Water changes for plants?

[Schuyler]

Most talk about water changes revolves around keeping nitrates low and removing waste.

I have a moderately planted tank that is highly understocked so unless I'm seriously overfeeding I actually need to add nitrates in.

I've been doing just small weekly water changes (~10%) mainly because the Internet says to do water changes.

What I've noticed is that my total alkalinity is pretty low and plants are showing signs of deficiencies.

Is it better to do bigger water changes or would it be better to get something like Seachem Equilibrium to replenish minerals?

More water changes feels like me work and would make parameters more unstable but are there other things to consider?

Edited November 23, 2022 by Schuyler
Wrong product name... Didn't mean Seachem Excel

[Mmiller2001]

It depends on your goals honestly. 

What's the alkalinity of the tank?

[Schuyler]

On 11/23/2022 at 9:56 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

It depends on your goals honestly. 

What's the alkalinity of the tank?

Total alkalinity ~60 ppm 

GH ~50 

KH ~100

 

My main goal is to have happy fish and a nice looking tank. Hopefully, without having to do tons of work.

[MattyM]

What are your nitrates? If your stocking is low, you might not need weekly water changes to remove waste/lower nitrates, but you might need something like Easy Green/Root tabs to feed the plants. Flourish Excel is an algaecide, so I don't think you need that. 

 

[Schuyler]

On 11/23/2022 at 10:58 AM, MattyM said:

What are your nitrates? If your stocking is low, you might not need weekly water changes to remove waste/lower nitrates, but you might need something like Easy Green/Root tabs to feed the plants. Flourish Excel is an algaecide, so I don't think you need that. 

 

Oops... I meant equilibrium, just edited that.

My nitrates tend to be <=10

I guess my real question is what are the other considerations for how often and how much to change water.

 

[lefty o]

fish health is really the determining factor for water changes. a well balanced tank that is not over stocked can go very very long periods between water changes. watch your fish, test your water, and do water changes when its needed.

[Schuyler]

On 11/23/2022 at 11:11 AM, lefty o said:

fish health is really the determining factor for water changes. a well balanced tank that is not over stocked can go very very long periods between water changes. watch your fish, test your water, and do water changes when its needed.

Would it be better to do a water change to replenish trace minerals or use some kind of product.

[MattyM]

On 11/23/2022 at 1:04 PM, Schuyler said:

My nitrates tend to be <=10

Healthy plants need more that that - mine tend to be around 20, I'd look into an all in one fert, I think EG is "easier" than anything by Seachem. Not sure Equilibrium will help as that's for hardness, and Flourish is missing many things that EG has. 

I agree with @lefty o about fish health being a driving reason for water changes. Also - waste contributes to algae, so if you are having an algae problem water changes will help with that too. 

Test your tap water, mine has no nitrates so I dose EG. Also most tap water is missing the elements plants need. You may just have to experiment with dosing, and see what works, remembering to only change one thing, wait and week or two and see what happens. 

Hope this helps!

[Jungle Fan]

@MattyMBingo, algae. number one reason for water changes besides nitrates, which rarely are a problem in an established heavily planted tank. I have found that weekly, or at least bi-weekly large percentage water changes have helped me tremendously in balancing out the light, and nutrient requirements for my plants over the years, and thereby have kept algae starving in my tanks for the most part. Of course, number one disclaimer, there is no such thing as a 100% algae free tank.