One other thing to consider...
I am water self sufficient with a 100000 litre concrete tank collecting
water from a galvanised roof. I also have dam water to use when we are
not in a drought. Both these water sources have issues that I have to
consider when doing water changes.
The tank water is high in metals, mainly zinc I hope. Vertebrates seem
to deal with zinc pretty well but invertebrates and some plants seem to
hate it. Also this water is quite alkaline (if we have not had recent
rain) but is actually low in kH (no buffering). The result is that if I
do a 30% water change my inverts tend to die and I get a flush of
nitrogenous waste in the tank. Also the pH can swing unpredictably all
over the shop for a day or two until (presumably) the substrate
buffering kicks in. Usually the fish end up with ragged fins for a day
or two before things come back to normal.
If I use the dam water, it usually has a high BOD, coming in from full
sun to indoor aquarium positions. The fish seem to deal with the
situation but I usually end up with a Blue-Green Algae bloom about a
week later.
This is my 'excuse' for being tardy with water changes but the low
density approach seems to work for me. I get healthy fish most of the
time and I feel that their behaviour is a bit more natural.
Later
Matthew
-----Original Message-----
From: r_m_l at yahoogroups.com [r_m_l at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Julie Zeppieri
Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2005 3:50 PM
To: r_m_l at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [RML] This whole water changes thing
'Ello All,
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. :-)
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