Is there a perfact balance in a aquarium?

[Fishguy]

 So I had a 10 g tank (a little overstocked) and it had lots of live plants nothing fancy, no Co2 or anything like that ran on a aqueon quiet flow 10. The tank was doing pretty well, but the maintenance was a 30% water change every week. Now that doesn't seem like a lot of work but the closest sink was like 35-50 feet away and I also had a 70 g tank running. I decided that the planted 10 g was 2 much work so i got rid of all the plants and then had corys breed so then i had 2 10 g tanks running simultaneously. The 70 g tank was two much work so i got rid of it. Then most of the babies died ☹️. Then I shut down the 10 g tanks and just got a 20 g planted tank. Well my darn corys are the reason for half of the tank not working, they knocked all of the plants every where and a lot of them died 😤. Then I bought a python maintenance tool but the prob with that is that it takes forever to drain the tank This is currently the setup I have now w/ tidal 35 filter(works great). But my friend has a 10 g tank w/ a daino and a guppy. And she never has any probs w/ the fish getting sick. I was watching some people (cory has a video of a guy in San Francisco who does it) who do not do water changes,so that led me to wonder maybe there is a way to find perfect balance in a aquarium w/ no water changes. Well if there is or you found a way let me know please!

[Streetwise]

Perfect is a momentary thing, like the final bite of an amazing dinner.

We want stable ecosystems that support plant growth and fish health.

[Widgets]

A water change as we normally consider it is the periodic removal of a set amount of tank water and replacing it with clean water, thereby diluting the waste products that build up in the water.

Some places setup an automatic or even continuous water change system where the replacement water displaces tank water.

Some setup a system where they sell bags of their tank water and replace it with fresh water. Many folks wouldn't buy old dirty tank water, so they include some fish in the deal to make it a better seller.

That store that doesn't do water changes is still replacing old water with new water and diluting the waste products.

As @Streetwise stated, our tanks are in dynamic equilibrium. They are are always a seemingly insignificant change away from dusturbing that balance. Think of it as trying to balance a broomstick on your fingertip. It can be done, but it takes a lot of work. If you relax or don't pay attention for too long it will all collapse. Fortunately, our tanks typically take much longer to collapse than the broomstick takes to fall.

[lefty o]

i dont think there is a perfect balance, but the closer you can come to it, the less maintenance, and issues you have.

[Katherine]

On 3/29/2022 at 7:00 PM, Widgets said:

Some setup a system where they sell bags of their tank water and replace it with fresh water. Many folks wouldn't buy old dirty tank water, so they include some fish in the deal to make it a better seller.

🤣🤣🤣 This is so great!

[Scapexghost]

So if your issues are:

1) plants getting uprooted

2) to many water changes

My solution is floating plants. Floating plants for taking toxins out of they water and obviously they can't be uprooted. You could even use duckweed. Just throw some duckweed in the tank and scoop out half of it or so whenever it covers the whole surface. You may still have to do some water changes, but far from weekly.

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/29/2022 at 4:26 PM, Fishguy said:

aqueon quiet flow 10

underrated, I loved my little aqueon HoB.  For a 10G tank, try out the 20G version, especially if you can adjust the flow. (I run a seachem tidal 35 on mine).  I see that's what you upgraded to! Hopefully it's working well for you.

 

On 3/29/2022 at 4:26 PM, Fishguy said:

But my friend has a 10 g tank w/ a daino and a guppy. And she never has any probs w/ the fish getting sick

I would be interested to know the difference in temperature between the two setups.

To answer your thread title question.... Yes, absolutely.  Especially when we elaborate on what you mean by "perfect balance".

I know some people will argue about planted vs. non-planted tanks and how that balance presents itself.  In my experience you notice the balance a lot more easily with plants because the plants themselves tell you the tank is well balanced. This meaning, the nitrates are feeding the plants and the plants are growing with enough lighting, the fish are behaving normally, and the tank is not being decimated with algae.

In terms of a non-planted tank, I would suggest that a "perfect balance" speaks to the tank having a large enough volume of water, that the fish are healthy, parameters are setup for the fish to thrive, plants can be added (like anubias), and you are performing water changes regularly to avoid algae from taking over.

Either one of those situations I would call balanced and the hobbyist (and fish) in question are happy.

On 3/29/2022 at 6:23 PM, Scapexghost said:

My solution is floating plants. Floating plants for taking toxins out of they water and obviously they can't be uprooted. You could even use duckweed. Just throw some duckweed in the tank and scoop out half of it or so whenever it covers the whole surface. You may still have to do some water changes, but far from weekly.

The issue might also just be substrate depth and the depth at which the plants are planted. Photos would help us clarify that one.

If you don't want duckweed because of the tidal surface filter (it doesn't work on the 35G version) you can also try to track down some salvinia.