mona Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 Q1:If my chem levels are good. And no algae. Fish is perky, Do I need to do water changes? I have 10G, live plants, 1 Betta, 2 snails but 1 has been MIA for a month now. Q2: is Ammonia at 0.25 ok for my planted tank and 1 fish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 To answer your question: No waterchanges are not necessary. You only need to waterchange when your water parameters are as follows: Amonia above 0ppm Niritre above 0ppm Nitrate above 30-40ppm, depending if you have a planted tank If your water has 0 amonia and nitrite, and below mid 30ppm nitrate theres no need for a waterchange. Take @Streetwise for example. His tanks don’t get any waterchanges, but he does top them off due to evaporation. I would definitely suggest his aquarium journal, very interesting and beautiful setups. My aquariums get waterchanges probably once a month. Often the average aquarium with 0 live plants will need a waterchange once a week. However live plants consume the nutrients in the water that are harmful to your fish. Thats why they are so interesting and beneficial to any aquarium. 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basement Fishroom Bargains Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 The answer to this question is highly relative. If you are heavily stocked (you aren't), water changes are probably more necessary. If you have plants, that likely reduces the need to change water. That's why I put plants in every tank, even if its just floating plants. Smaller tanks are also inherently less stable so it may be harder to maintain stable parameters. If your parameters are good (as @FrozenFins outlined), you probably don't need to change. However, sometimes, even if parameters are fine, you may want to water change. Some species are prompted to spawn after a large water change for example. So TLDR: it's complicated but its not absolutely necessary. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cher Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 I was of the opinion for my tank that water changes were not as necessary as they really were when I got some more sensitive fish, Dwarf CPO crayfish and otocinclus catfish. Along with my 2 dwarf gouramis and 18 neon tetras in a 20 gal long tank. I have it decked out with plants so the parameters were always pristine, for months I only topped it off and the fish were super happy. After a while the ph dropped to much and the crayfish died, and then one day I decided to do a regular 30% water change to get built poop out and after that I ph shocked my Otos and they died. I think if I just did weekly water changes at 20-25% I could have kept them all successfully, but I also got really depressed and "didnt feel it was necessary". Now the only ones left of the original stocking are my dwarf gouramis and neons, seeing as they are much hardier fish. So dont overstock your tank, and dont let the ph fluctuate too much, regular water changes are the best way to control ph. So in my opinion, yes, they are necessary. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 You’re measuring .25 ppm ammonia, are you measuring any nitrates? I do fairly infrequent water changes but definitely do a change if I have measurable amounts of ammonia or nitrite. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 not absolutely needed. as long as you can maintain good water quality, its not needed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 Purely my opinion here with a tiny bit of experience: but I say if you have to ask, then yes, you need to do water changes. I believe water changes are helpful for the beginner to intermediate aquarist. I tried to do minimal water changes early on and it didn't go well. Again, this is my opinion. Keeping plants takes time/experience. Balancing a tank is easy, BUT it takes time and experience. These factors and more are learned over time. So while one is going from intermediate to advanced experience level, keep doing water changes (20-25%) a week until you're confident you have your tank figured out. A quick aside, one tip I learned was to not clean the filter much. Let that get nasty before cleaning, and then, only lightly clean it. I do believe my fish are thanking me for that. But again, just my opinion. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flumpweesel Posted January 24, 2022 Share Posted January 24, 2022 A1) Routine water changes are not strictly necessary as people have said but you must monitor your water and maintain conditions and change water if the balance slides. Tanks are always changing you can't say I never do this or that because it's about keeping an eye on things and doing what is needed when it's needed. A2) I would not be happy with that level of ammonia I would treat with prime and preform a water change as soon as possible to bring that down. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BETTA999 Posted January 24, 2022 Share Posted January 24, 2022 if you have a lot of plants and check your water frecuently , in my experience you could water change in a 3 weeks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mona Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 On 1/23/2022 at 2:57 PM, Patrick_G said: You’re measuring .25 ppm ammonia, are you measuring any nitrates? I do fairly infrequent water changes but definitely do a change if I have measurable amounts of ammonia or nitrite. @patrick_g My Nitates are zero Nitates 20ppm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 Water changes not only remove unwanted element, but also replace elements. If you are not adding those elements; then water changes are 100% necessary. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndEEss Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 On 1/25/2022 at 11:33 AM, mona said: @patrick_g My Nitates are zero Nitates 20ppm Are your nitrates 0 or 20ppm? It can't be both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 On 1/23/2022 at 1:58 PM, mona said: Q1:If my chem levels are good. And no algae. Fish is perky, Do I need to do water changes? I have 10G, live plants, 1 Betta, 2 snails but 1 has been MIA for a month now. Q2: is Ammonia at 0.25 ok for my planted tank and 1 fish? If your pH is above 6.0, any detectable levels of nitrites or ammonia will cause damage to fish gills. If you want the full geeked out explanation, check out aquariumscience.org As Mmiller2001 explained above, water changes are not just about removing ammonia, nitrites, or high nitrates, they are also about restoring necessary minerals and nutrients for plants. I live somewhere that evaporates a lot of water, so I am topping off weekly. I test daily on new aquariums if they have any livestock. Once a tank is established, I test weekly as my health allows. An established tank has healthy plant growth, healthy animal growth, and water parameters have been stable for 4 weeks. Stable water parameters are gH, KH, and pH don't change, and my ammonia and nitrites are always 0. Nitrates stay below 20. I don't consider a tank seasoned until the algae blooms have happened and homeostasis has kicked in. This typically takes a year... a few of my heavily planted tanks have gotten there in 6 months. My seasoned tanks are 0/0/0 for ammonia, nitrites & nitrates even though I am heavily "overfeeding" 3x/ day. So, like everything else in this hobby, there's no single correct answer, because there are far too many variables to say "this is the way" or "this is the only way ". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Streetwise Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 As @FrozenFins mentions, I rarely water-change. I keep tons of plants in my tanks, and with organic soil, I have maximum beneficial bacteria. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudofish Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 I've been just doing top offs for months now. When I was just getting started I did water changes at least every other week just because. Once the newness of it all wore off I don't like to do anything more than I have to in order to keep everything going as it should. I might be missing nutrients that don't get replenished enough. I don't know tbh but I haven't lost any fish yet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrencher_Scott Posted January 26, 2022 Share Posted January 26, 2022 On 1/23/2022 at 2:57 PM, Patrick_G said: You’re measuring .25 ppm ammonia, are you measuring any nitrates? I do fairly infrequent water changes but definitely do a change if I have measurable amounts of ammonia or nitrite. If you are seeing ammonia and nitrite you have a filter problem. (not enough biomedia) Either that or you clean it way too well killing the benifitial bacteria when you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now