So I have been mulling over what has been said here about water changes and,
well, about *not* doing them, and have some of my own pennies to toss into
the well...
Firstly, I do not think there is only one way to do anything in this hobby,
and whatever works for someone works. The proof is right there in healthy,
long-lived fish and thriving plants, right? This is one of the most
important things we all can learn and I believe can never be stated often
enough.
BUT (and of course we all did know this was coming, didn't we?)...
I also do not feel that this whole, "one does not need to do water changes
hardly ever to keep thriving healthy rainbows" is a safe topic to just put
out there, carte blanche, for all and sundry. I believe there need to be
some serious caveats to this. Some were expressed, tho not well-defined.
Others were not. Joe-Beginner could get into some real trouble otherwise.
;-)
So, 6 large bows in a 26 gallon tank, planted, and water changes only once
or twice per year, huh? Yikes! I only keep 3 large Coen Tris in my 29 and it
is planted with low-light faves like Java Moss, Fern and such. I do water
changes about monthly, plus little ones here and there since I use this tank
as my change-water for all the various cups and tubs of fry and eggs
scattered about the fishroom, then I top up the tank with FW as it gets low
from this. Believe me if I had 6 of those fish in that tank I would do more
water changes. Done properly they never hurt. Ever.
And, as I said before, plants do help a lot with H2OQ, but the plants
themselves enjoy water changes and (I believe) need them even when the fish
do not -- mine just do better when I make changes regularly, even smaller
ones.
The biggest thing to stress when saying all of this, tho, is you don't know
how good/bad the water is until you test it. Each tank is going to be
different, and each person is going to have more/less success with each
method (or philosophy, if you will). Sure, real old hands at this, such as
Ron Bowman, can maybe do these kinds of things without testing because they
are so practiced they can "see" how things are at a glance. But most folks
can't and before anyone goes and just stops doing regular partial water
changes, please, run tests for awhile to see what is really going on. You
might be surprised.
As for me, yes, I do practice this (testing), and that is why I know that in
my heavily planted tanks (that are lightly stocked, and even more so than
has been explained on this list BTW) the dissolved wastes that I can test
for are always at low-to-nothing levels. I also know that despite this the
plants respond positively when I make the water change anyhow. ;-) In
many other of my tanks (No one mentioned fry tanks now did they? Totally
different situation -- do the water changes on those kids. Trust me!) this
infrequent water change thing just will not cut it. I do them, I do them
large and I do them often. The tests tell me I need to. So do the fish, but
I have been doing this all awhile myself. ;-) Not as long as Ron maybe,
but I have a few decades of practice under my belt now.
OK. Well, seems like I emptied my entire change purse into this well here,
so I guess I'll quit before I have to go break a dollar. :-)
Hope for any newbies out there this helps some. Better safe than sorry and
water changes are a REALLY easy and inexpensive way to keep all your fish
and plants healthy if done correctly.
As I said tho, there is NO one way to do anything in this hobby, so all
methods and practices discussed here have some merrit. Just know that not
all of them work for all people and for all fish/tanks. This whole thing wuz
getting to sound too "generalised" for my comfort, so hence the mondo-logue.
That and Gary lit a fire... so blame him if you have to. ;-P (couldn't
resist, Gary - no willpower!)
Ciao, Darlings!
Julie <'><
Down off the soap box and back to the deep end of the pool. :-)