C.B. Anderson

also, I have not been doing water changes because all parameters stay so good....fish are happy and water is clear...it is a 55 gal. has been set up for about 7 weeks and only has 5 adult fish (mollies and platies) and 2 chinese algea eaters and about 10 babies from the mollies that are still very little so I dont think the load is high...and I am very careful when I feed to make sure they eat it all pretty quickly and only do that 3 times a day...so I think Im ok without water changes...I dont want to upset things ...if it aint broke dont fix it....is that correct assumptions?

what does everyone do when adding water back to tank after it has evaporated some....do you simply use ULTIMATE or other additives too?...still in process of seasoning tank. Parameters staying fairly steady I will only be adding a little less than 1 gal

well, I just realized all the answers come to the same place.....Im learning.....thanks yall

Thank you so much. I posted over on the Facebook group....and then came back to the website and saw your answer here. But what you say helps....I just panicked I guess...I will just keep tracking and not panicking.....I really appreciate help. And yeah....Cory is so great....I have watched so many....if not almost all.....of his videos. So much info. Thanks again so much for answering.

Thanks everyone....yeah, I am talking about nitrates. All the other readings were nice and what I call normal...or good...ph 7.6, ammonia.25 , nitrite 0 ppm ,,,yah and as I said it is my first tank since 30 years ago...and back then I didnt even worry about any of this...becoming educated has been my enemy for now...Im sure after a while it will be my friend. I just didnt realize things had been so complicated beck when I used to have an aquarium...I guess it was beginners luck way back when.......I might add to this...I tested my tap water and the Nitrates were just about the same as what was in the tank. I will test it again today and see if all the water conditioners changed it after a few hours. Thanks again to everyone.....this forum is great....(Thanks from an old lady newbie, who would think that someone 70 years old would renew a hobby like fish keeping....especially when I also have chickens and horses to care for....

I have freshwater 55gal tank with just a few fish...like 8 small fish and 2 algae eaters...several plants one piece of driftwood a HOB filter with bio spools and cartridges and a medium sponge filter. The tank is now about 6 weeks old....but the nitrates seem to test a tad high....5ppm.....I have not done water change because I don't want to mess up the cycle....the fish have been in for about 2 weeks...so am I just going to have put a lot more plants and give in to changing water or is it going to settle down at some point pretty soon. Ammonia isn't really high...so, Im just not sure what is going on and what to do....does any of that nitrate gone stuff really work? I use the water conditioners that the co op sells when I add water...says it helps with nitrates.....I am so paranoid ..I used to have fish tanks like 30 years ago before I knew anything about all this testing business and never lost fish or had cloudy water or any problems and now....just because I know about this stuff, I have problems....any suggestions?