalibrium and Alkaline Buffer
right Im convinced i will stop changing water
Long as u got deep substrate and plenty of plants. Not over feeding helps also
Greetings from Slovakia. I found your channel maybe about year ago and I re-did almost all my tanks to 2" of sand and 1" of lake substrate (stuff bought at hobby market in garden section). I was always looking to build an ecosystem not an high-cost, high-tech and high-maintenance display case. Now I can say I achieved my goals thanks to your debunking of most common myths in fish keeping. So thank you for providing all this usefull information through this platform.
Delighted to read your comment Niekto.
The clip of those angel fish from 8.46 till the neon rainbow fish is mine😀. They are my free give away clips. I am really happy that the clip is been used to explain such an important discussion of the aquarium and fish keeping.
Emmanuel We are very grateful for your clips on Discord. They help us make videos that are interesting because they include tanks from around the world
@@FatherFish Happy to help, soon will post more such clips.👏👏👍👍
So, these Tetra Easy Strips that every pet store & aquarium store tells us to use showing that your nitrates & nitrites are too high for my fish are fake and lie to us? Do I need to stop worrying about my fish because I keep fighting nitrates in my tank. They are always high.
Add more plants and the nitrates will go down.
My tap water is bad, I just test water and NO2 and NO3 are very high, how can I lower it asap without having to change the water? I need help
Add plants. Install deep substrate.
Great insight. Priceless facts every fish owner should know. I'll be ordering some plans from you soon Father Fish. Thank you.
Thank you Raul. Look forward to your order.
I like your ideas and am giving them a go atm. I noticed some of your tanks are not crystal clear, but wouldn't that be due to no water changes or maybe filtration. I understand your fish are happy and healthy, but I want to keep something pleasing to look at, scaped, crystal clear "art" if you get what I mean.
I have tannins in several tanks. Ce careful what you wish for.
Great discussion on a very important topic. Water is the source of our life and the life around us. Letting nature take care of our tanks has a way of humbling us to the great mystery of life on earth
. Thank you Father Fish and the research team.
Thank you Geo.
According to this. the marketing around the field have been detrimental for the aquariums. distorting the facts and reality!!
what does this mean?
should i stop using the kits for testing nitrates?
i mean this is what i understood from all of this
am i wrong in any way?
thank u
nitrates are nutrition.
nitrate aare only bad if u dont haave any plants in ur tank and just plastic decoration with fake gravel
No. Even with no plants nitrates are not toxic.
No disrespect intended, but why invite people on just to talk over them and state your position? She was totally unnecessary and underutilized. lol 🤷🏽♀️
She was answering questions
@@FatherFish I agree she was equally informative and involved in the topic. Trolls are everywhere
Thank you Laura and Father fish!!! Literally throwing out the baby with the bath water 💧 😂😂😂
Dig up your dirt, clean it, put it back ahhahahahhaha😂😂😂😂❤❤❤ pure gold!
Hi Wing. Nice to see you.
@@FatherFish greetings Father fish 🐠 👋🏼😊
I never change the water, I always just top off. Only two of my many tanks are tightly closed, the rest have some openings or are totally open so I just replace what evaporates. Pothos and peace lilly grow out most of my tanks and all have tons of java moss and some other plants keeping everyone healthy.
Sounds very homey. Would love to see ome. Please join us on Discord and post pics.
Hello from Ontario, Father Fish! Just want to thank you for sharing all your knowledge with us. You have helped me make a deeper connection to my tanks, plants, and fish - and they have never been anywhere near as prosperous as they are since I have adopted the Father Fish ways. I recommend your channel to everybody that I speak to about the hobby and of course I am already in the Shoal. It took me 26 years to find a hobby that I actually enjoy, but you helped take my interest in fishkeeping to the next level, making me want to delve into the ecology of the tanks and also our natural water bodies and fish. I fully believe you are helping me to find more of a purpose in life and I sincerely thank you for that.
Wonderful comment Dylan. Very much appreciate you.
I’m old school and back in the mid 1980’s I had a 55 gallon aquarium along with a hang on back filter and used an undergravel filter. I had only one red Piranha but after 5 years it got to be around 8” or so. Never once did I have a problem with water quality and truthfully only remember doing a few 30% water changes and that’s because my ammonia levels reached around 1 ppm because I left uneaten food in the tank for a couple days. You could even smell the ammonia if you got close to the tank. I never checked for nitrites or nitrates back then because I can’t recall anyone saying they were harmful to fish. Then again piranhas are very hardy fish and can handle water qualities probably of lesser quality. At least short term. They are messy eaters so live feeding is something I stopped within my first year. Now I recently bought 75 gallon and still use the under gravel filter along with 2, Seachem Tidal 110’s. Been almost a year and I have very good water parameters and yes, I have a nice bunch of java fern and a good sized anubia species. I also bought a UV sterilizer that truly did a great job one time early on with algae in the water making it somewhat hazy green. Only thing now it watching my nitrates. I can never seem to get them below 40ppm but guess what? It’s not a big deal like so many make it out to be. I highly recommend using the undergravel filter and with the money I saved I was able to buy a really nice, bluetooth Fluval light and much more. I forgot to mention I have 4 red bellied piranhas living in the tank that are around 5” in length. They were only maybe 3/4” when I got them.
Cool fish. Donated the original school to the National Aquarium.
HELLO I DO NOW EVERY WEEK WATER CHANGE ALL THE TIMES IK DID THE THINGS YOU SAY I HAD BACTERIAL INFECTIONS AND MORE.... this is just my experience but i still like your channel
Yep I'll have to ask around in my garden forum who washes thier soil for spring 😄
Get back to on that Gren. We could do a short. VERY short. lol
Oh well, it is official; thanks to this guy and his great thoughts about aquariums has made be started up with the hobby...again. Great video as always.
1:35 Technically water actually can change from what is in it, and it commonly happens for example with acids and bases. Acidifying the water changes H2O molecules by turning the H's in the molecule into free hydrogen ions, and basifying breaks the H2O into free OH ions. Anyways, might be a bit nit picky, but yeah most water mostly stays water in the aquarium
Intereting. So acid reduced water volume?
@@FatherFish possibly, but its obviously negligible difference in volume
Plants is a need in aquarium
Absolutely true TG!
When to chNge water for bare bottom goldfish tank. Ammonia is zero, nitrites at 5 ppm and nitrate at 5 ppm.
hourly
@@FatherFishhourly
Is it true that fish can die from too much nitrates? 🤔
no
Had an ah-ha moment, While a fairly neutral PH and very low PPM for ammonia and Nitrite are what we want, having 0 ppm of nitrate would actually mean my plants would not be faring so well?
Precisely Sarah.
Can you recommend books about water, fish, aquarium? whatever you consider important for an aquarist who left chemical aquarism to switch to natural aquarism.
This was the very question I was asking about. This was a fascinating watch. Thank you so much!
Glad it was helpful Claire! We will be publishing on this in a few months.
Nitrates aren't the problem, nitrites are
They certainly can be. High Ph and nutrient control are key to controlling nitrites.
@@FatherFish How is high Ph key to controlling nitrites?
@@MattyP650 You need above 6.0 PH to control nitrates.
I got a nitrite spike of 1ppm last week because my power went out for 2 hours. I noticed all my malaysian trumpet snails coming out of the substrate & climbing the plants.
Probably over feeding and dependent upon mechanical systems to maintain.
I have high nitrates, and high hardness. Eveything else seems great. Loads of plants, dirt, sand, one betta. Dunno
I'm loving this water series, thank you!
Glad you enjoy it tinger.!
Ooops. I was messing things up by changing my water when I saw nitrites and nitrates show up 😫. No wonder some of my plants have been looking sad lately
I watched this video a month ago and so much went over my head. This time after a month of enjoying my planted tank, everything now makes sense. Thank you so much FF❤️
Nice to hear that Dash
Companies like Seachem have taught people that Nitrates are dangerous in order to sell their products.
I love my planted tank. Thanks for the video. I want to be the best fishkeeper I can.
Your tank will take you where you want to go TODubs. Join us on Discord.
Awesome video great insight Mr fish, lemme ask you this, when i do water changes its every two weeks to a month , the fish love a fresh water change makes them even more active , u say water changes not necessary , but regardless of changing water introducing crap water to established healthy water as u say, the fish clearly love it , so my question is , is the water change not good for them when they clearly show they they love it? Lemme know thanks
What is the love you experience? Is it, perhaps, racing around trying to get back to where they were comfortable?
@Father Fish good point , so what your telling me is I never need to do a water change again just top it off from condensation and add more plants?
When I top-off water, the fish become very active as well. Likely, the fish think they're gonna get fed, and actually there may be a good biological reason for that. In nature, rain water washes fresh organic food sources into the water, which is why fish often hang out in high flow areas.
Is biofilm and brown gunk in the bottom of aquarium fine? Though Nitries and nitrates are 0 on test strips... Basically nitrifing Bacteria is what saving the fishes? Do i need to siphon the bottom decaying food or plants and gunk?
add some sand a some fallen tree leaves.
Question:
If I want to take out some water to feed house plants, how much is acceptable?
Up till 25% every week?
How much do you need? It might be better to remove a small amount daily and replace it at the same time.
@@FatherFish A few liters every few days I guess. More interested to know how much I can get away with daily... 5%?
@@StreetArtistsOfTheWorld 10% a day should not create a problem.
Whats the best pH for goldfish. I also have nitrates hard to get rid of thought I added some plants swords anubis plants
The magic ingredient is ALOT OF PLANTS. 75% plants is the least amount that should be in a tank if you want low maintenance.
Yes. That is true.
right at this moment I tested the water today and it indicate the Nitrite is high. I will leave it as it is. I have a lot of plants and floating plants in the tank and good substrat with sand over it.. I have a 10 g tank with two nano fish and 8 shrimps only.
Good topic and subject to discussion. Very interesting. Great job Father Fish.
Glad you enjoyed it Miagi.
Nitrates are not toxic yet you tube people tell everyone 10 to 20 ppm great video
I know. Interesting yes?
Good info, but man, please let her talk. The constant talking over her is hard to listen to.
It is a conversation, not a lecture. She provided a wealth of information responding to the many concerns raised with FF.
I do believe in water changes while still recognizing how disruptive they are, I would still #1 say that taking out some dissolved or suspended material out can be good and #2 say that the system, depending on it’s maturity can be very resilient. And nitrogen stinks.
Water is in a shape similar to the triangle forms that they put in the front of architecture like if there are pillars in front with a concrete triangle on top - same angles. It is in the shape of the golden ratio, 1.62 to 1 or so. The triangle has angles of 36, 36, and 108. Three of these triangles can be arranged/overlaid to form a five pointed star aka pentagram (which also inscribes a pentagon). My thoughts on pentagrams are that they can be used as a template for golden ratio and while I don’t really believe in a difference between white and black magick, I DO believe in the difference between empirical knowledge and strange practices. Sorry, too much, but I like fish tanks and geometry.
Chlorine is a gas at room temperature, much more so at 78 or 80 degrees. It only stays in our tap water cause it’s trapped in pressurized pipes. Let it run over the filter a couple times and it is gone, and it has no chance to put much of a dent in the teaming mass of bacteria in a fish tank.
LOL Nitrogen is, of course, odorless. Maintaining water quality, that is, controlling the nutrients in the water is critical to maintaining a no water change system.
The properties of water are part of why it’s possible to clean up chemical contaminants. It doesn’t bond with the molecules of pollutants…imagine trying to clean up an oil spill if that were the case! In my scientific water is wowza! Lol.
Absolutely nailed it. Pollutants can be removed from water.
4:10 To participate in your study (Nitrate NO3) here are some figures validated in France:
remember :1 PPM corresponds to 1 part per million, or 1 mg/liter of water.
To give you an example:
no centenarian in France has consumed between the age of 1 and the age of 60 more than 8 mg/Liter of NO3 in the water.
Humans Water suppliers can legally go up to 50mg of NO3 per liter in France.
800 ppm is letal for Guppies, 800 ppm = 800mg/Liter of water!The same amount for human beings!
During the world championship of guppies, a winner has never won with a breeding having water with more than 8 mg/liter of NO3.
Keep in mind it is impossible to create a body of water outside a laboratory with more than 400 mg nitrate. It is invaded instantly by algae which drop it to lower and lower levels.
Great video Lou!
Getting better and better every week. It's amazing!
Glad you think so Iliuta. We are working at it.
I am gradually learning SO MUCH after subscribing and watching Father Fish videos. Since I love this hobby so much and want to keep my existing aquarium running healthily, Father Fish is whom I'd turn to. Thank you so much SIR.
I appreciate your kind words Omesh. Be sure to join us on Discord. Friends would love to see your tank.
Looks like the discord server link doesn't work, looks like an expired link. Can you please post an updated one?
It is in the description. Look t osee you there.
So you need plants to avoid water changes? Many cichlids will eat plants so water change still needed.
Yea I have 9 Frontosa in a 125, they will tear up any plant and like to dig pits. Water changes needed for large Cichlids.
Many plants are effective with Africans, mosses and algaes in particular. they are the natural food for thee kinds of fish.
Last comment…there. Is an unfortunate way of “cleaning” pollutants in soil by super heating it and capturing the gasses. This kills everything beneficial as well.
It certainly does. the kill it mentality is a terrible approach to fish keeping.
Hi from Scotland, I have finally found a fishkeeping sanctuary and endless natural imformation, if you listen and try to understand what nature has always tried to tell us all along, fishkeeping is a natural destresser and will bring us closer to the true nature that is all around us, follow what nature father fish is trying to explane to us, a 20 year old tank says it all, thank you so much.
You are wise beyond your years.
“Literally thrown the baby out with the bath water”
Oh my, I hope not! I think she meant figuratively 😂😂😂
Yes but what's the long-term effects of nitrates I tested my Creek water and it's always at zero nitrates or close to it you have to remember to if you take a fish from one aquarium with low nitrates and put in an aquarium with high nitrates it might still do damage nitrate shock
Nope. Sorry. No such thing.
@@FatherFish no such thing as what nitrate shock.?
I've been saying "throw the baby out with the bathwater" when it comes to water changes since I started learning about natural aquariums 😉 I've been watching some videos on aquarium plant fertilization recently where even though these people have heavily planted very lightly stocked tanks, they still recommend 50% water changes every week because they purposely over-fertilize to essentially throw the kitchen sink at the plants to make sure they have everything they need, but keeping it simple at the same time. I'm sure it grows plants very well with next to no algae; The high tech aquascapes are very good at that. But of course even if we discount the idea that it may not be the healthiest thing to do for the ecosystem, it would get to be expensive and a pain even for nano tanks after a while, let alone large tanks. It's just one more way these guys throw money at their problems, even when they buy dry salts.
Right on Meso
Can you post a link to the study from Steven the biologist please because if it’s the study I’m thinking of it was only conducted over 3 days with non aquarium fish. They showed that less than 50% of fish died within the three days so they concluded that nitrate wasn’t an issue for fish. Seems like a pretty low standard if that’s the test you’re talking about.
Secondly, I don’t understand the logic here. You’re saying not to “over stock” your aquarium and that you must use plants and a deep substrate which are two known nitrate removers yet you say that nitrates aren’t an issue. I’m confused. If nitrates aren’t an issue why do we need plants and a deep substrate?
To control the nitrates from becoming an issue.
Hello, mister Father fish. Thanks for your wonderful videos very much. Because of you I stopped charging water in my 30 fish tanks and already see difference!!!
I have a problem with Gidras . Maybe you have a secret how to getting rid of this annoying creature.
Last time I used fenbendozole , but I not sure if I Have to change water after treatment.....
Thanks again, best regards Alex
I have a problem with Gidras too. The Asian youth community is enamored of Marx. Why is this? Are they that stupid? Chemicals will not solve the problem. It is a hearts and minds isssue.
An intergenerational, transnational community and platform for radical and progressive Asian America facebook.com/gidramedia/
My 40 breeder tank that I breed my blue micky mouse platy fish in gets a single home depot bucket water change around every 3 to 4 months. Plenty of plants and driftwood help keep things very stable. 2 types of small snails, MTS and bladder snails for micro cleaning, and two types of larger snails, rabbit and mystery snails for larger decomposition, help keep things breaking down constantly. It all goes into the eco complete capped dirt substrate we're it feeds the plants, most dwarf sage and valisenaria. But a top mat of ducked combine with a ton of hornwart to keep the water column clear and to give the fish nice hiding spots. The only other friends of the platy fish are a bristle nose pleco and one very lazy betta. Needless to say the platy fish are constantly breeding and there is a steady stream of fry coming in and out of the tank. Put nature in and mature it, then take what's grown and share it. I do use a hob filter for water flow though, the platy fish really enjoy a little flow. But really a bit of water movement keeps the water nice and oxygenated. I do have to top the tank off here and there but its is very slow evaporation process. Just let the tank take care of itself and it will balence itself out in the end. Just be sure to test your water at least once a week to make sure no action is needed. But so far my tank has been running for almost a year and it has flourished with basically no maintenance. Also how the fish are acting is a great indicator to the health of the tank. They should be swimming freely with their fins extended and eating healthy. I do feed the tank every day though because the fry need a crazy amount of food to grow and color up, but its only enough that the school can eat it in under a minute or so. The snails take care of whatever else is missed and goes to the bottom. They also get a once weekly veggy for the pleco and snails sake. They love it.
Bacteria break down things. Plants feed on what is left from bacteria and fungi.
My situation. 2 month old heavily planted tank. Dirted tank sand cap. Nitrites are high. I checked for dead fish, but hard to determine because lots of plants. Ph is not acidic. Will the nitrite eventually correct itself?
Yes
😎🙏
Who's work with they aquarium (waterchanges, cleaning anying in it) they make more work for themselfs.... Focus on the balance, as the natures do...
You betcha Árpád
Hi, relatively new to fishkeeping, i have an 80ltr planted which im enjoying so much i made a nano, trying to learn and understand about water parameters, as with most im told regular water changes etc
I have a test kit but was wondering if you would perhaps inform or make a video on acceptable parameters and possible rectification for being out?
Thanks
Yes. I will do that
10:33 great specimen of Plasticus Forkus....very rare indeed! 😀
Actually quite common in certain locales.
I think a good word instead of "harmony" is equilibrium.
So I have a 20 gallon tank with one dwarf, sucker fish in it and it is planted. It has a substrate of sand and dirt and I cannot get my nitrates to go down and I cannot get very many of the new plants that I put in there to grow. They wither up and disintegrate only the plants that I had had established before are the surviving ones and even those are starting to get brown leaves on them. What am I doing wrong?
Add another inch of sand and start a food web.
I have some water wisteria “dying”. Should trim and leave the roots in and hope it grows back
Yes. Try yo understand why it is dying. Join us on Discord we wil try to work it out.
Good evening father fish 👋🏽
Hello Cat Mit.
What if u have no plants? U only keep fish like flower horns or ciclids , what do you do?
There are plants that can be kept with large cichlids. Visit us on Discord to learn more.
Keep terrestrial plants with the roots utilizing the nitrates. Pothos, peace Lillie's are both good. Ferns are even better in lower light.
I will email you the schematic of my ideal tank system. Errybody seems to be doing some kind of sump thing and I don’t like it, now, there are structural considerations, but I think I could do something with like a crud hopper above the tank, then you have gravity working FOR you, rather than a stupid sump. Tesla valve type design with a crud collection cone with a drain on the bottom, bang, just drain out some straight sludge every month or so.
Have a friend who designed this years ago for tanks with one large fish and no substrate. VERY effective.
@@FatherFish cool, I just spent about 20 minutes typing out a bunch of stuff and lost it all in an instant by touching the screen in the wrong place and I was almost done. New format response coming, I.e. I’m ma gonna draw up some schematics, like, why pump from the floor sump to the tank when you can pump the same height up from the tank and do some creative stuff with gravity as your friend.
Thankyou so much for the valuable information. This has helped me see water in a whole new light. I have just set up a new tank and was going to dispose of all the 'mature water' from my old aquarium. Now after watching this I see how crazy that idea actually is and I am now going to include the mature water into the new set up. I also really appreciate the information about nitrate. I have been over here worrying about 100ppm of nitrate 0ppm nitrite and actually now I can see that it shows that my old aquarium had found its own equilibrium which I should have been celebrating. Thank you so much for your valuable information. You have a future follower from me!!!
Thanks
You're doing great things, wishing you all the Best!
Thank you dear Sghetti.
Somehow i missed this video. Alway's good too hear things from a slightly different aproach then one is used to.
I had a situation yesterday where all my fish died due to my filter releasing some kind of stinky oil substrate. I finished changing the water so I took a nap and before falling asleep I noticed my fish were all at the surface gulping air and didn't mind it. Slept for a hour, looked over to the fish tank and noticed the water was really cloudy so i jumped out of bed and opened the lid and smelt oil. 😢.
Terrible. Years ago pumps were maintained with oil tahat could, under circumstances, release int othe waater. A horror. Throw it out!!
#fatherfisharmy 🐠🐟❤️👍 let’s go!!!! One million subs!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉 come join the family on discord! It’s 24/7 non stop aquatic actions and everything in between! 😉 don’t believe me come see for yourself my friend! ❤️👍💯🔥🤫🤫🤫
lol. Join us on Discord. We need your enthusiasm
@@FatherFish yes 🙌😂 I love it ❤️
Im so grateful for the warm tone and unpretentious simplicity of these videos
Such useful information. Thank you. This has definitely helped 👍👍🐟
Love the natural look of those tanks. The huge surface leaves in the Gillsinthegrove tank look cool.
The Grove is stupendous.
I have only heard that there can be Nitrate Shock...
Suddenly raising or lowering Nitrates more than say 45 ppm. -Massive water changes in a really high nitrate tank... or moving a fish from a clean tank into high nitrates too quickly.
Otherwise, I have not heard any evidence to say that nitrates kill fish.
Funny, how much controversy this can cause...
as your tanks have little to nearly Zero nitrates. Lol.
Amazing, agreed. The reason has nothing to do with nitrates. It has to do with justifying substantial, routine water changes. The SCRUB / FLUSH / SANITIZE school of bathroom fish keeping is screaming with fear!
I notice you have plants in all of your tanks. What about people who keep fish that won't tolerate plants? Like mbuna cichlids? I've tried keeping various plants in my mbuna tank, and the fish always destroy the plants. So how am I supposed to achieve the "balance" you're talking about without plants?
Algaes are plants. Mbunas eat plants. That is a primary food source in the wild. Feed green leafy vegetables and allow algae to grow. Certain plants will not be bothered. Try large Amazon Swords.
Thanks for this invaluable education.
I was told the water change was to drop the bacteria load - i heard you mention cloudy water in betta tanks but i think the bacteria count in the water column can go up before that invisibly and suck oxygen.
I just ordered some of your soil! But my tanks are all stocked and full of water. Can I scoop the gravel out and add mud and sand with water in? I know it would be murky for a bit, but I don't know where I would put all my fish while I do this....
No. And do not try it. You will be disappointed.
What about plant "nutrient burn"? Do high levels of nitrates damage the roots of plants or any part of the plant?
no.
I once made a mistake that killed fish, I set up a tank, did everything correctly, left the water to mature for three weeks before adding fish, did not over stock, then I got a test kit after a fish showed stress, maybe I was overfeeding slightly or something rotted but the Nitrites went high, so I did a water change, it went down, then after three days the Nitrites seem to shoot up again despite starving the fish of food. It ended up being the municiple water supply that was the problem. Instead of using dissolved gaseous Chlorine which dissipates rapidly from the water they were using Chloramine a chemical compound containing Chlorine bonded to Nitrogen what was happening was the water changes worked for the first two days or so, then all of a sudden the Chloramine degraded leaving the Nitrogen to form Nitrites, so it was the water changes that were raising the nitrite levels and killing fish, I should have use rain water and mineralized it or good spring water.
Good research. OR you might have not changed water.
I am very intrigued by the things you talk about.
What about a cichlid tank where they tear the plants up? I tried to keep plants for almost a year, and they kept dying due to the abuse from the cichlids. I'm going to put some floating plants in their tanks (a 55 and 75) but is that enough to remove the nitrates? How can I effectively house cichlids wo changing their water? My community and neo shrimp tanks are highly planted... I'm going to attempt this for them. I would love to not do weekly water changes
deep substrate and overplant with heavy plants
Such an interesting video, until I watched this video I did weekly water change to keep my nitrates low. But now I understand why it's not good. But what I don't understand is why, if I don't do a water change, my fish will die, especially in my grow out tank?
Thank you in advance for your response.
Your grow out probably has a very high nutrient exchange beyond the capacity of the substrate and filtration to maintain. Normal with that type of system.
@@FatherFish Thank you for your answer but I still don't understand what kill's my fish because when I test there is always 0ppm of ammoniac and 0ppm of nitrite and you said that nitrates where harmless . So what's killing the fish we I don't change water? There must be a correlation between the nitrate level and something else which kill's my fish but which is not ammoniac, nitrite and nitrate.
Plants plants 🦠🌿🌱🌱🌿🍂🦠
Bless you Father Fish!
Derlighted to have you in the shoal Sharon.
I have a new 30 gallon aquarium. It's been set up for 6 days. I have 8 neon tetras and 3 Danios. I have 8 plants. I tested water and NITRITES are high at 5.0, Everything else is ok i think. Should I add some salt?
No need for salt. The nitrate will not rise higher than 400. Not to worry. It is nutrient for plants. LOTS of plants.
@@FatherFish Thanks for the advice. It seems I am stressing out about my fish being stressed and I should chill out and just keep adding more plants. BTW, I've started a couple of resurrection jars per your advice. I'm doing everything you recommend. I even ordered your AAA substrate concoction and its mixed in with my substrate. I'm so thankful I have you to set me straight!
What floating plant do you recommend for a 3 gallon tank with only a beta. Your video recommended using floating plants
red root floater is nice
After this and some of my own research, Im definitely going to back off on the water changes, I've been doing 25% weekly water changes for the past 8 years to keep my no3 below 40ppm.
I regularly take hand fulls of Java Fern out because of the level of growth, I'm going to stop doing that, also my pothos vine has no leaves on any of the lower vines, I assume because the no3 level isn't high enough I'm going to change to monthly water changes and just top up evaporation, I don't want to go cold turkey on the wc's just yet, it's something I'll need to work up to, gotta teach my brain to massive water changes aren't necessary...
lol. Your tank will appreciate being left alone. lol
Thankful that you are sharing your knowledge and experience with us.
Thank you Anabel